[Mini-Review] Omori Manga Chapter 3(not spoiler free)

So, the 3rd chapter of the Omori manga adaptation has been released, and I've just finished reading it. 

I already thought the second chapter was an improvement, though I did have some issues here and there. I thought that was simply because it was adapting mostly Headspace segments, which I don't care about it getting right as much. However, it's doing a pretty good job at adapting the Faraway Town portion of the story as well now.

At the end of chapter 2 it switched the order of events, with Aubrey throwing away the photo album before the church scene, which I think is a change for the worse. This carries over into causing issues for this chapter as well. 

But first I'll say I don't dislike the alternate version of getting Kim to tell the boys where Aubrey is. Instead of them trying to tell Kim and Vance to tell them where Aubrey is, prompting them to challenge them to a fight for the info, Sunny helps Kel set up a kick shot with an empty soda can that he was trying to toss at her himself but his weak little arms weren't enough. Tidus would be proud of Kel here, that was a sweet kick. Wakka would be disappointed in Sunny, however.

This leads to her telling Kel off for "pretending" to care about Aubrey, mentioning that the two of them were the ones who abandoned her. This is something Kim for some reason never brings up, despite it being more than likely Aubrey would have mentioned it to her, so it's probably good to have her say that. They get her to talk though, by bailing her out when Miss Candice, the candy store lady, is going to hand her over the cops saying she's definitely committed more crimes than just shoplifting some candy. This leads her to capitulate since well, he did get her off the hook. I would have preferred it if we went with something similar to the alternate scene in the game for if you lose the fight, where she tells you anyway because Kel says he's just trying to help a friend. I interpret this as her thinking about her own wants to help Aubrey with the baggage that clearly plagues her, maybe hoping that if Kel talks to her it'll help somewhat, and just thinking that Kel might not be so bad if he's looking out for his friends like that. However, I think if you're going to have her bring up Kel having "abandoned" Aubrey, she'd think he was a hypocrite because of that instead. So, this works out, as it has Kim see that while Kel can be shrewd, he's also kind of a good guy since he helped her out like that(though this was actually Sunny's idea, as he gave Kel the money and silently suggested it, but she doesn't need to know that right now since he's doing the talking). I don't like how Vance isn't here though, this is an issue, his whole thing is he cares about 2 things: candy, and his sister. He should be here defending her from the disgruntled shopkeeper, hell he should be bait to let her get away, take the fall for her. That sounds like something he'd do. Genuinely better have an explanation for this later.

The church scene is done quite well, in fact in some ways better than the game. This still has the issue of Aubrey having tossed the album away, which was meant to be an impulsive reaction to them causing her so much grief at the church, but I suppose that part makes sense because of the different resolution. It still makes her saying that she's protecting the album from them, the fiends who abandoned her and just forgot about Mari(what she sees the way they dealt with it as), a little silly. Like if she didn't toss it sure, but girl you shitcanned that thing. Also, some bits of the dialogue could use some work. Dunno what happened, it's not like Omori's dialogue is masterfully written, you can see Omocat's an amateur while reading it, but I feel like some lines are basically the same here but a little more stiff and awkward. I believe she's doing the english translation for the manga so I dunno why that would be the case, other than she's just trying to translate what Konoito-san said as directly as she can and it's not working out or Konoito-san's version of the line isn't quite as good. Dunno, it's not the kind of line stiffness that results from too direct of a translation. What I mean is, like, Aubrey says "Yeah, Kel... exactly! We used to be friends... But now? Nah... we're not friends. Not anymore." See like, too many... ellipses there and the line says too much. I recall the line in the game being more to the point, Aubrey tends to do that. It should be "Exactly. We used to be friends... but we're not, not anymore." or something like that. 

However, everything is beaten out by just how emotionally charged it is, how much more aggressive Aubrey is about it. There's even what I'm pretty sure is a subtle moment that really gets across her character at this point, where Kel tells her not to talk shit about Sunny because she doesn't know what he's been through. There's a small panel of her widened eye, her angry eyebrow, and a sweat drop, then she deflects from that and doubles back to her original point of "No you don't care Kel shut up I'm right." Because she's just stubborn like that, that panel is her realizing he's right, but that she's still angry about it because he's right. 

But that's not even the half of it, after the church goers do their murmuring, a new scene happens.

I was worried, worried we wouldn't be getting any good Sunny X Aubrey scenes in this manga, on account of the mangaka's a fujoshotacon and probably only cares about Sunny X Basil... 

And then something interesting happens. Aubrey turns away and breaks a bit after hearing what they're saying, hearing them talk about her "poor mom"(a neglectful lump of a woman who leaves trash all around her house) and her absent dad, being pissed off that they're saying this but realizing it's her fault for getting so worked up, and starts to cry a little. In the game, she becomes angry and instead of accepting she shouldn't have blown up at them, she blames them and tosses away the stupid photo album. I mean, they shouldn't have indulged her but the point is everyone handled all this wrong. 

 

In the manga, however, Sunny flashes back to their childhood together. When they first found her after she lost her shoe and became friends, when they would sit on the swingset and he would listen to her talk about her troubles. He remembers their time together and how he would be there when she was down... and reaches from behind to wipe her tears, as if by instinct. Kel yells out to the people in the church that he can hear them and that they don't know what they're talking about. Aubrey pushes Sunny away but then says "I'm sorry. About the album... I threw it away." and leaves.

I'm not capable of looking at this objectively as an adaptation, because of my bias for the pairing, so take me saying I think this is great with a grain of salt. At the very least, I like it, even if it doesn't work as well for the story as the way it did in the game. I think it mostly does, aside from the aforementioned confused nature of her throwing it away first, which I suppose was there so that this scene would work cuz... well, she wouldn't throw it away after that, now would she? After Kel stood up for her and Sunny tried, in his own awkward way, to comfort her? And I like that, I like that that happened. Sure, in the game, part of the point is how they all handled it bad and only when Hero was there were they able to really see it clearly and work things out. But maybe it's better to not rely on him so much? It might be better to show Kel is still being stubborn too and not doing this right, but to have him still stick up for her instead of going into "That Aubrey's bad news now!" mode like a dumbass like he does in the game. Sunny, while he's reacting in ways I wouldn't have pegged him as reacting, just visually I mean, he's still faced with not really being able to do anything while it plays out. But not only is it maybe a nice touch to have him actually be able to try something, in a way that he can, reaching through the anxiety to try and help, it's him trying to help her in a way that's true to their connection, their past with each other. To Aubrey who believes he just forgot about it all, this shows he remembers. It's not just good because I like the pairing, it's good because it plays off the characters and where they're at right now. Am I wrong? No, I'm right, definitely. It's at the very least a good scene that I like at least partially because I support this ship and I don't give a shit, good enough for me. 

 

Now, there is something of an issue, in that decently important part of the game, to me, is his inability to really do anything about the situation. I think the idea was he felt frustration at how little he really participated in it and how he wasn't able to really influence the outcome, as the player might. This makes him jumping into the lake to save Basil and later confronting him in his room more important, as it's him being proactive rather than reactive, taking charge and trying to affect the situation. However, there are 3 things about this: 1. This may not be what sways Aubrey in the end and we still might need someone else to really take care of this. It can factor into Sunny being greater than he knows, seeing it as him failing to get through to her when really, it might not have happened at all without him. This is something indirect about the game's story, it literally wouldn't have happened had he not come out and not been there, and Aubrey wouldn't have come around if he hadn't tried to come back even if at the time she was saying it was too little too late. He doesn't realize until the end that his presence mattered at all, because it seemed like he wasn't doing anything. Now, this is somewhat an interpretation, I'm placing these things, which the player might think as well, onto him. We never get to hear his thoughts on that or see much of his reactions, after all. But I think it at the very least it's clear this is a factor in the game that he is unable to do much, and this way it keeps him as a reactive protagonist and it can still result in someone else needing to get through to Aubrey for the final push. 2. If they're not going to do the fight, then it makes sense for this to be how he participates. Sunny is a reactive protagonist for much of the plot, and he mostly just lets it happen, but he does participate, via fighting. This is what shows his sincerity and is where his efforts to help his friends lie, he fights for the sake of his friend Basil and supports Kel in battle. If we're not doing that, it's works as well to have him take a minor role like this. These 2 apply to him tossing the can earlier, instead of a fight where he acts as support, he tries to help out more actively, but his weakness causes someone else to have to finish it. And yet, him setting it up is what led to the success. That one's a bit more proactive, but that's okay I suppose since he does beef it. Him suggesting they pay for the candy Kim stole is a bit too proactive, but it's a minor enough thing I suppose, relative to how important this is for the game's story. 3. In the game it's partly because it's a temptation to go back to Headspace, where you can actually be proactive in the plot. Sure, for Sunny, it's that too, but that's kind of more for the player. You/your player character just kinda go where you're told and stand around while drama happens to you, and when you are able to actually do something, it doesn't work out and you have to be saved(diving into the lake to save Basil). In Headspace, you have the power. In a manga there's a disconnect there, and for Sunny he still isn't being very effectual and there's still the matter of this shit happening at all which might drive him back there. Hell, he may even see her still deciding to walk off as him failing. He took a shot and it didn't work. Well fuck, I dunno about you, but I'm going back to the power fantasy dream world where success is one Dominant Strategy away! Secret 4th reason, I don't think it's that important of a thing, Sunny has enough to be down on himself about and it's not that big of a draw in the story as it's a small piece of Sunny's overall character and the player's experience, I just thought it felt intentional and considered. So not capturing that exactly is fine, I think it's still keeping that factor intact anyway. Like he does just kinda sit there making faces at her and Kel arguing. Still emoting a bit too much but I'm getting over it I guess, I like it less but it's not bad.

 

Moving on, this also just works well with how much more aggressive and angry Aubrey is than in the game, as I said in the first part I like that it not only ramps up her actions making her have more to answer for, as I think the characters including herself kinda overplay it a bit, but makes it less obvious she's going to have a change of heart. This scene furthers that, though they don't fight, and also sets up a reason for Aubrey to eventually come around despite how much more hateful she seems to feel towards them. I also think it maintains it not being too obvious, she had an odd reaction to it, which might make it a little harder to get a read on how she's feeling. It almost feels up for grabs, like maybe she'll get out of their way but not actually come back to them. Maybe I'm wrong there.

This shows an understanding of the story and characters above what the initial part of the manga showed, and honestly I think making additions like this to the scenario is for the best. I think the issue was when it got things that were nearly 1:1 with the game wrong in some areas, right in others. By doing more of this, the Kim scene and the added part of the church scene, it sidesteps the potential for changing how a scene worked for the worse like the opening nightmare sequence. If it can keep this up, it could be a pretty good adaptation.

Though, it ends on another issue. As Sunny and Kel are off to find the trash bin Aubrey throw the album in, it then cuts to Sunny going back to Headspace. Not only does this cut out the spider fear boss, it doesn't have him going back there after giving the album back to Basil, which leads to the scene in his grandma's room and his freak out in the bathroom. I feel like that's important, that this is the catalyst for the nightmare sequence that you see when he gets back home. Not to mention, that's just how the game was structured, and I don't like when it changes the structure as I've said. But fuck it, whatever, I'm kinda over that. 

We'll see how this goes, I doubt I'll make any more updates like this. If it keeps improving with each chapter or even plateaus, I'll probably be happy. I'm glad Konoito-san was able to turn this around, regardless of how scathing I could be of the first chapter, I can tell she's putting effort into this and I respect her hard work regardless. It's just even better if she can deliver chapters that work for me as well, that speaks to her talent. Perhaps she's just learning as she goes. 

 

One request though: Draw everyone's ears a little bigger, okay? Kel's ears were so tiny at one point in this chapter, why they so small how's he gonna hear out of them little things???