#otherside picnic manga spoilers

[b-kut]

I'm so sorry you had to be gay for this fucking failure ~~who's also interested in another girl~~ miss kozakura.

[octospace]

There’s not a single day that I’m not thinking about this scene

[yuriskies]

"When I took Satsuki's hand..." Toriko rubbed her left hand as she spoke. "Her hand was cold...so very cold. It felt like there was no blood flowing through it. It wasn't like last time I saw her," Toriko said, seemingly bewildered by her own words. "To be honest, I was mad at first. But when it looked like you might be taken away, Sorawo, all of that went out the window. Just the thought that I might lose you too...It was maddening...I was s...scared.

As Toriko stuttered, I reached out and offered her my hand. "How about mine? Is it cold?"

(Otherside Picnic, ch 63, story by Iori Miyazawa, manga by Eita Mizuno. Self-colored)

[re-alter]

sometimes I wonder why Toriko didn’t bring up that she smooched the doppelganger during their dinner. But then I think “would she admit to kissing an otherside entity?” and the answer is probably “no”

(ripped from one of my sketch files so it’s pretty low quality)

[mjintm]

"Are you the real Sorawo Kamikoshi?"

Drawing Otherside Picnic fanarts is my coping mechanism as I wait for the next pre-pub chapter.

(please ignore the badly drawn gun. i have never seen nor held a gun in my life. im just making excuses lol. It's my first time drawing a gun have mercy on me.)

[otherside-picnic]

Rereading file 6 in the book and not just the manga has given me newfound appreciation for just how utterly over the top it really is

Like, yes of course, four violent men assaulting children, sure; weird nonsense sputtering child who may or may not be trying to communicate with the girls, yeah okay; Green Baby. Dozens of them. Some kind of lighthouse that mutates you. Globsters! Whatever yeah, sure!

Oh and Toriko's "friend" is there too, just in case this wasn't surreal enough,

[frythatrice]

Otherside Picnic Rant

I'm coming off the high of shotgunning what there is of the manga and then the entire novel in about a week, so it's hard to gather my thoughts. It's incredible. I'm probably not being very objective about it right now, yesterday around midnight I wasn't even reading anymore, I got to volume 8 and it was less like reading and more like drinking the story. Just vacuuming it up like a burger on the brink of starvation. I don't know how coherent this rant is and I don't care, I just had to get it out there. Spoilers for the whole series below.

Seven volumes of romantic and sexual tension culminates in an entire book of romantic catharsis. A whole book dedicated to Sorawo's feelings. It's not even out of place, it's a horror series and there's nothing Sorawo is more afraid of than human emotion. It's so fucking smart. Every single deflection, every single longing look, every single comment, every single "I love you", every single moment of romance prior to vol8 pays off.

Sorawo falls in love without realizing. She can't take her eyes off Toriko and doesn't understand why. She gets jealous and protective. She rationalizes it using the "accomplices" label. She doesn't think too much about it, but knows Toriko is special.

Then, Toriko confesses her love. Initially, Sorawo genuinely doesn't even understand the implication of it. She realizes Toriko is acting like a boyfriend, and doesn't understand why. Slowly, Toriko shifts from "special" to "the most important person in her life". She still doesn't understand they're in love.

Then, Toriko keeps pushing, and Sorawo picks up on what's happening. She starts deflecting. She goes from being genuinely unaware of her and Toriko's feelings, to actively supressing them. At this point, she still acts like she doesn't get it, but understanding is slowly creeping in. As she continues to act like she doesn't get it, she starts purposefully ignoring these feelings, and it gets harder and harder. She sees all the pieces, and knows what the puzzle would look like if she put them together. The Otherside is terrifying, but that's never stopped her from trying to understand it - these feelings are worse.

Finally, enough is enough, and Toriko pushes one last time - 7 volumes of rising romantic tension come to a head in volume 8. Toriko doesn't know what the fuck is going on anymore, and asks Sorawo to sort out her feelings. Sorawo can't run anymore. Her fear of these feelings influences the Otherside in the most blantant and direct way so far. She is being directly haunted by her feelings for Toriko. It's barely even metaphor at this point. The Otherside has targetted Sorawo before. Satsuki is used to prey on Sorawo's fear of losing Toriko, as well as her jealousy and, to a degree, fear of becoming evil. The Red Person manipulates her through isolation and loneliness. T-san makes her fear losing her connection to the Otherside. All of the phenomena Sorawo encounters, in some form, prey on her emotions and insecurities, but it's at least somewhat obfuscated - they feel like evil monsters with a vague connection to her. They feel like tangentially related phenomena that just so happen to fit the bill.

Satsuki and The Red Person haunt Sorawo specifically, but you could easily make arguments for them haunting others as well. Vol 8's Mujina is different. It's a phenomena that is directly targetting Sorawo and only Sorawo, it's directly targetting her feelings for Toriko, in a way that leaves no doubt or ambiguity about what's happening. It's not even that scary, objectively speaking. Just one volume ago, Sorawo brutally exorcizes Satsuki in a triumphant, cathartic slam dunk against the horrors of the Othersie. Even before that, at this point, she's faced off against countless, unimaginable horrors and has come out on top. The Mujina is one of the simplest, most basic phenomena Sorawo has encountered. It's incredibly mundane. It's not some crazed serial killer, or an eldritch abomination, or some inhuman chimera. It's not some deep reflection of her past, it's not some sort of mind bending apparition designed in a lab to terrify. It's not a 20 stage haunted house with twists and turns. It's a scrap of paper passed to her during class, and all it says is "you love her and you know it". It's fucking genius.

Vol 8 is a mad dash and a chaotic scramble to sort out her feelings. It's never been this hectic before. She pulls out all the stops. There are stressful moments throughout the series, but for the first time, it feels like Sorawo genuinely might break under the pressure. She goes as far as asking her classmate for advice. I think vol1 Sorawo might choke out vol8 Sorawo for even thinking about doing that. She's scrambling through town asking everyone everything she can and all the way throughout she's being haunted, tormented, tossed around like a plastic bag through dimensions. She's fighting for her life.

All of this culminates in the single greatest chapter of any romance story I've ever seen. The 80 or so pages that have potentially ruined all other romance for me. If you got your hands on the original manuscript, tore out Accomplices No More and processed it into a drink, I'm certain you'd have made a love potion. File 26 feels like a fucking galactic event. A nuke could have dropped on them during their talk and I doubt it would have made into the footnotes. Any burglar trying to break in would be torn apart on the atomic level by the sheer level of desperate love on display. I'm surprised neither of them had a heart attack. I'm not surprised by the lack of Otherside interference - whatever it is, whoever it is trying to make use of it, at this moment, even God knows better than to try. Calling it cathartic feels like an insult.

Sorawo and Toriko sit down, pick up volumes 1-7 of Otherside Picnic, and take a leisurely stroll through every second of their time together, from the moment they first met, to the Big Bang of yuri currently occuring. It's love. It's always been love. Toriko lets her into her apartment. Sorawo doesn't care anymore. She accepts that she's not like other people. She accepts that she doesn't love like others do. She accepts that she doesn't think of people like other people do. She accepts that she loves Toriko. Their feelings fly off the page like a meteor shower.

Sorawo has never been interested in Toriko's past, because Toriko's present is so radiant nothing else matters. That's fine. She loves her.

Sorawo has never thought of Toriko in a sexual way, and how could she have? Have you ever wanted to fuck the sun? Even if Sorawo wasn't ace, I don't think she could have felt differently in this moment. That's fine. She loves her.

Sorawo has never wanted for them to become lovers, because, in her eyes, they were far, far beyond that point. That's fine. She loves her.

Sorawo has seen herself through Toriko's eyes in the past. It brought her to tears. I wonder, how Toriko would react to seeing herself through Sorawo's eyes?

Toriko's love is a lot more typical in comparison, but she loves her just as much as Sorawo loves her. Sorawo confuses her. "This girl keeps staring at me". "She wants to spend all her time with me". "She gets jealous of me". "She protects me at the cost of herself". To Toriko (and literally everyone else who has ever seen the two together for more than two seconds, including the fucking esoteric eldrich beings from beyond the realm of human imagination who don't even know what the fuck feelings even are), the way Sorawo acts towards her can be nothing but love.

Written from Toriko's perspective, Otherside Picnic is a romcom about a Canadian lesbian who progressively goes more and more insane over the fact that her hot, nerdy crush won't go out with her despite not even trying to hide the fact it's mutual, with a mild subplot about some monsters or whatever. At this point, I could argue that Toriko isn't even especially fearless or anything, and that the reason she handles the Otherside so well is because she's too thrown off by the densest lesbian to ever walk the earth to spare a thought to whatever the fuck the Otherside is trying to do. Maybe she'd be more shook by her ex being turned into the Grooming Devil if she wasn't busy writing a 50-page essay titled "What The Fuck Am I Doing Wrong" in her head at the same time.

Jokes aside, Toriko's love for Sorawo really is just as big as Sorawo's love for her. Toriko might be a bit rough around the edges, and she herself admits she's not great with people. Toriko got books on childhood trauma so she wouldn't hurt Sorawo by accident. Toriko has been agonizing potentially having overstepped Sorawo's boundaries. Toriko knows she's hurt Sorawo before, both on purpose and by accident, and she hates herself for it. Toriko lets her into her apartment, something she's never done for anyone else before, and she tells Sorawo everything she's afraid of telling other people.

She loves Sorawo. Not the cool, smart Sorawo, the fearless Sorawo, the Sorawo that treats the Otherside like an adventure. She loves Sorawo. The cool, smart, fearless, weak Sorawo. The jealous, pathetic loner Sorawo. The dense, ovethinking Sorawo who can't hold her composure. The heroic Sorawo. The Sorawo that says she doesn't care about people. The Sorawo who faced hell for her. The Sorawo who wouldn't let her go. The Sorawo she wouldn't let go.

The moment Sorawo and Toriko sit down in her apartment, all doubts of whether or not they love each other are incinerated. All that's left is to clear up any misunderstandings, and figure out where to go from here.

Toriko places lovers above accomplices, Sorawo does the opposite. Misunderstanding resolved. Toriko says she loves Sorawo, Sorawo responds in kind. All clear. Sorawo thinks that maybe it's not romantic, Toriko isn't buying it, in the end, the label feels meaningless. It's love regardless. Toriko is worried her advances went too far. Sorawo doesn't get much out of the kissing, but absolutely doesn't mind it. We're getting somewhere. Before a label is decided for their relationship, Toriko admits she wants to have sex. Sorawo doesn't get the hype, but she's down. They have boring, normal, incredibly disappointing sex, and get nowhere.

If this is as far as it went, I could see Sorawo compromising and labeling them as a couple. I don't think sexual incompatibility could ruin their relationship. Toriko would be disappointed, but they'd happily work out some kind of compromise and end up a happy couple. Happily ever after.

Thankfully, Toriko is horny as hell, a bit mean, and a sore loser. Turned on, next to her beloved, her pride as a second generation lesbian having suffered critical damage, she mutters about taking care of business herself, something I'm sure is partly just an actual idea she had, but also as a bit of a mean jab against Sorawo.

Sorawo's internal monologue following this statement is the best string of letters and symbols I've ever seen in my life. I'm fully aware I'm still riding the hype and not being objective. I don't care. As of writing this, I don't think anything I've ever read or ever will read will ever reach the heights of Sorawo discovering what a kink is. 16 hours later, I'm staring at it, and I'm still floored. I imagine I still will be a week later. I would do deplorable things to get Iori Miyazawa to write a version of this scene from Toriko's perspective. I'd go as far as watching Hibike Euphonium if it made him put his pen to paper.

Toriko's offhanded remark leads right into the most insane sex (???) scene I've ever seen. I could wax poetic for days, words just don't do it justice. To begin with, it's beautiful, romantic, erotic, absolutely hilarious, as well as just a touch terrifying. It fits thematically, both in the obvious sense of it being kind of horrifying, but it also touches on the overarching themes of the story.

The horrors of the Otherside are often used to represent abuse, and a big part of Sorawo's character is coming to terms with her abuse by both claiming the Otherside for herself, as well as fighting against the horrors representing her abusers. Using these powers in such a loving, passionate way that stands as a direct counter to the Otherside is an incredible middle finger to their abusers as well as the powers that be. Come what may, they can't be broken, and together, they can heal.

It's also relevant to the struggles Sorawo has throughout the series. She's not like other people. She doesn't think like other people. She struggles with societal expectations and labels. On top of that, both her and Toriko have been irreversibly changed by the Otherside. Sorawo is pushed by others to label their relationship, she's pushed by Toriko to conform to typical sexuality. Of course the normal sex was terrible - neither of them are normal, and once they accept that, they're rewarded with reality breaking sex that puts the horrors of the Otherside to shame.

Lastly, it's also the final piece required for them to fully accept each other. Throughout the series, they push and pull each other through various misunderstandings and such. Once the misunderstandings are cleared up, the issue that remains is that they're incredibly scared to hurt each other. Sorawo is scared of driving Toriko crazy with her eye. Toriko is scared of… whatever the hell her hand can do to Sorawo. The thing that finally clicks is simple - they're scared of hurting each other, but neither of them are scared the other would hurt them. They're scared of hurting each other, but the thought of being hurt themselves doesn't even occur to them, and since they trust each other with their lives, there's no reason to be afraid.

Rationally, I can look at this sequence of events and understand that it's only four pages or so long, but I don't think I'll ever be able to wrap my brain around it. It's a masterpiece.

Once they're done inflicting permanent mental damage on me, the Otherside, as well as everyone in a 5-mile radius, they go back to labels. Suddenly, the idea of normal is a lot less interesting for the both of them. At this point, it doesn't matter what they call each other. With the nerdiest justification ever put to paper, they label themselves after some weird, esoteric Japanese beast. Why not?

I'm usually not a fan of the "we don't need a label" trope in yuri, as it's usually used as a copout to avoid labelling the characters as queer. Otherside Picnic is like the polar opposite of that. It's not trying to avoid labelling the characters as queer. I think it just invented a whole new brand of queer. I'm exceptionally happy about how it handles the topic of sexuality, from Toriko's lesbian mothers, to Toriko herself, to Sorawo's asexuality, to whatever the fuck they did to each other.

Given that Iori Miyazawa could be called the father of "yuri of abscence", as funny as the memes are, and as sure as I was that he was mostly joking, I was still a bit worried that Sorawo and Toriko would end up being ambiguous. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Iori Miyazawa really said "a bench by the sea with room for two is yuri. You know what else is yuri? Two women having sex". What an incredible man. What an incredible story. I don't know what I'll do with myself once it's over.

[hurpdurpburps]

Otherside Picnic Manga Yuri Club Special Story 1 English Translation

It has recently come to my attention that Japanese animanga merch store Gamers (ゲーマーズ)'s Yuri Club (百合部) benefits programme's publication of the OP manga series come with an exclusive bonus short story for every volume (not the same as the Kozakura POV shorts).

Since I haven't come across any English translations of these bonus stories online, and they seem unlikely to receive official English licensing, I've decided to translate them myself and share them with the internet.

You can check out the official Yuri Club website if you wish to find out more (Japanese-only).

-

SPOILER WARNING: Takes place immediately before the events of File 3 - Station February in Vol 1 of the novels.

Written by: Miyazawa Iori

Translated by: @hurpdurpburps

-

Chapter 1: Shinjuku, The First Meet-Up

As it was my first time meeting up with someone in Shinjuku, I asked about where we should meet.

A message saying "I don't know, I'm not very familiar with Shinjuku," returned in response.

What an unreliable woman. You’re the one who insisted on having an afterparty…

I was glaring at the screen of my smartphone when the next message appeared along with a goofy pop-up sound effect. "You can pick a spot, Sorawo."

You’re not supposed to say "You can pick a spot". Shouldn’t you be saying "Could you pick a spot, please?" [1]

Oh, whatever. She helped me out when we encountered Hasshaku-sama the other day, so I'll pick a meeting place as a way of returning the favour…

After consulting the internet, I decided for us to meet at 4.30pm in front of an installation called "The Eye of Shinjuku". From there, we would make our way to the commercial district along the West Exit of the station and pick a restaurant at random.

It's going to be early Friday evening, so it shouldn't get too crowded yet… Is that too optimistic of me? No, I'm sure it'll be fine. This is Tokyo, there are lots of shops, I’m sure it’ll work out somehow.

With excessive trust in Tokyo's crowd capacity that was typical of someone from the countryside, I informed Toriko of the meeting place.

The next evening. The station's layout was more complicated than I thought, so I got a little lost. I cut through the underground hurriedly and finally arrived at my destination five minutes late. Toriko, who was leaning against “The Eye of Shinjuku' - a shining eye-shaped object against a black stone wall, waved as soon as she saw me.

Toriko stood out, so she'd caught my eye before `"The Eye of Shinjuku" did, which was supposed to have been the focal point of attention. Perhaps we might have been able to catch each other anyway if I’d gotten Toriko to stand at a random location.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

"No, it's okay. I just got here." [2]

"When did you actually arrive?"

"About fifteen minutes ago, I think."

"… That's a little early?"

"I was looking forward to it!"

Toriko was in a good mood despite having been kept waiting, and looked like she was about to start hopping around.

"Let's hurry up. I haven't eaten anything since I woke up, so I'm really hungry."

"Fine, fine. Well, um… I guess it’s this way."

Together with Toriko, I started walking towards the West Exit.

"By the way, why did you choose this side of the station? Isn't the East Exit side more bustling?"

"Well, that side seems a little scary… Isn't Kabukicho or whatever over there?"

"Yeah. Haven't you been there?"

"Absolutely not. Isn't it scary?"

"No it’s not. There’s lots of stuff over there, like a movie theatre. It's annoying when people call out to you when you're alone, though."

"It's scary after all."

"It'll be fine, I’m with you. Wanna head over there now?"

"Nope, I’m good. Maybe next time if I feel like it." [3]

As we engaged in frivolous conversation, I was suddenly struck by a strange feeling. Meeting up with a friend to go drinking made me feel like an ordinary college student. I wasn’t planning on going to the Otherside today, had a surplus of cash in my pocket, and I didn't have my gun with me either.

So even I can do something like that…

As I indulged myself in the sentiment, I walked side-by-side with Toriko through the streets of Shinjuku, where bars were starting to open for business.

TL Notes

General note: I adopted a more 'literary' prose style to match the tone of the novels. Hence, the translation in this series will be significantly more liberal than my usual analytical posts. Feel free to ask me anything. Feedback regarding translation accuracy is also welcome.

[1] The original Japanese here says 決めていいよじゃないよ。決めていただけませんか、じゃないの？

TLDR Sorawo is just being petty and griping about Toriko's not using formal/polite language for what was essentially a request/favour while not having the 'moral high ground' so to speak.

[2] More of a cultural note than a translation one. These two lines are something of a standard greeting for scenes depicting a (new-ish) couple going on a date.

And also throwback!!!! To their conversation at Shosen Grande when Sorawo was waiting for Toriko before their second trip to the Otherside in Vol 1 (File 2 - Hasshaku-sama survival).

“Did I keep you waiting?” “Fifteen minutes.” “Isn’t this where you’re supposed to say, ‘I just got here’?” “Did you think this was a date or something?” I said curtly, heading outside without listening to her response.

Gotta love how Sorawo just punched through social niceties and interrogated Toriko about the truth. But more importantly she didn't call out Toriko again on the date-ish line lol.

[3] Vol 5 foreshadowing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 'Nuff said.

List of Yuri Club's Otherside Picnic Short Stories [my translations]:

1. Shinjuku, The First Meet-Up (新宿、初めての待ち合わせ)

2. Hasshaku-sama Epilogue (八尺様エピローグ)

3. Ochanomizu, The First Afterparty (お茶の水、初めての打ち上げ)

4. Ikebukuro, Cafe Meal For One (池袋、ひとりカフェ飯)

5. Naha, After The Big Job (那覇、大仕事の後)

6. Ishigaki Island, A Dazed Vacation (石垣島、呆然のリゾート)

7. Mercedes AMG, The Backseat (メルセデスAMG、後部座席)

8. Otherworldly Elevator, On The Way Back (異世界エレベーター、帰路)

9. Kozakura Mansion, Pizza Party (小桜屋敷、ピザパーティー)

10. Ikebukuro Bookstore, Meet Up (池袋の書店、待ち合わせ)

11. Hannou, In The Car From The Station (飯能、駅からの車中)

12. TBD

[arienai]

You've heard the Miyazawa memes, now it's time to

Read Otherside Picnic

A post by me

What is it? Otherside Picnic is a book series by Japanese author Iori Miyazawa. They are often called light novels for marketing purposes, but are technically considered "full" science fiction novels. The series is loosely based off of Soviet science fiction novel Roadside Picnic, which itself inspired the film Stalker as well as the video game STALKER.

What is it about? At its core, Otherside Picnic is about two girls who stumble into a weird alternate universe filled with creatures from Japanese internet myths and creepypastas. They go into that world frequently to explore it.

It is primarily a series of novels as I mentioned, however, there are also anime and manga adaptations.

Otherside Picnic is yuri (F/F), explicitly so, however, only the novels have reached this point in the story. If you want canon lesbians, you want to read the novels. I cannot stress this enough.

Okay but what about the characters, are they good? I'm super biased but honestly these are some of the most tumblrina characters I've seen in a while and I'm shocked they aren't more popular.

Sorawo Kamikoshi had a deeply traumatic childhood (though she likes to deny it) and today is a self professed "grumpy otaku" at university who is extremely into spooky shit and creepypastas, which she tends to infodump about. She is very bad at making friends and before discovering the Otherside she often spent her time watching Dark Souls Let's Plays and Minecraft build videos. No, like, canonically. She is a huge loser and I love her so much.

Toriko Nishina was born and raised in Canada with her two lesbian moms but now she's going to university in Japan. She is extremely gay and knows it but is also a complete disaster about it. She has an outgoing personality but struggles to make friends unless she's attaching herself to a new cute girl. I don't want to get too far into spoiler territory but she has a violent streak and has some hot and extremely badass Tiktok Lesbian With an Axe moments.

There are a lot of other great characters too, but you'll have to read to meet them!

And it's explicitly gay, you say? YES, this is a lesbian romance story. Girls hold hands. Girls kiss (with tongue!) Girls ogle other girls' boobs. Apparently the latest volume (not yet available in English) amps it up even more 😳

You're telling me it's literally gay despite being written by the meme "yuri is two wild beasts/a field/etc." Guy? Yes.

Where did the memes come from then? They come from a couple of interviews with Miyazawa where he compared various abstract concepts to yuri. Some of this can be seen in his work, but for the most part it is a straightforward and easy to read lesbian story.

Okay! Where do I read it!: Since they are novels you can find them at many bookstores! You can also buy the ebooks for relatively cheap and read them on your phone.

I hate reading, can't I do the manga/anime? You can if you want but the anime doesn't really go beyond flirty territory with the two girls and the manga is still ongoing and hasn't hit the gay stuff yet. So it's up to you.

Is the series finished? No, it's ongoing. There are currently seven volumes available in English. But we have an extremely dedicated fanbase. Join ussssss you know you want to. Look at these two cuties

Anyway I have so many good things to say about this series, I love the way the main characters are outcasts who come together and help each other learn to love themselves. I love the spooky setting, I love the side characters and of course I love how gay it is, I feel like most weirdo disaster gays on here will find something here to like. And the characters are in their 20's!!! That's still relatively young but it's so nice to read gay stuff about people who are old enough to drink (which they do a lot of).

So yes in closing

Read Otherside Picnic

[tragicnpc]

Here’s a link to what I’ve collected from twitter :> https://imgur.com/a/MDa7CcD

is there a compilation of all of shirakaba's otherside picnic art anywhere? the novel covers and illustrations are easy to access but some of the things they've posted on social media are hard to find sometimes

[b-kut]

"OKAY?" SORAWO WTF

[yuri-ray]

No-Spoilers Review #1: Otherside Picnic (Urasekai Picnic)

Content Warnings: guns, general horror genre themes and visuals

Starting with a series I own in print, it's Otherside Picnic by Iori Miyazawa, a novel series with manga and anime adaptations. This series is half horror and half yuri romance, about two university students exploring and being harrowed by a world full of urban legend horrors.

Is it good? Yes! I recommend it very highly to anybody who can take a little horror.

After all... as the author said himself... "This too is yuri."

Before I start, yes, it's THAT Iori Miyazawa who popularized the concept of "yuri of absence" in a batshit crazy pair of interviews. I think a lot of people would read that and assume that his actual work, Otherside Picnic, is full of bait and subtext. It's not. It's a slow-burn, sure, but it's legitimately canon and it's really good, OK? This guy knows what he's doing.

Anyway...

Our two leads are two university students, Sorawo Kamikoshi (the brown-haired girl in the art) and Toriko Nishina (the blonde girl). All of Otherside Picnic is told from Sorawo's perspective. While urban exploring, Sorawo stumbles upon a portal to the Otherside, a dangerous realm of urban legends and internet horrors (imagine famous Japanese creepypastas). She meets Toriko and they explore the Otherside and how its horrors leak into the real world and their perceptions, pulling them in and becoming more dangerous over time.

What I love most about Otherside Picnic is how complicated Sorawo and Toriko are as people. Sorawo is both extremely relatable at times and also extremely unrelatable at others. She is not a self-insert protagonist in the slightest, and she's not even a good person. She doesn't care about others very much. Meanwhile, Toriko has some difficulties with social situations and is overall a pretty normal (in comparison) likeable person with realistic worries. The two of them become closer organically and, yes, they do kiss eventually. No one is an idiot and all of their conflicts make sense.

The horror is also good and well-executed. It's decently scary and the world of the Otherside is intriguing and unpredictable, but not in any bullshit way. The horror drives the plot just as much as the romance does, and the manga does an amazing job bringing the novel's descriptions to life with creative paneling and art.

A supporting character, Kozakura, is that classic maligned trope of an adult that looks very young because she's short. However, Kozakura genuinely acts like a normal independent adult, and is a very likeable character who is the voice of reason.

As a side note, Iori Miyazawa also happens to like guns. The leads carry them as defense against malicious Otherside entities and there's a scene where Sorawo expresses pretty abject disgust at a tank designed to kill civilians, so it's not pro-military or whatever. It doesn't go in-depth because neither Sorawo nor Toriko care for them.

Final thoughts:

THE ANIME IS REALLY BAD. It totally misses the point and all of the things that really makes this series stand out--the episodes got shuffled for no reason which caused plotholes and character progression issues galore, and it cuts out all of the scenes where Sorawo and Toriko actually talk properly to each other. Plus the budget is like, one corn chip.

THE MANGA IS REALLY GOOD. It takes a lot of care to really adapt everything from the novel, which means that although updates are slow, you get to see everything Sorawo feels and thinks.

This series is one of my top favorite yuris, which I recommend to basically anyone who likes romance and doesn't mind some spooky visuals (or anyone who likes horror and doesn't mind some girls navigating complex feelings). It has close to no explicit gore. I'm currently up to date on everything... I can write a lot more on this, but these are my spoiler-free thoughts. The title references Roadside Picnic (the inspiration for the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.) which is an inspiration for the series, but as I've never read it, I can't say more than that.

[dianight]

Okay, let’s do this.

I have finished volume 1 of Otherside Picnic. Spoilers ahead I suppose.

Ended up a bit long and not very connected, just my thoughts as organized as possible.

This hit me in a different way compared to the manga, because while in the manga you can see Sorawo’s fascination with Toriko, in the novel it’s actually even funnier because of how often she’s thinking about how beautiful she is, getting stunned looking at her or just having very lesbian thoughts. I thought it was exaggeration... lmao

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I’m reminded of how often I’ll try to recommend an upcoming anime to my friends, only for it to be in some form disappointing. As examples from this season: Yuusha ga Shinda [reminder for myself to write about this] or Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu. From past seasons: Mieruko-chan, Yugami-kun or Tsugumomo.

The general idea about these anime is that they might be (very often not) good anime, but the manga is going to be superior most of the time. Whether it is because the gags fit better in manga form (Mieruko-chan), it is a subpar adaptation (Otherside Picnic !!!!) or because it doesn’t reach the “good part” in a season or two (Tsugumomo, Yugami-kun), in the end, for me to recommend this series (keyword) to people I would simply point to the manga instead.

That is to say, some series are a better fit for a particular medium. I believe that Otherside Picnic is just better as a novel. Having (more of) the inner thoughts of Sorawo so you truly feel how she sees the world is superior to the manga, where a paragraph of inner monologue might get reduced to one or two sentences.

Speaking of, even on volume 1 you can see how everyone is SO weird. Sorawo is the weirdest by far. “Yeah, my childhood was pretty average. My mom dies, my dad and grandma join a cult. There’s some beef with some other cult (?), so I spend most of high school in random places just so I don’t have to be home. Then people try to kill/kidnap me, and I had the brilliant idea of using KEROSENE to burn my family, but they got lost and died. Oh well, you know, your usual japanese childhood.”

Like memes aside, she needs to work through some (a lot) of stuff, but her serious problems also get eclipsed by her tendency to stare at Toriko while thinking about how hot/beautiful/amazing she is, and then ignore those feelings completely. When people joke about how so in denial she is, it is not an exaggeration. I lost count of all the times she compliments Toriko in her head. Several times per file.

Toriko is also out there, although in volume 1 it might not be apparent by itself. Ordering food just to watch Sorawo eat, some of the things she does/says to her would make me think she’s coming on to me, and despite how warped Sorawo’s worldview is she is rightfully scared of how casual Toriko is with handling guns. Granted, the Otherside is dangerous, so eventually one would get used to it I assume, but Toriko sees nothing wrong at all even when pointed out.

Example of how great they are for each other:

Kozakura gets her own introduction and her own (shared with Sorawo) file. Her weirdness might not be visible right away, but it’s there. She “collects” artifacts from the Zone... I mean Otherside, paying an absurd[1] amount for the Kunekune’s cube. She keeps a shotgun in her house. She is also willing to stay in the Otherside, in pajamas and sandals, if it means that she might see Satsuki.

Yeah, those last two might actually be on the “normal” side considering the circumstances and relationship with Satsuki.

All of that to say: Sorawo is a fucking weirdo, but I was honestly surprised at seeing Toriko’s behavior from Sorawo’s perspective (compared to the manga I mean). I genuinely feel like she was trying to flirt with Sorawo, intentional or not I don’t know yet. It is hard to tell, made more confusing by this part:

If we take her word, she does come of as kind of reserved (shy?) when talking to other people (men(!)) so I would assume she is trying to get closer to Sorawo (in her own way) but she is just that dense and we read it through that lens, so it might have been ultra obvious for anyone other than Sorawo and we readers can’t tell because of it (or it’s a me problem and I’m reading too much into it).

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Overall, I think reading the manga first might have been good. I can look at their actions and get even more confused. Instead of thinking of how weird they are, I’m thinking “are they just weird or really bad at comunicating” (or both).

To finish off, a bad poem (Ctrl+F beautiful):

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[1] A million yen is ~6700€, which means they get 3350€ for risking their lifes to bring back an artifact (if Kozakura buys it, which she didn’t when they brought back Hasshaku-sama’s hat). It might actually be a reasonable amount considering the risk of not getting paid + the dangers of the Otherside.

[fishing-lesbian-catgirl]

I've been wanting to start reading Otherside Picnic, but I gotta know up front.... does Sorawo EVER figure it out?

(also is the manga good, or should I go with the light novel?)

The manga is good but the light novels are better. As for the Sorawo question, this is kind of spoilers so read at your own risk I guess: mostly yes. She very explicitly learns that Toriko is in love with her and finds herself saying and feeling that she loves Toriko. But as a deeply traumatized person who struggles with understanding her own emotions, Sorawo, at the point in the novels that I’ve read up to (book 8 is releasing in English soon and prepubs are being read early by some people but not me) Sorawo is trying to work through her emotions about Toriko. She loves her but she doesn’t know if she loves her in the same way, she just wants them to be together forever, even though she’s currently not comfortable with the more physical aspects of a relationship

[animehouse-moe]

The Weird And Interesting Existence of Japanese Manga Magazines

I don't exactly have 30,000 different magazine issues across countless publishers and demographics, but I do have a few (because they have some of my favorite series on the covers), and flipping through them they're all very different to one another, and interesting in their own ways, so I wanted to show just how different, unique, and even at times worth it, these magazines are to NA readers.

⚠️Warning: Minor/Mild Spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen, Otherside Picnic, and Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun⚠️

I'm going to break it down by magazine, and I'm going to go left to right from the above image. I'll be talking about bonuses, pricing, quality, content, and a few other observations throughout these three magazines.

Monthly Shounen Gangan

Unsurprisingly, the monthly magazine is better quality than the weekly one. Monthly Shounen Gangan is a monthly shounen manga magazine under Square Enix and carries titles such as: Otherside Picnic (manga adaptation of the LN, and the cover of the issue), Daemons of The Shadow Realm, Final Fantasy: Lost Stanger, and a few others. I wouldn't call it a "packed" magazine per se, but it's definitely got a list of recognizable titles to it.

Anyways, getting into the numbers of this magazine, they're as follows:

Cost -> 650Yen

Number of Chapters -> 21

Number of Bonuses -> 1

Build / Print Quality -> 6/10

Number of Color Pages -> 4

So, only one bonus, but I think it's a pretty solid one, as it's an Otherside Picnic clearfile. Not exactly a super decorative or functional bonus, but I really like the art on it so I'm happy with it.

Anyways, into some more detailed information about the magazine issue. The paper itself is very smooth, though it's quite literally paper thin. You won't have any real issues with it, but in lighter or blank areas on the page you can very easily see through to the next page. Similarly, the quality of the ink is pretty hit and miss. Lighter and more gray colors are preserved and displayed quite well, but anything close to or right at black is very spotty and grainy. It even shows in the black used for the panels. I don't think it's something that will really get in the way of reading the issue (if you want to do that), but I also wouldn't say it's all that great.

Weekly Shounen Jump

Weekly Shounen Jump from Shueisha is arguably the biggest/most popular magazine for manga. It's got to be accessible, it's got to be quick and it's got to be highly available. Carrying manga monsters like: Jujutsu Kaisen, Sakamoto Days, My Hero Academia, Black Clover, and countless more titles. But does it hold up?

Well, these numbers/thoughts speak to that ability.

Cost -> 290Yen

Number of Chapters -> 19

Number of Bonuses -> 0

Build / Print Quality -> 3.5/10

Number of Color Pages -> 4

So, there you have it. Dirt cheap and highly available magazines require the lowest of standards to get out there. Now, a 3.5/10 might seem a little low, but trust me when I say that this thing is barely readable. The inking is as light as possible to save a Yen or two where they can, and the pages themselves are colored, and they're not even all the same color. It's absolutely something I wouldn't recommend trying to read from period, even if it's less than $3 USD. In reality, for a North American/English reader base, this is a collectable item purely for the covers/color pages.

Yeah, I know this page isn't really a great example of the issues with the inking and page colors, but it's one of the few pages from the JJK chapter that isn't a massive spoiler for readers. Instead, take a look at this view of the open end of the magazine.

Monthly G-Fantasy

And last, but certainly not least, we've got another magazine from Square Enix: Monthly G-Fantasy. Interestingly enough, this magazine started off as a special issue of Monthly Shounen Gangan all the way back in 1992, but found its way into a fully fledged magazine of its own, sporting popular titles like Hanako-Kun, and well, a lot of titles that I don't really know that much about. Anyways, how does this second helping from Square Enix match up against its progenitor?

Cost -> 650Yen

Number of Chapters -> 22

Number of Bonuses -> 2

Build / Print Quality -> 8.5/10

Number of Color Pages -> 5

A quick interlude to show off the bonuses. You get a (one-sided) poster, and a really cool special edition dust jacket for Hanako-kun (that you have to cut out). Really awesome pieces to add to the issue.

Yeah, I didn't really expect it either. G-Fantasy knocks it out of the park as a magazine, especially at its price point when compared to Shounen Gangan. The paper quality itself is pretty comparable, as both are somewhat thin yet very smooth, but the ink quality for G-Fantasy is just way ahead of Gangan. Really, if it's not better than a lot of Viz manga in terms of ink quality, it's at the very least on par with it. Wholeheartedly, I'd say that it's a better read than most modern regular sized viz manga. Massive trim size with nice paper and lovely ink quality, there's not a whole lot to complain about when you think about it being around half the price of a viz volume for such a large amount of content. So yeah, if you like Hanako-Kun, and potentially some of the other titles in here, and you want to work on your Japanese (and like bonus stuff), there's not really a big reason or limiter in keeping up with G-Fantasy.

And just a bit of a closing statement/final remark on these magazines. Alongside the chapters, the advertisements and information within were all super interesting. They were sorta all over the place, ranging from ads for pop up shops or merchandise to character information and statements to all sorts of polls and opinion panels. It's a really interesting look into how the culture surrounding manga works in Japan.

So, at the end of the day I definitely think that the monthly magazines are more likely to be worth it for NA readers, but if you're a collector and want to have a cover for your favorite series, I wouldn't really say it's a waste of money at the end of the day.

[mjintm]

"Do you really think that?"

When Satsuki looked up at Sorawo to ask this, best believe my heart skipped a beat too.

Satsuki truly is an alpha woman.