Wayward, Vol. 1: String Theory

August 2022 Hoopla Bonus Borrows Recommendation

Ehhh it was ok. I found the intro pacing kinda slow. There was decent setup for the characters but there wasn't anything that really grabbed me off the bat that encouraged me to keep going. I saw someone else compare it to Spirited Away, and in the sense of the storyline I can see it. Like someone took the plot, but eliminated the magic that made Spirited Away so special. Idk just wasn't for me.

What can I say. The art is very good, especially the line work. However, the story just leaves me cold. Basically, it's a supernatural series set in modern Japan about a girl called Rori Lane who is a hāfu (lit. half), being a mixed-raised product of an Irish father and a Japanese mother. The story starts as Rori reunites with her mother in Japan following her parent's divorce. From the first few pages, we see Rori encountering a lot of legendary creatures of Japanese folklore (yōkai) as she ventures through the more seedy parts of Tokyo. However, I'd say that despite the plot being very fast-paced, it doesn't really do much in terms of exposition. It might be due to the fact that we're being introduced to a lot of characters, on top of all the yōkai that show up every couple of pages. Apart from the explanatory essays at the back regarding the supernatural creatures, not much was really explained so that it felt like we're being thrust from one plot point to the next without really knowing what's going on. We do get to see everything from Rori's perspective so we're offered glimpses of her personality. But then the other characters are a blank. Aside from their magical abilities, we don't really know much about them. Perhaps it's too much to ask from the first volume of an ongoing series, but hey, it is do-able with good plotting and a little character development.

I will probably give it another chance and pick up the next volume to see if there are any developments in the story. I really like the concept of a supernatural urban fantasy set in Tokyo, so I'll give it another try. The pretty art also helps in keeping my interest.