Ballad of a Shinigami, Volume 1

Shinigamis are a benign force. They are not (supposed to be) the cause of a person's death, they don't decide who lives or dies. That's all up to the Powers That Be. But even for a Shinigami Momo is different. She wears all white and spends too much time with the people who's souls she is meant to help. She becomes involves in their lives, often warning the soon to be deceased so they can make peace in this world and leave it without regrets.

Which is kind of a big no-no.

Other then the fact this is about Shinigami and has a talking cat, these are short vignettes of ordinary people's lives. In this first volume Momo is the sole reason that the stories are connected at all. They are melancholy stories for the most part as well. The first show more story "A Trace of Light: I Feel the Light" is about a high schooler who has pretty much given up on the world. He doesn't care anymore. He has a bitterness and rage within him, towards his father who never seemed to have time for him, towards the world at large for making it so hard on its children.

Momo helps him, in the end though, giving to the son his father's last message.

The second story "Your Voice: Echo" is about a young boy and his friend. Still in elementary school, they're made fun of by their classmates for always hanging out together. "Are you dating?" is sneered and joked about. The truth was the boy and the girl had adopted a kitten together and every day after school they went to take care of him. Except the taunts and teasing gets to the boy finally and he doesn't go with the girl one day. And it leads to a sadness he can't handle.

The third story "The Flower of Wounds: Low Blood Pressure" is about a guy who is always ill, with horrible nightmares and can see the supernatural and a classmate who has her own demons to fight. Like the first story the guy has an apathetic view of life--he just wants it all to stop and give him peace. He sees Momo and her cat, but not because he will die. And Momo decides to help him.

The last story "Watch the Sky/Ballad for Innocence: Momo" is a sad, sort of creepy tale. Down on Earth Momo sees a little girl all by herself in a room filled with toys, but in a house empty of people. Slowly the story unfolds that the girl is waiting for 'Daddy' and had been waiting. The situation is so odd, so weird, that Momo feels compelled to tell the little girl the truth, but in the end did she make the right choice?

The stories are thoughtful, sometimes digressing and ending things abruptly. This isn't a matter of the translation being at fault though, I've seen both the anime and the drama based around this series. Its just the way the narrative is. Its a little dreamy. Seven Seas did a great job--offering a lot of extra sections that help the reader understand the obvious Japanese references and culture in the book.

I hope this volume will get re-released (its currently out of print), because of think this series is a good one. Plus we learned only a little bit about Momo and from what I saw in the Drama the world she inhabits is far too complex to leave us hanging. show less

This would have been a much better book had the localization been done with more care. The mini-paragraphs, the constant spacing between them and the painful, rough-draft type writing style all kept me from being able to concentrate on the story. All in all, it came off as very unprofessional.