Thank you to netgalley for allowing me to be a member and to give helpful feedback. Thank you to the publisher and author for accepting me to read this book, It is greatly appreciated.

the idea of this book was great I loved that the two different lives are meshing and I think this was adorable, especially for it being the author's first published novel. I liked the main characters and I think the pacing was really good and the characters relatable and realistic. I would continue reading the series if it was released.

Thank you to Kodansha and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Piano Duo for the Left Hand, Vol. 1 by Kenta Matsuoka is an amazing shonen manga about a boy who wants to learn the piano after fatal accident. Shu is a tough guy and not inclined to the arts at all. One day, he meets Akari, a girl who is famous for being a piano-playing prodigy. When tragedy strikes, Shu finds that his left hand is being haunted by Akari's spirit. All he can do is try to fulfill her piano-playing dreams.

Overall, Piano Duo for the Left Hand, Vol. 1 is an amazing, emotional, and poignant manga that will have you reaching for the tissues. One highlight of this book is how unexpected it is. When I first started reading, Shu seemed like the type of boy to get into fights, and I could not have imagined at all where his journey would eventually lead. Another highlight of this book is the "haunting" aspects, which were slightly spooky but also really interesting. I can't wait to read Vol. 2 to see what happens to Shu and Akari next. If you're intrigued by the description, I highly recommend that you check out this book, which is available now!

The premise of this one is more than a little strange, but there's definitely a lot of heart in the story and I'm a sucker for both a piano story and an underdog story.
The fact that both Shu and Akari's dad take the fact that she's possessing Shu's left hand and continues to play the piano so in stride is incredibly weird to me and I really wish that revelation didn't feel so rushed. I mean, the beginning and getting to know each other part of the story dragged a little and could easily have been shorter, but the part that could use some more exposition jumps right into it and takes it for granted. It's little things like that that make it so I can honestly see this series going either really well or really bad in future volumes, but I'm hoping it veers more towards the love of music and living on than it does the weirdness.

Happy thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha for the moving read!

When tragedy cuts their relationship short, Shu realizes he must find a way to live for them both...and realizes that something is no longer quite right with his own left hand...

This story is pretty creative and gives me Parasyte vibes (with the possessed hand). However this is a spirit instead. There are a lot of possibilities for this story and it would be really interesting to see how Shu's life can be turned around from the delinquent type in to something more with Akari's help. The only thing I would change would be the fact theyre middle schoolers. Theyre drawn in a way that they easily resemble High School or early College students (late teens) so for them to be so young doesnt fit how theyre portrayed.

After an accident causes a ghost to possess his left hand, the delinquent Shu who has never touched a piano decides to learn music to save two strangers. If you can't tell from just that sentence, this manga was a little wild! It starts out slow but after a very sudden moment in chapter 1, things change drastically for Shu.

I thought this was a decent start to what seems like an emotional series. I didn't connect with the characters very much, but I liked the art style and I really felt for Shu, who's had such a hard life so far. I'm looking forward to seeing his journey.

"Piano duo for the left hand" è un manga davvero particolare. Non pensavo mi sarebbe piaciuto, ma mi ha conquistata. I disegni sono pieni di energia e solarità, sebbene alcuni momenti della storia non siano affatto felici.
Morte, bullismo e maltrattamenti sono alcuni dei temi che il protagonista è costretto ad affrontare. Ma Akari diventerà il suo sole brillante e la speranza di cambiare completamente vita.
Lei, il suo sogno e il suo amore per la musica continueranno a vivere nella mano sinistra di Shu che imparerà a suonare il piano per trovare uno scopo nella sua vita, ma anche per aiutare le persone che amavano Akari a superare la sua scomparsa.
Quando leggo manga che parlano di musica e strumenti è sempre difficile immergersi completamente e anche questo non è da meno, a meno che non si conosca ogni singolo brano che viene menzionato. Con la tecnologia di oggi si potrebbe secondo me trovare una soluzione a questo problema (per esempio mettendo dei QR code che linkano a un file audio) come già accade per alcuni webtoon che sono accompagnati da colonne sonore.
Ma la storia è ben raccontata e scorre piacevolmente.
Ho trovato un po' strani gli indumenti dei personaggi che non molto larghi e morbidi. E' davvero uno stile particolare e diverso da quello a cui sono abituata, ma mi piace.
Intuisco però già dove la storia andrà a parare, perchè è abbastanza evidente che Akari è rimasta con Shu per aiutarlo a trovare una nuova vita e che quando l'avrà trovata lei scomparirà. Però potrei anche sbagliarmi...spero la storia non sarà cosi ovvia!

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"Piano duo for the left hand" is a very particular manga. I didn't think I would like it, but it won me over. The drawings are full of energy and happiness, although some moments in the story are not happy at all.
Death, bullying and mistreatment are some of the issues that the protagonist is forced to face. But Akari will become his bright sunshine and hope to completely change his life.
She, her dream and her love for music will live on in Shu's left hand as he learns to play the piano to find purpose in his life, but also to help the people who loved Akari to overcome her disappearance.
When I read manga about music and instruments it is always difficult to fully immerse yourself and this is no exception, unless you know every single song that is mentioned. With today's technology, in my opinion, a solution to this problem could be found (for example by putting QR codes that link to an audio file) as already happens for some webtoons that are accompanied by soundtracks.
But the story is well told and flows nicely.
I found the clothing of the characters a bit strange as they were very loose and soft. It's really a particular and different style from what I'm used to, but I like it.
But by now, I already guess where the story will go, because it is quite evident that Akari will stay with Shu to help him find a new life and when he finds it she will disappear. But I might also be wrong ... I hope the story won't be so obvious!

I enjoyed the art style as well as the characters. I feel like some of the conflict in this novel felt unnecessary, however I still enjoyed it.

[Thanks to Kodansha and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.]

Shu is nothing but a delinquent with no future to speak of, until a chance encounter with Akari, a piano prodigy. They have a wild adventure together that threatens to change Shu’s life… and it does, but not as much as Akari’s… Now Shu’s left hand doesn’t know what his right hand is doing and possession might be more than 9/10ths of the law in this case.

If you were to try and describe something so insane that it felt quintessentially manga, then doubled that, you might end up with this story. This narrative takes a love of classical music and a lot of crazy and mashes it into a real jaw-dropping spectacle of a book.

The first half shows Shu’s worthless home life and worthless school life as he is portrayed as a decent kid who has been beaten down by his broken home. He meets Akari, and they have a rambunctious evening that involves getting her to her piano concert on time and vehicle theft and the cops and lessons learned and her infectious attempts to get Shu to fall in love with music.

This whole section is a lot of fun and Shu and Akari have a simple, straightforward chemistry and we’re getting set to see several volumes of Shu learning to love music and turn his life around and the two of them learning to love each other.

[At this point I will be spoiling this story to ribbons.]

Then Akari gets creamed by a truck in a split-second and ends up possessing Shu’s left hand.

What do I even say after that? Shu gets blamed (and blames himself), he thinks about killing himself, Akari manifests and starts talking as a spirit. Rivals appear, Shu dedicates himself to learning piano, Akari’s best friend is said rival, it’s a lot. There’s a throwdown at a music store for pity’s sake.

Processing grief ends up a distant second to processing the lunacy unfolding. Akari doesn’t much seem to mind that she’s lost her hopes and dreams and Shu promises to spread her love of music. It’s some serious tonal whiplash. Heck, I’m still trying to process what I saw.

It’s the mangaka’s first serialized story and it feels like it in both the awkwardness of the storytelling and the way the narrative is just going for it like crazy every step of the way. It’s just wild and, while I initially couldn’t even with the writing, the whole thing grows on you as it progresses.

By the time Shu and Akari plan to save Akari’s rival via music, Akari’s dad is on board and notices Shu’s unusual ear for music, and we start seeing various classical pieces being used like shonen fight moves, this thing has firmly announced that it is here to go as big as it can.

Whether you’re down for that or not is going to be the decisive factor in your enjoyment. I mean, this isn’t great storytelling and I don’t know that this is going to be better than the more traditional romance it looked like originally, but I can safely say it won’t be boring and that’s definitely something.

(At least if Akari and Shu somehow fall in love, he won’t be the first teenaged male to have embarked on an intimate relationship with his left hand [sorry, that was stuck in my head the entire time I was reading this].)

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the art as well. The art in this story has a voluminous quality to everything that makes it look like everybody is wearing clothing three sizes too big that are flapping in an invisible breeze. It’s really fun and fluid and adds a little to everything with its exaggerated nature (it fits right in, truly).

3 stars - if you are a premise first and story second type of reader, give this maybe six stars. It reminds me of nothing less than <i>Blue Lock</I>, where the sheer audacity is going to drag me back for a second volume, but the writing is no great shakes.

The premise of this story was very unique, but I didn't find it to be executed the best. I wish that the two protagonists had developed their relationship a bit more before they were bound together, so that their motivations for continuing to play piano together would make more sense.

Piano duo For the left hand pulls on your heart strings for Shu who is misunderstood and harbours a lot of rage because of his upbringing . However a chance encounter with a talented girl will change his life forever. This had ever thing that will make you feel. Slightly predictable but 1000% enjoyable . Im cheering for Shu.

This is such a unique and intriguing manga. I wasn’t sure what I’d think of it after reading the synopsis, but I’m glad I gave it a chance because I did enjoy reading it,

I don’t want to say too much about the plot because I think it’s interesting to go in not knowing much, but it’s definitely very different and if you haven’t read the summary it takes an unexpected turn!

One thing I wasn’t the biggest fan of is the way drawings depicted some of the female characters, I also wasn’t the biggest fan of Shu’s character in the beginning, but it seems like he’s growing as a person and will probably continue to do so as the series goes on.

I’m definitely interested in seeing where this story goes, and will want to read future volumes!

rating: 3.5/5

High marks for art. It can be hard to judge a manga on the first volume, but I can say this one feel different from other music stories. Rather than building to tragedy or a tragic reveal, it starts with the heartbreaking moment and builds to joy. That's enough to make me read volume 2 once it is out.

But could SOMEONE in this universe please make the obvious joke about a teenage girl living in a teenage boy's left hand? I feel like that needs to be called out. I hope she can retreat away when she wants... oof.

I hadn’t read the synopsis beforehand as I usually prefer not to with manga so this one took me by surprise! I literally gasped at a certain scene because it came out of nowhere and I was definitely not expecting it. I won’t spoil anything (even though it is in the synopsis) because I feel like it hits harder not knowing.

But I liked this first volume a lot! It was an adjustment at first, getting used to the switch and all of the paino talk but once we got further into the story, it was so enjoyable! Shu’s had a rough life so to see him finding a goal that is keeping him focused and alive and not in trouble was so great. Especially with the slight magical element added into the story!

Overall, I had a fun time with this first volume and look forward to more in the future.

4/5⭐️

TW: suicidal thoughts/actions, death, toxic parents, grief, loss.

The idea is creative. I just don't like the execution at all. It might be on me but there are definitely the others manga that are better than this. I really hope I can enjoy this manga more but I can't.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for the ARC

Piano Duo for the Left Hand is the first shonen manga in a series by Kenta Matsuoka. It follows the story of Shu, a teenage boy who's lost in his life and only stands as the aggressive dealer of his district in his classmates' eyes. He doesn't think that he has many prospects in life, except belonging to a gang and dealing, until he meets Akari, who's a professional pianist of his age considered to be the best in her category in Japan. One evening, after missing their train stations, Akari and Shu are left at the last station with no means to come back home but a bike lent from a neighbour. Akari needs to be back in the city centre by the morning to compete in a very important piano competition and Shu just has to get home. While the two of them befriend each other on the way back, their friendship is cut short when both teenagers are struck by a truck, killing Akari at the moment and leaving Shu with a paralysed left hand. But when his left hand saves Shu from suicide and he then discovers Akari lives inside it, the only thing left to do is to accomplish Akari's dreams and learn to play the piano.

This manga was super nice to read! I'm surprised to have liked it that much! I was intrigued by the title, which I think was super well found by the mangaka, but I didn't really know what I was diving into before starting the story.

It turned out that I loved the characters, how they give meaning to each other and how they save each other in some sense. Shu is the typical male character that one can often find in mangas of this genre, but still, I found his backstory very touching and I related to him about that. I really liked also that the mangaka turned his weak point into a strength by giving him this very acute musical ear at the end of the first manga. I'd be very interested in seeing where the story is going, especially with Nerikuon, since she is also the victim of the loss of her best friend. It is not only her competitive side that was impacted by the accident but also her emotional self.

On another hand, I found Akari's father very interesting. The close link between father/daughter was amplified with music, and I thought it beautiful that the father was able to recognise his daughter's playing even though someone else was standing in front of him.

So, on the whole, this story was very powerful and beautiful in many senses. I think that manga readers who love stories centred around the theme of music and especially of piano players will love this manga. I will finally add that the drawings were very cute, though some things didn't particularly please me in the depiction of women/girls (i.e. the sexy maid with a big bosom was a bit too cliché and a bit sexist in my opinion).

Thank you Netgalley and Kodansha comics for the opportunity to read this title and review it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha for providing this advance copy in exchange for an honest review
I was not into art style but storyline was the reason I finished manga, I feel really sad while reading it, I wish it was more Believable, story was moving fast so it's was definitely good read

This not typically a manga I would reach for, however, I found the premise very unique and the art beautiful. I am interested in seeing how this story continues.

Thank you Kodansha and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

So far I have feelings, but not thoughts yet.
My feelings are sadness, confusion and mild intrigue.
Not sure if I will continue the series, but I am not sure I won't either.
It is a very interesting premise.

<<Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha for providing this advance copy in exchange for an honest review>>

I went into this book without any idea of what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. A tale of two middle-school students who are very different coming together to make music. The twist is that a truck killed one of the characters and she can now control the other character's left hand and speak to him. I thought the premise was very sound, but the execution was a little lacking. The male lead seems to be doing everything in this book through the power of guilt as he feels responsible for the other character's death. He starts responding to the music by the end of the book, but it just felt like he had no real motivation beyond the guilt. An interesting read, but I don't think I would check out volume 2.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC of "Piano Duo for the Left Hand Vol 1" by Kenta Matsuoka

I loved this manga volume and it has such great potential. However, some scenes which were added for comedy relief felt cringeworthy and uncomfortable for me as a read. Other than that, I loved it and I am excited to see how the story progresses.