Nazo no Kanojo X

謎の彼女X

• by Ueshiba Riichi
• runs in Afternoon

Easily the best new book I've laid my hands on in what feels like years, which is ironic, considering that the first chapter of the book ran in Afternoon a full two years ago, and prompted me to stop buying the magazine since it just wasn't the same with out Ueshiba Riichi.

The surprising (in that it happened at all) anime adaptation of his unjustly cancelled Yume Tsukai seems to have finally earned him another chance at serialization, and he's batted it out of the park.

While Yume Tsukai was probably too controversial for its own good, and the three volume long storylines probably dragged on a bit long, Nazo no Kanojo X goes back to his early days, and the very first volume of Discommunication -- it's a deeply weird romantic comedy.

But not according to the author. A note at the back informs us quite seriously that Nazo no Kanojo X is, in fact, a robot anime. Because to a 17-year-old boy, girls are just as powerful and mysterious a force in life as the giant robot is to the pilot.

Since piloting a giant robot was always a metaphor for adolescence anyway, writing a book where adolescent romance is a metaphor for piloting a giant robot might seem a tad confused. But Nazo no Kanojo X uses the timeless technique of boy meets girl (she's a transfer student!), boy thinks girl is weird, boy tastes her saliva, boy goes into withdrawal because he can't taste it any more and has dreams where the two of them are dancing in a magical kingdom largely made of toys...

Wait, what?

Yes, the couple's entire relationship is built around the transfer of saliva. His love for her is proven by his abnormal reactions to her saliva if her saliva is collected when in an unusual state of mind (like when she isn't wearing any underwear.)

She seems to have a cardinal rule that, while definitely a couple, they can't do anything other couples do, and if he tries to force her, she pulls out the scissors she keeps tucked in her panties and unleashes a threatening flurry of snips that make it very clear she is not to be messed with.

But what makes Ueshiba Riichi's best work so much fun is that, despite the plot description making it seem like a fetishistic creep fest for the uberotaku, the book actually ends up feeling quite charming, like a dadaist Love Roma.