Spirit Circle Manga

[Malintex_Terek]

Warning!

The plot summary you are about to read is completely misleading, as the story itself is much better than the premise leads on!

Ahem.

Fuuta Okeya is a normal 14-year-old boy, except for the fact that he has the ability to see ghosts. A cute girl transfers into his class one day, but acts particularly aggressive towards him. This girl called Kouko Ishigami is followed around by a ghost called East. Fuuta tries to get along with her but ends up failing after she sees the birthmark he usually keeps covered. She then declares him as her enemy, his birthmark as a cursed brand and claims they have a long history, while talking about reincarnation. Who is this girl and how are they connected?

The series is a seinen manga penned by Mizukami Satoshi, renknown for The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer. I remarked when reading that the art resembled Biscuit Hammer but when I looked up his profile, I kept failing to connect the the work and author. A big part of that is because Biscuit Hammer goes by Hoshi no Samidare. Turns out I was right the whole time!

These days, I find myself bored by ordinary stories, or formulaic/predictable, un-inspired regurgitation. I don't think most of AP, blinded by the energy of youth, can really relate to my Washizu Iwao-like isolation. Biscuit Hammer didn't fall into any of those negative categories. I'm delighted to say Spirit Circle doesn't either, and quality oozed off the page as early as Chapter 3. I'm not certain where this story will ultimately go, or how long it'll be, but the right ingredients have been assembled and what I've read so far has been highly entertaining and thoroughly satisfying. Suffice to say, I'd feel confident given Mizukami's track record that this series deserves a strong recommendation.

[Deviant_Mugen]

The series is a seinen manga penned by Mizukami Satoshi, renown for The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer.

Sold. Off to read...

[Sarfallet]

Sold. Off to read...

Haha, yeah, sold me too. /o/ Only seven chapters so far, but I don't mind following it "real time". Did that with Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer so I'll survive it again. :)

--- Update From New Post Merge ---

Well, as expected, I'm hooked. :)

[Malintex_Terek]

Well, as expected, I'm hooked. :)

I know, right?

I guess I'm new to the aggravating despair of there being no chapters. Allegedly, the scanslators are behind a few weeks. I had the privilege of reading Biscuit Hammer in its entirety.

[Sarfallet]

I know, right?

I guess I'm new to the aggravating despair of there being no chapters. Allegedly, the scanslators are behind a few weeks. I had the privilege of reading Biscuit Hammer in its entirety.

I'm crazy patient with these things so I don't mind it though. Hell, I even like it in some ways. You know, being forced to take in the story slowly. (Not that binging isn't fun... ) That said, I feel like it would be nice to have some more chapters to this manga before catching up... Feels like it would need it to really establish itself, having a kinda complicated setting. With several previous lives and what not. Coming to think of it... I wonder if that's the main story, the question about what happened in those previous lives... Will it end there or is there more to come? Hm. :V

[Malintex_Terek]

The common theme with reincarnation stories is that each life is unique, and should not be dominated by past experiences. Afterall, if you are living your past incarnation's life, you are not living your own. Fuuta has sort of taken that route by being attracted to Kouko, although what happens after all seven lives are shown is indeed something to speculate on. How will he act will the full knowledge? He's expressed some disdain for acting on the vengeance of his former selves, and his personality seems to differ as well.

What I notice from the story...his life as an Aztec wasn't the first life chronologically, just the first he remembered. Rei established that his life as Vahn immediately followed the Aztec one, although it's curious his ring has a #2 on it, and the world East is from likely happened after that. I'd be surprised if it happened before the Aztec universe, though, given Rune's conspicuous absence from the flashbacks.

[Deviant_Mugen]

So, first off, this manga is awesome (as expected from Lucifer's mangaka). The premise sounded pretty generic, but once the first flashback to Fone's life started, I knew this would be something special. I'm looking forward to (and dreading) following this manga as it goes on, because, like Malintex, I also read Lucifer in one shot. Why did I have to get hooked on another awesome manga that's a monthly?! Oh, well, I eagerly look forward to more chapters...

[Malintex_Terek]

More green-text...

New chapter coming out soon. Stuff's been awesome. Read it peoples!

[Kdom]

Well you can read Sengoku youko too since he has 2 ongoing series at the moment. And it has a bit more chapters
I think my prefered flashback was the 2d one. I loved the chapter where you see the entire life of Vann

[Malintex_Terek]

Vann lived the most complete life, so I guess that's a given. In the more recent chapter Fuuta reflected on that - while Flors died lonely, his life wasn't exactly a failure and he lived mostly free of tragedy. Vann had a failed/tragic life but came out the best. Fone came out the worst and, being the same age as Fuuta, he's likely the "main antagonist" of sorts in this story, aside from Fortuna.

[Baldulf]

Are you not reading this series? Here is a easy three step guide in the case:

1-Slap yourself in the face
2-Feel really ashamed
3-Start reading now

[Kdom]

Damn another great serie I won't be able to read anymore because of Crunchyroll :-(

[Eisenfisch]

Since this is already at the top page I may as well ask something. I've been trying to find sales numbers for any of Mizukami's series, but I couldn't find anything. Does anybody know any numbers or something?

[Hiroy]

Sold. Off to read...

My thoughts exactly.
But I'm not sure if I should follow this now or wait till it's over. Samidare was just an amazing one sit read.

[Kdom]

Since it is mainly based on flashback more or less independant, I don't think it is that bad to read it on a monthly basis (and that compensate Sengoku very irregular releases :-(
But that is from someone who is reading Samidare very slowly (still in recovering stage from that predictable but damn volume 6)

[Hiroy]

I caved and caught up with it. Don't know exactly what to think of it.
The writing and story is there, but the cast I feel falls pretty flat. Especially in the "current" timeline.

I guess the issue if I have trouble getting around the premise. I'd hate to compare it to Hoshi no Samidare since people said even that was slow, but... the thing that got me into that story was introducing the main conflict right off the bat. Samidare revealing that she wanted to destroy the planet with her fist after saving it was something I desperately wanted to see through till the end... and it was well worth it!(that and it didn't seem like a premise that an author would fuck up on since it's an amazing idea on paper. the conclusion could have went in multiple directions and I would have ate it all up) It also helped that both main characters felt both real and upbeat enough.

Spirit Circle's premise is a little bit less so. I'm guessing it would all be worth it once everything starts to connect, but I'm skeptical on whether or not the wait would be worth it. I might just go with my orignal plan and check the series out when it's all over, because so far it's been a bit of a slog despite how well written it is.

[Malintex_Terek]

On the other hand, not knowing the main conflict means that you can just be at peace reading Spirit Circle and not have it dominate the focus of the story. Afterall, if Fuuta knew what Fortuna did from the beginning, that would colour his experiences reliving the flashbacks. A big part of why Kouko and East aren't hostile to him is because he doesn't know better, but even after learning still remains honest and dedicated.

[Malintex_Terek]

Mizukami has got to be one of the most underrated manga-ka in recent times.

23/24 are out. Maybe I'm slowpoke. But I just saw them today.

[skeletonbrook]

I had thought scans had stopped or something, Batoto only has up to 19.

[Baldulf]

I had thought scans had stopped or something, Batoto only has up to 19.

Series has been picked by Crunchyroll. Some online readers have the chapters up to date.