Alone in the Planet · review
I am amused by Tsubana sensei's creativity. In Mikake no Nijuusei, Tsubana-sensei used time machine to create a story of alternative reality that seems common, yet she didn't go to the direction as of what most of author go to. In Babel no Toshokan, she used word and library of Babel instead. And now in this series, she used another different alternative, lucid dream. Despite the the fact that Wakusei closet's main character didn't find herself struck by a Truck-kun and reincarnated to a medieval fantasy, it can also be classified as an isekai manga. One day, the main character, Aimi, found herself on an unknownplace where she saw a girl warned her to run away from a monster but it turned out that it was just a bad dream. But that dream felt so real she puts her thought to it. On the way to school with her classmates, she and friends saw a weird creature, of which they later call as "snake". And then one of his classmates, Tamura-kun, seems losing his consciousness and eaten by the snake and disappeared. When she fell asleep after school, she found herself on the same strange planet again and saw Tamura-kun's body with multiplied face that tried to attack her. But Flare - the girl she met before- managed to save her and later, they try to escape this strange planet in the dream. As the story progress, mysteries are revealed one by one and everything becomes clear on the last volume.
The interesting thing is that this simple appearing manga turns into a darker, more thrilling and more of a survival journey than most (if not all) isekai and "into game" story.
Similar to other Tsubana sensei's works, this manga has very few important characters -only Aimi and Flare.From the start of the series, we can know all about Aimi through presentation of the events and her psychology -her confusion and desperation- are also well explored. On the other hand, Flare is a part of the mystery of the manga. She at first could not remember anything except the fact that she was in hospital before finding herself alone in this planet. Little by little, her past life revealed and brought the mystery comes into light and you could start to understand about this world. The mysteries also create horror and it makes you constantly worried about Aimi and Flare.
But as it is Tsubana sensei's work, you will find a blank to fill. So if you are new to her works, you may be left confused.