It's been quite a while since I've found myself this hooked on a story of any kind. Souboutei Kowasubeshi excels at thoroughly engaging the reader through a maze of mystery and the unknown, as there's always a plot twist waiting around every few chapters, and one's entire perception of the narrative as a whole can be shifted in the span of a few pages. This is a story best reviewed with the finer details left out, as the mystery of the "mysterious mansion in the Numanakarai region of Tokyo" unravels with each flip of a page, until the mansion itself seems almost infinitesimal in comparison tothe overall scope of the story, and the many parts that work within it. As is the case with many mystery series, the more knowledge a reader has going in, the less the expansion of the plot impacts you. Given only the knowledge of the mansion's existence and the fates that befall most who have entered it, Souboutei Kowasubeshi can take the reader on a journey in which they're met with every emotion a human is capable of feeling, cranked up to 10.

One of this series' most interesting aspects is its pacing. Levels of action one would expect a manga series to stretch out across months are experienced in the span of a week in Souboutei Kowasubeshi. From roughly chapter 100 to the chapter I've caught up to (translation teams are still working on it, will update when all chapters are translated), the characters have been navigating the mysteries of Souboutei in the span of the same day. It truly baffles the reader when the true scale of time is contextualized through seemingly unimportant dialogue.

Such a phenomenal series being so seldom rated on here should be illegal. Beneath its vague synopsis, Souboutei Kowasubeshi hides one of the most engaging mystery stories manga has to offer, and deserves to be given a chance by any reader.