Okay, so, let’s talk about “Inside Mari”. I remember stumbling upon this manga, “Boku wa Mari no Naka”, a while back. It’s by this author, Shuzo Oshimi, who also did “The Flowers of Evil”. First, I just skimmed through the summary and thought, “Oh, body-swapping? Been there, done that.” But boy, was I wrong.
So I started reading. And reading. The story kicks off with this guy, Isao Komori. He’s a total shut-in, a college dropout, doesn’t even take out his own trash. The only thing that gets him out of his room is this high school girl, Mari, whom he sees at a convenience store every night. Then, bam! One morning, he wakes up, and guess what? He’s in Mari’s body. I mean, can you imagine? It’s nuts!
I kept reading, totally hooked. You’ve got this whole mystery of what happened to the real Mari, and why Isao is in her body. Then there’s this other girl, Fumiko. She’s like a split personality or a repressed memory. It gets really deep, man. Like, Fumiko represents some trauma Mari went through when she was a kid, lost her grandma, and her mom even changed her name. It got me thinking that maybe “Mari” isn’t even a real person, but just a mask, a personality everyone wants her to be.
The whole thing is like a puzzle, and I was trying to piece it all together as I read. This manga really messes with your head, you know? It’s not just a simple body-swap story. It’s way more psycho-analytical. I got totally invested in figuring out what was going on with Mari and Isao. Some people online were saying the ending was “too clean”, like a “wonderland”, and I kinda get it. It’s like, everything gets resolved a bit too neatly. But in the end, Mari, or the person Isao was while in her body, finds some kind of peace. She is reborn, I think that is the key. She is herself for the first time.
I finished it in one go, I think. It’s that kind of manga, you can’t put it down. I saw online it ended in “Manga Action” on September 6th. I felt this manga was super engaging, and it stuck with me for a while. It makes you think about identity, trauma, and what it really means to be “yourself.”
If you’re into psychological stuff, or just looking for a manga that’s different from the usual, definitely check out “Inside Mari”. It’s a wild ride.
