A manga by Oishi Romy and Meshe

As expected, Ryoka and Shuhei have moved on to another level, but it’s still just Ryoka that can remember any of the details of their ordeal. For those that have not read previous reviews, this story is somewhat like the film Groundhog Day, in that the characters are stuck in some sort of time loop involving a monster attack. Each time Ryoka dies, she wakes up in her apartment on the very same day, and it all begins anew. The villain, named “X” or “Sai”, has changed appearance and size each time the heroes get further into the apartment building – first it was a giant reptile, then a bipedal creature, and now all we know is that a person who took notes in a notebook called it “Hansel and Gretel” implying there are two of them now.

“Ryoka and Shuhei’s lives have reset again and this time a new terror is haunting them within their apartment complex. The new threat comes from the pages of a fairy tale and may lead to an inappropriate sense familiarity that could come to bite them.”

We don’t actually get to see much of Hansel and Gretel in this. I can only assume a large monster we see the back of at the end of Chapter 5 may have been Hansel, and a breif glimpse of a young girl entering Shuhei’s room is likely Gretel. Assuming these creatures have some sort of ability to interact with the players vs just wholesale murder would be an interesting twist. This chapter flew by, and honestly wasted a lot of real-estate showing Ryoka explaining the situation to Shuhei again. I really hope he eventually can retain any past information at some point, because I only have a few more chapters of this left.

This was kind of a “fluff” chapter that hopefully sets up chapter 7 as something very good and possibly more cerebral than the high-octane thrill ride these past few have been. So far I still am enjoying the book a lot, and hope that this doesn’t just run 11 chapters. that wish is simply due to the fact that it doesn’t seem like the story is anywhere near wrapping up, especially if we get repeated things like the phone call to Shuhei where the plan is concocted each time.