AMAGI Yuiko no tsuno to ai ((A Horn and Love of AMAGI Yuiko))

This is the rst manga collection by KUNO, an active animation artist who previously worked on lms such as Airy Me (2015) and The Case of Hana & Alice (2015). This is actually a collection of four works: Tomei nin- gen (Invisible Person), which throws doubt on having to adjust to the opin- ions of others at school; IDOL, which questions the value of being a girl; Hebi ichigo (Mock-Strawberry), about a boy who wears a snake costume for a girl he is in love with; and AMAGI Yuiko no tsuno to ai, the three-install- ment story of a girl who grows a horn and her big brother. In these stories portraying little girls, KUNO’s anima- tion experience, including the unique use of perspective and camerawork, is put to effective use, and the theme of metamorphosis appears frequently in each story, connecting them as well as linking them to her earlier ani- mation work.

The illustrations are the rst things that catch the eye. KUNO’s work as an animation creator seems to enable her to precisely project the composi- tions, backgrounds, and character movements she want to depict, al- lowing the reader to enjoy the pure pleasure of reading manga. The author presents the classic manga theme of the trials and tribulations of boys and girls as only she can, through the fantastic perspectives of a boy who wears a full body suit for a girl he is in love with, and a girl who has grown a horn. Her illustra- tions are already ahead of her time, but it will be interesting to see what kind of world she creates from now on when her themes and ways of pre- senting them deepen further and are put together with her skillfully wrought images. (KADOKURA Shima)