Mixing fantastic elements into a standard slice of life/romance/comedy manga is nothing new: what sets Kanojo wa Rokurokubi apart is how low key it’s done. For all practical purposes Kanoi Natsuki is a normal high school girl even if she’s a rokurokubi, a traditional Japanese monster with a hugely elongated and stretchable neck (which can be very handy if you want to cool your head in the fridge without leaving your room). She has two friends she hangs out with, one of which is another traditional Japanese monster (youkai) type, the other of which always wears a mask covering her face, as well as a childhood friend she still hasn’t quite admitted to herself she’s in love with. The stories are typical slice of life stuff as she struggles to define her relationship with that childhood friend and whether or not she wants to do anything with him
I like Nieki Zui’s artstyle, who draws much more realistic figures and faces than you’d normally see in this type of manga, with the characters emotions similarly cool and understated. It gives the series a bit of weight, a feel that these are real people rather than a collection of tropes. The humour is again cool rather than exaggerated, which works well with the overall style of the series. What I also like is that the existence of these youkai is treated in the story as no big deal. People are aware that they exist, it’s no secret nor a huge stigma and basically nobody cares that Kanoi can stretch her neck really really long. Unless they’re hit in the back because she sleep stretches in class that is.
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