Bryce's Blog

I hope everyone is having a good weekend, even if today is
only a reminder of the monotony that is to come.

Things have been going pretty well here, as I can still do
what I like.

Recently, I was looking through titles on Amazon and was
lucky enough to be able to pick up five titles for a good price, two of which
were for a series I felt like trying out.

Today, I will be reviewing one of those titles, which is
called For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams
Volume 1 by Kei Sanbe.

Senri Nakajou is a seemingly normal delinquent, who causes
problems for most the people in his life and does things end up with him
getting hurt.

However, 13 years ago, Senri had experienced a tragedy like
no other, in which his parents were killed and his brother, who vanished, was
killed shortly afterwards, and when the man he saw in a vision responsible for
his brother’s death shows up on a video, Senri is determined to hunt down and
kill him, but more questions than answers arise when his hunt begins.

While I did enjoy Boku Dake ga Inai Machi and at
least one other work from Kei Sanbe, I was kind of iffy as to whether or not I would
to see more from him, but I decided to give this series a shot, to see if the
creator really is only a one hit wonder, like Nobuhiro Watsuki and Tosgashi,
though people would probably argue with me on that, since they say that his
more recent series is far better than the one that put him on the map, or if
they can make another great work.

And after reading this, I have to say that I found it to be
okay.

Fortunately, there were a few things to like, so I do not
need to skip right into things that bothered.

From the moment that I opened up the book and started
reading the first few pages, I found myself to be so engrossed that that I did
not want to stop reading for any reason.

As I have said countless times, one of the most important
things in a work of fiction, especially the first installment of a series, is
how things begin, as the beginning is supposed to help the audience get that
temporary escape that they desire, since many use reading and watching films
and shows as a way to unwind from the stresses.

While this pull can be accomplished in many ways, depending
on the genre and medium used, this series is supposedly classified a
mystery, at least for now, though I cannot really say at this point, since it
is my first time reading this series, and that means that an overall mystery
must be presented and pique the interests of the reader or viewer, seeing as
this is not a traditional whodunnit kind of series.

Even though I am not particularly fond of how things began
in this volume, much like how I felt when I first read Boku Dake ga Inai
Machi, which I noted in both my reviews of the pilot
episode of the anime and the first volume
of the manga, because it seemed to not give too much time to really be able to
understand things or nothing really seemed to happen for much of the volume, it
did a good job of drawing me in, wondering what things will be like this time
around, though I was really wishing that it would not be yet another Boku
Dake ga Inai Machi.

If it failed to draw me in at all, I would have been really
disappointed, because one of Kei Sanbe’s strong suits is being able to start
his series fairly well, even if it might not be on the same level as that of
Kore Yamazaki or Jun Mochizuki, and by starting things off in a way that grabs
my attention, it would have shown that Kei Sanbe does not deserve the fame that
he does right now.

Thankfully, Kei Sanbe was able to start things off somewhat
well, and that makes me want to give them a barely passing grade.

Hopefully, things will improve as the series continues on,
as I would like to see Kei Sanbe deliver the same kind of enjoyment and
excitement that I had with Boku Dake ga Inai Machi, but, at this point,
I think things might go downhill from here quickly.

I also liked how I could get some laughs from this volume.

While there was not anything to really laugh about, since
things were mostly serious and getting established, I could still get some
laughs.

One of the most annoying things in the world of manga is how
many characters look the same to the point where you see them as the characters
one is already familiar with, and it does not really seem to challenge the
artists all that much, seeing as manga, like other comics, are made up of
images and text together, so the artwork has to be pretty good.

Yes, this kind of problem is going to be encountered when
reading stuff by the same creator, but, in some cases, that alone provides some
good humor.

Here, the main laugh for me was how Sachiko was apparently
going to be Satoru’s love interest this time.

Now, some of you guys may be weirded out, seeing and Satoru
and Sachiko had a mother and son bond, and were established to be parent and
child, but the two main characters in this volume, which are called Senri and
Enan respectively, look similar enough to Sachiko and Satoru that those that do
not know any better would think that they have the hots for each other.

If something like this had not happened, I would have found
myself to be a little more bored with things, while waiting for something to
happen, which would have made me less interested in trying out a couple or so
volumes, which would have made this volume a lot less enjoyable.

Fortunately, I was able to find some humor, made from my own
mind, so I was able to stick things out.

Hopefully, there can be some real humorous moments that can
generate a chuckle as this series continues, because I, like many others, would
like to see some not so serious moment, while Senri tries to find the man he
seeks, and that would help to keep things lively, but seeing as there are
currently only four volumes and fan translations are only up to the beginning
of volume 2, according to a page on Baka-Updates Manga, I would not be
surprised if the only humor I can find is from thinking of the characters
presents as characters I am familiar with.

The thing that I liked the most though is how this volume
ended.

Other than how things begin, the other important thing in a
work of fiction is how things end, because the ending is supposed to leave the
audience satisfied, if it is a standalone work or finale of a series, or, if it
is the first installment or another installment of a series, give the audience
reason to continue on with the series.

In case of this volume, things ended like they began, in an
okay manner, but when I was reading through it, I found myself wondering what
is going on and if the people that showed up at the end, as planned by a target
of Senri’s earlier in the volume, had anything to do with what was going on and
what was going to happen to Senri and what happened to the photo he found,
which made me want to find out what would happen as soon as possible.

While I am not too pleased with how things ended, much like
how things began, this was what I was also wishing to see out of an ending,
because it hit on everything necessary, though not necessarily to the degree
that I would have liked, since I do not get the excitement from glancing
through it that I did from actually reading through the volume.

If Kei Sanbe had written the final chapter in this volume
any worse or Kadokawa Shoten, or whoever they had put this volume together, I
would have given up on this series right here and now, because I do not want to
deal with this ending in a bad way again, and it would really make it seem like
Kei Sanbe is a one hit wonder, instead of somebody that is truly any good.

Thankfully, both Kei Sanbe and Kadokawa Shoten, or whoever
they had put this volume together, did not really make any big mistakes in
ending this, which makes me breathe a sigh of relief that things ended
decently.

Hopefully, future volumes will be able to end way better
than this one did but seeing as things are not really meeting even the most
minimal expectations too well, I would not be surprised if I have to tear into
this series in the near future.

Outside of those things, I cannot think of anything else
that I particularly liked, at least that could really make this book really
stand out.

Because things started off well enough to capture my
attention quickly and hold it up until the end, though not exactly perfectly,
there were things to laugh about, if you start thinking of characters as somebody
else, and the fact that the ending made me want to read the next volume as soon
as possible, at least while reading it, this was an okay read.

Although there were a few things that I liked, there are
some issues.

However, aside from things that are too minor to talk about,
such as typos, amnd things that would be expected in the first volume of the
series, only one thing really annoyed me, which was the fact that the volume
lacked the necessary vibe of originality.

One of the biggest problems with stories of any kind,
whether they be fictional or not, is that many stories are the same that from
beginning to end. There may be some things that are different here and there,
but they are mostly the same, which means that readers that want truly unique
stories will never be satisfied, and is also a reason why I do not consider
originality to be a huge deciding factor on whether something is good.

To deal with this issue, and give the audience a reason to
give them their money, writers and other creators need to give the audience the
impression that what they reading is different from what they encountered
before.

In a whodunit, this accomplished by utilizing tools like red
herrings to try and throw the reader off, and not have the usual suspects be
the ones responsible for a crime or mischievous incidents, and the tricks must
not be accomplished in a similar manner.

However, in this volume, there was no feeling that I was
reading an entirely new work. In fact, I felt like I was reading another
rendition, and inferior version, of Boku Dake ga Inai Machi.

The characters and there past were not the same, nor were
their pasts and presents the same, but it felt very much like the same setup,
and the thing that is supposed to be an interesting take on twin connection, in
which they can actually experience what the other experiences, including
visions of the actual incident, seems more like something to get things
started, like Satoru Fujinuma’s revivals, with a much greater feeling of it
that Kei Sanbe just created it for story purposes, rather than something in the
character that triggered it.

While I am willing to give some slack, seeing as this is
only the first volume, and manga series can take a while to get good, I cannot
really let Kei Sanbe go on this entirely because most of the other works he has
published seemed to be different, even from each other, and seeing this has
really disappointed.

Seriously, at this point, it seems like Kei Sanbe has only
become popular after he had hit his peak, rather than when he could deliver
something good, because I was really wishing I could like this series from
volume 1.

Unfortunately, with the way Kei Sanbe wrote and drew the
chapters contained, I do not think that Kadokawa Shoten, or whoever they had
put this volume together, could possibly find the right balance for the
appropriate number of chapters, nor do I feel like the editors and/or
proofreader Kadokawa Shoten really read through this stuff.

If Kei Sanbe had put more work into this, I might have been able
to enjoy this a whole lot more, and probably would have been able to find some
real enjoyable.

Sadly, Kei Sanbe failed this time around, which makes me a
little sad.

Hopefully, things will improve from here in future releases,
because the series does sound pretty from the summary found on Amazon, but I
really doubt that Kei Sanbe is going to deliver anything remarkable.

Thankfully, nothing else bothered me, so I can leave Kei
Sanbe and Kadokawa with some dignity in knowing that things were not quite bad
enough to make me want to forget this series.

While there was only one problem, the issue is one that
readers generally do not like to see at all, and it really hurt the book.

Despite the fact that there were a few things to like, the
fact that the only real negative outweighed the good made this only good enough
to kill time.

I mainly recommend this to fans of Kei Sanbe, as they will
likely this the most.

As for everyone else, it might be worth giving a try, but I
cannot really say that this series will be any good.

If you liked this review and would like to see more, please
consider supporting me on either Patreon or SubscribeStar, or if you would
like to give the reviewed title a try for yourself, buy
For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams Volume 1 from Book Depository, who
offers free shipping to many countries around the world, so I can find more
worthwhile reads for you guys to check.