Reiji’s teacher, Ms Shiba, stops him and former idol Nagi from making a big mistake in the middle of a typhoon. But Reiji’s choice makes her reassess her own life and its shortcomings - and leads to her making her own, potentially dangerous, mistake.
Most manga that has a strong first volume usually drops off quite dramatically with the second. Maybe it’s because the first volume was middling that that didn’t happen here but Boy’s Abyss remains an intriguing series with Volume 2 as it expands its dark theme of modern despair with a new character in Ms Shiba.
It’s a good choice to grow the cast and develop the story at the same time, particularly as Shiba is an interesting character. The focus in the first book was on Reiji and Nagi, who are 17 and 20, while Shiba is an older character at 29, and feeling a whole different set of pressures that comes with age and its attendant milestones.
Shiba’s sympathetic and you get a sense of her own frustrations that comes with living the life she is in the same small town as Reiji. Ryo Minenami is showing the different forms of desperation and sadness that can exist in the same place with people of different ages and situations in a way that’s fitting, entertaining and clever.
It is odd how sex has played such a big part in both books considering the subject matter of suicide. While suicide is obviously an important issue to address, I hope the series doesn’t end up becoming basically softcore porn with emo overtones. The way Gen handled Nagi at the end of this book was plain weird (maybe hinting at Gen’s hidden sexuality - more small town, conservative mentality coming out) and the subplot of Chako and the mysterious author might end up in the same place as Reiji and Shiba.
It’s a very easy-to-read series and that’s a credit to Ryo Minenami’s skill as a writer and illustrator. Because it’s such a quick read though, it does feel insubstantial and too light. This is definitely one of those manga titles where you could easily pile up half a dozen books and get through them in no time, but mostly so that you get to read a complete arc that way rather than one book at a time. I don’t have a choice as I’m reading these as they come out but, future readers, if you’re interested in checking out this series, I’d recommend grabbing a bunch of these (or an omnibus edition) and reading it that way instead.
Minenami definitely has the pieces of a great story here but I haven’t seen him create anything especially brilliant with them - yet. I’m still on board for the series and hope it manages to get to the next elusive level of quality with future books. As it is, Boy’s Abyss, Volume 2 is a fine continuation of the story but so far it still feels like table-setting for something better.
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