Haru’s curse: The unknown

Do you ever feel like you can be a little over ambitious? You know, making all of these great plans and not following through with them? I went into 2021 thinking that I would read the many Getter Robo manga and write about it in a similar way that I handled One Piece and then I got the burn out. Reading One Piece was hard so I was burnt out by that format because it’s hard. Mostly because I suck at formats in general. So instead, I have been just reading random manga and only talking about them when I want to instead. That leads to today’s manga, Haru’s Curse. A short manga that feels simple, but carries so many heavy things with it. (It’s only 10 Volumes.)

So, what is the story of Haru’s Curse? Well, it’s about these two younger adults still finding themselves. Natsumi is a big mess of a girl who hasn’t found her path in life yet while Togo is a very tightened up guy who doesn’t express himself that much and is following his parent’s wishes of joining through their business. What I am saying is Togo is well off while Natsumi isn’t. What adds tension between the two is Natsumi’s younger sister Haru. A girl that passed away semi recently and was originally dating Togo when she was well enough. With Natsumi’s wish of wanting Togo to take her to wherever Haru wanted to go when she was alive so the two are dating. It’s with that some of preconception.

Natsumi and Togo are such a fun couple. Even if the romance felt like an obligation at first, Togo’s straight forwardness, dryness, and intellect with Natsumi’s clumsiness, energy, and vibrancy. In fact, the manga is very much like a two person play because there are only a few moments when other character matter. Those family members Togo has that expect the best from him to follow the chain or Natsumi’s mom and her coworkers from the different jobs she has taken. So there is obviously other curses weighting the couple down other then Haru, who used to be both Natsumi’s and Togo’s whole world and focus. You know, because Haru was sickly and required a lot of care before her passing. So the afterwards factor of whether or not Natsumi and Togo should go beyond their supposed contract.

There is a lot of good drama between that and it’s so relatable. It starts with the end of Natsumi and Togo’s dating and leads to the exploration of their inner souls, what Haru would have wanted in her diary in their passing away, fighting over what their families want vs what they want. That’s the part that I like. It’s Togo and Natsumi deciding to skip out on their fates provided by their families and Haru’s diary wanting them to be apart and finally those two saying no to all of that. The manga stops when the two decide to leave home to live out their own lives by leaving everything else to make their own mistakes. Especially since the two decided to live with each other too. Quite unorthodox and quite fantastic. That is all that is needed for this.

The manga itself is very simply paneled. As you can see from the one example, not very extraordinary with simple backgrounds. I think it works for this manga because it is a two person play. I’m glad that I spent the time to read this one because it’s so good and relatable. Fantastic writing because of how it’s covered, great drama that means something, and a good breaking of all the things. A good recommend for people looking for media with younger adults that feels like something younger adults would live in. Solid manga. I need to find it more like it! Well accept recommendations!