500https://i.ur.com/KSPwC9q.jpg ...Lets talk about absurdism shall we? Ive gone onhttps://anilist.co/review/anime/2134 recordhttps://anilist.co/review/manga/2327 saying I really dont like things that are just weirdness for the sake of weirdness. There has to be something beyond the weirdness. Whether its an interesting character story or just neat art. Daidai wa Hantoumei ni Nidone suru was the first manga of Youichi Abehttps://anilist.co/staff/108865/YouichiAbe that Ive read but I read it without realizing I had also previously been planning to read one of his other manga that apparently features a guy with a fishbowl for a head.https://anilist.co/manga/68111/ChimoguriRingotoKingyobachiOtoko I planned on reading that one because I saw the cover which featured a guy with a fishbowl for a head and need to know what the fuck its about and how the fishbowl guy comes into play. Then on another day I saw this mangas cover that features a girl appearing to cradle the severed head of another girl. If nothing else weirdness for the sake of weirdness still manages to almost immediately capture my attention if its done effectively. And when I saw the cover of this manga given the very brief but completely fitting description there is for it The bizarre everyday life stories of the citizens of a coastal port town. I needed to know the context for it. And naively I doubted the extent of how far it was actually going to go when I started reading it. Also I should state that it is the VERY first chapter. 440https://i.ur.com/2IqcWen.png ...If the entirety of the story of the girl and the severed head were its own thing like a oneshot or something Id probably give it a full out 100 out of 100. Speaking as a person who is a fan of horror and generally just fucked up and creepy shit this was really fucking effective. I dont want to go into it too hard since I genuinely recommend reading this series and its definitely better the less you know but... like going from the murder to just her picture on the coffin staring right at the reader was just... 440https://i.ur.com/xiIUVq2.png 440https://i.ur.com/AMZyi6G.png This story is just so effectively creepy and messed up but then there are genuinely heartwarming moments. I kind of couldnt fucking wrap my head around it but its wonderful. TGG did you just say there was a heartwarming moment in this story about a girl having her head cut off? Im calling the police. Please dont. Additionally I didnt even realize this when I first read it but it was foreshadowed from the very start. Simultaneously bluntly yet subtly as well... then again I should reiterate I really didnt think this was gonna go quite as far as it did. 440https://i.ur.com/hxnaH9O.jpg To be fair there is actual context for these mannequin heads but I dont buy the idea that Youichi Abe didnt go full creepy mannequin on purpose given the rest of this story. I would never go into a barbershop with these fucking mannequin heads in the window by the way. Though as previously stated this is in fact not a oneshot but rather a series. What is the rest of this series about if not the severed head story? Lets get to that right now. The actual real absurd stuff this series has to offer. A couple of additional thoughts that go further but are spoilery. A Normal Coastal Town 440https://i.ur.com/CHmxShx.jpg The genuinely dark and creepy story this series starts out with takes a rather strange turn and actually goes with a somewhat lighthearted but strange ending. In the next chapters we start to see more and more of the other residents of this town. With the very next character introduced its shown clearly that this town is a haven of strangeness. As maybe Im just uninformed on the subject of heart diseases but I dont think theres a disease that will result in a person literally exploding into bits if their hearts starts beating too rapidly. ...Then theres the girl who claims to be battling off aliens that have come to invade the town in the various forms of several different types of sealife and she does this by just beating the ever living hell out of so many squids that the waters of this town turn entirely black with the ink of all of the squids shes beaten to death. I believe my immediate reaction was I was wondering if I accidentally started reading an entirely different series. 440https://i.ur.com/dh2AQw2.png FEEL FREE TO TAKE BULLETS FOR FREE. Mind you this is not me saying I wasnt entertained. Anything but actually. I genuinely really loved almost the entirety of this manga. Like in this town theres just a vending machine where you can straight up buy guns just in case you need to go get vengeance upon your friend who murdered your beautiful beetle friend whom you loved. And if her mother gets in the way shes gonna catch some bullets as well. The absurd or crazy stuff of this series is in my opinion really well done. Because while it is a lot of just downright craziness I was really enjoying it and I was also invested in the characters. Also while my attention may seem focused on the severed head story there actually is some more creepiness in even the more absurd stuff. Like the idea of witnessing one of Santas reindeer brutally murdering Santa because they dont want to be Santa anymore and then that unstable reindeer following you home and demanding for you to take the place of Santa is... what? 440https://i.ur.com/uCr6DMn.png At multiple points of this manga I couldnt help but wonder how I was still taking this manga seriously. It should be complete nonsense but the way its done and shown it just works. The absurdity of the idea of Santas murderous talking reindeer aside its essentially an unstable character that has performed a murder coming to another character who witnessed the act and the murderer character is explaining why he did what he did and hes getting angry and starts slamming against the window... and like the girl is just inside terrified and trying to remain quiet. First of all I genuinely felt like the hiding girl actually had a chance of possibly getting impaled by those antlers as well but also the reindeer is just fucking losing it. What choice did I have? She didnt want to be Santa anymore SOMEBODY HAS TO DELIVER THE PRESENTS TO THE CHILDREN THE CHILDREN CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO BECOME SAD BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO PRESENTS. THATS WHY I IMPALED HER AND THREW HER OFF OF A BRIDGE. One of my other favorites was when a girl found out she has the ability to detach and launch one of her hands to perform a rocket punch and coincidentally a psychotic masked serial killer descends upon the public and she uses her rocket punch to... to not successfully stop the killer at all. Her rocket punch basically just bonks him and immediately causes his attention to turn towards her and her brother. 440https://i.ur.com/npj2kXc.png This guy doesnt even say a single fucking word. The idea of a completely silent masked maniac just showing up out of nowhere with a knife is... thats actually genuinely fucking terrifying. Where is the towns one single cop??? He shows up every single other time but when a masked killer just descends upon the town with knife in hand hes nowhere to be found until the issue is resolved and its time to lecture the young people. When the manga shifted away from the initial direction it was going in during the severed head story I was genuinely slightly kind of disappointed but the joke turned out to be on me. I was very happy when I realized the girl who fights fish aliens was going to be a recurring character. She and the grumpy cop make the majority of this manga. 440https://i.ur.com/fTDxC8r.png Absurdity With a Point...? While I feel the need to kind of write out my thoughts on this I must stress that if you are even 1 interested in actually reading this manga do not read any of the following spoiler tags. As they spoil basically the point of the series where I genuinely thought whether intended or not it transcended simple enjoyable absurdity and became brilliant. ...The more and more I think about it Im not sure if theres been another mangas that fucked with my mind as much as this one has. Mind you I should add to that in a positive way. I really was somewhat going into this expecting just weird but occasionally fun stuff happening. But even the really weird chapters in my opinion work on their own. Conclusion ...Im not guaranteeing that the result will be the same for others but I dont think this manga will fully ever leave my head. The creepy moments are genuinely fucking creepy and disturbing the absurd crazy stuff manages to hit that appropriate height where it manages to not get old and the severed head story is just so fucking... perfect and... horrifically sad. I give it a 9 out of 10. If you want to undergo a very wide range of emotions most likely including horrifically sad then this is the manga for you. Now if youll excuse me I need to go take some antidepressants. 500https://i.ur.com/gJxxnQ2.jpg