mind palace

Ongoing manga by Asada Nemui, web-publication on Manga One. 4+ volumes.

Asada Nemui is an author with a good deal of BL works involving dark subjects under her belt. Some similar themes are present in Madara Moyou no Yoi, though this particular work is centered around female characters.

The protagonist, Yoi, used to be an ideal daughter for her parents until a very visible mark starts showing on her face during her teenage years. At the same time, she's getting exhausted more easily and becomes sick when eating most foods, leading to her becoming a shut-in for a few years. One night, after hearing a conversation between her parents suggesting they're willing to have her killed so she won't be a burden on them anymore, she runs away.

It doesn't take very long in the streets for her to get preyed on by criminals. She freaks out and lose control of herself and is woken up the next day amongst bloody corpses by Akeno, a gentle and mysterious nurse, and Ai, an edgy delinquent youth. Yoi is introduced through them to Sun Road, a run-down district where a lot of women living on the edge of society are gathered. After seeing more instances of Yoi showing signs of super-strength when in emotional distress, Akeno theorizes that her particular state could be due to illegal genetic modifications.

The story has us following Yoi's new life, getting involved with the various people around Sun Road and searching for a meaning to her existence while trying to avoid getting into trouble. Which is kind of hard when Ai wants to hang out with her and do crimes and also, there are a bunch of eugenistic scientists and their experiments doing shady business not too far in the same city.

The manga is an intriguing SF thriller, with a good cast of misfits and characters of dubious morality. No f/f at that point (Asada has posted a few pieces of f/f art on socmed before so I guess something could happen but doesn't mean it's in consideration there) however there are still a lot of fun characters interactions and dynamics between women with shippy potential, especially if you like messy to fucked-up ships!

I really enjoy Nemui's art in general and her character design is very charming.

My Little Inferno Extra Chapter (Asada Nemui)

Originally published in onBLUE vol. 82