Boy's Abyss, Vol. 1

by Ryo Minenami

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Crossing between heavy, dark themes and a playful rom-com, this is a unique and engaging story meant for mature readers.

Self-serving adults and broken dreams push a teenage boy trapped in a dead-end town closer and closer toward the abyss.

Reiji’s life is as miserable as the small town he can’t escape. The most interesting thing that’s ever happened there is a double suicide down by the river. Does Reiji have any power over his fate, or will he too fall into the abyss?

Reiji’s mother is checked out, he’s stuck caring for his grandmother with dementia, and his childhood friend treats him like a lackey. Then beautiful, big-city pop star Nagi miraculously shows up working the counter at the local convenience store. Reiji is starstruck. When she offers him the ultimate way out of his claustrophobic existence, will he succumb to temptation...?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781974736683
Publisher:	VIZ Media LLC
Publication date:	04/25/2023
Series:	Boy's Abyss , #1
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	96,741
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Ryo Minenami was born in Tokyo, Japan. In 2006, he received an honorable mention in the Shogakukan 58th Rookie Comic Awards, Youth Category. His first serialized work, Oboreru Hanabi (Drowning Fireworks), was published in 2009 in Moba MAN. Other credits include the series Himegoto: Jukyusai no Seifuku (Princess’s Possessions: Uniform of a 19-Year-Old), Hatsukoi Zombie (First-Love Zombie), and the one-shot “Hanayome Warashi” (Child Bride). His series Boy’s Abyss began serialization in Weekly Young Jump in 2020.

Editorial Reviews

04/24/2023

Minenami (Hatsukoi Zombie) lends an elegant drawing style to soap opera–level last-chance love drama in this manga. Reiji feels like he has nothing to live for: he’s trapped in a backwater town, forced by his stressed-out mother to take care of his sick grandma and shut-in older brother. His luck seems to turn, though, when he meets Nagi Aoe, the leader of rising pop group Acrylic, who is, oddly, working at a convenience store. When he unloads his woes on her, Nagi abruptly and flirtatiously proposes a suicide pact as “a cool way to go.” First, though, she suggests, “Wanna come over to my place?” Their intense, mortality-inflected sexual tension (and explicit sex scenes) are shot through with angsty dialogue—and then Nagi’s husband appears. The drama keeps pages turning, though Reiji’s passivity and overwhelming life circumstances can feel almost too perfectly miserable. Nagi’s allure comes across in Minenami’s delicate rendering—with Reiji’s best friend Chako a cute, spunky foil (and better-realized character). This meet-cute gets darkly erotic about the will to live—and love. This one’s for adult readers, but those who were formerly moony teens will swoon. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly