First serialized in Japan in 1993 and 1994. Published in translation by Kodansha/Vertical Comics as a graphic novel on June 27, 2023.

Its publisher describes River’s Edge as “a celebrated work that shows the hardships and the realities of growing up as a teenager in early 90s Tokyo.” Ichiro Yamada’s hardships are harder than most. Boys beat up Yamada because he’s quiet — and probably because girls like him. They suspect (correctly) that he’s gay. Girls like Yamada because he’s stylish and has a pretty face.

Yamada is dating Kanna Tajima but she doesn’t know he’s gay. Yamada thinks he might start liking girls if he dates one. Not surprisingly, he only ends up hurting Tajima. Yamada should really tell Tajima that he's gay since she’s overdosing on teen angst about why Yamada isn’t getting physical with her. I guess teen angst knows no geographic or cultural boundaries.

Haruna Wakakusa rescues Yamada when her boyfriend Kannonzaki locks him inside his locker. Yamada confesses his secret to Wakakusa and they become friends, much to Kannonzaki’s displeasure.

Yamada found a dead body in a field (more of a skeleton at this point) and thinks of it as his “treasure.” There’s something about seeing a corpse that comforts him. The only other person who has discovered the skeleton is a pretty actress with an eating disorder named Kozue Yoshikawa. Kozue is strange in a warped and unpleasant way. Readers who don’t want to read about animal abuse might want to avoid this graphic novel, while nearly all readers will find Kozue’s interest in dead kittens to be unattractive. Wakakusa befriends homeless kittens, which makes it all the more strange that she isn’t repulsed when Kozue kisses her.

Wakakusa envies Rumi, a high school friend whose 38-year-old boyfriend buys her expensive cosmetics. Wakakusa had sex with Kannonzaki just to experience sex (she finds it filled with “contradictions and mysteries”). Rumi has sex with him for fun (and is much more into it than Wakakusa) but she becomes pregnant, possibly by Kannonzaki. Now Wakakusa is ghosting Kannonzaki, which his ego can't handle despite having a second girl to use for sex. Naturally, Rumi has teen angst in the form of jealousy about Wakakusa.

Characters lose control and gruesome acts of violence occur the story’s second half. One is accompanied by this narrative explanation: “Tragedy doesn’t just occur at random. That’s not how it works. The truth is that it slowly, gradually prepares itself. In the midst of our stupid, boring daily lives, that’s how it comes, and when it happens, it’s like a balloon popping out of nowhere.” That passage sums of the graphic novel’s theme: life is boring until it becomes tragic, but both boredom and tragedy suck.

The story has some interesting insights, including a character’s observation that teenage girls gossip incessantly to avoid saying anything meaningful. The characters ruminate about death quite a bit, sometimes imagining they see ghosts. They don’t seem capable of imagining a future in which they are still alive, with new friends and new ways of seeing themselves, but that’s what it’s like to be a teen.

I’m not an art critic, but the comic is drawn in the simple, sketchy style I associate with Dagwood and similar comic strips. It’s sometimes difficult to tell characters apart, particularly when they are drawn without a face. The style didn’t bother me, but this isn’t a graphic novel that enhances the story with impressive art. At least the characters don’t have ridiculously big eyes.

Fans of Japanese manga and/or teenage angst might understand why River’s Edge is a “celebrated work.” I can only say that the story is sufficiently interesting (in part because Japanese culture is interesting) that I remained engaged from chapter to chapter.

RECOMMENDED

I really wanted to like this comic but couldn’t connect with the artwork, and the story line was confusing.

I am glad I read this because the artwork is good but the story was sad. It focused on young people living without hope or options, trying to find their way in darkness.

The author, Kyōko Okazaki’s bio says that she is a Japanese manga artist whose stories are popular for manga their unorthodox style and controversial topics, for e.g sex, sadomasochism, drugs, homosexuality, rape, murder and prostitution.

And so this book isn’t joyful. The only good aspect is that all the young people were struggling with something and it didn’t distinguish between genders or sexuality, all struggled with something but at least occasionally they found company and support in each other.

Not for the faint hearted or for those who like happy endings.

Copy provided via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

3.5 stars. This is a very difficult manga to review.
On the one hand, I enjoyed the expressive art style, the fact that all the characters (despite a limited page count) felt fleshed out, and the raw and unapologetic portrayal of the most difficult parts of being teenagers, the ones that adults would rather not think about.
On the other hand, the last portion of the volume took a turn that made me drastically rethink my opinion of this manga. Without spoiling anything, from a gritty and realistic portrayal of everyday high-school life in the 70s, it strayed very abruptly into noir/thriller territory, basically switching genre at the very end. Every storyline ended with some serious instance of violence, and then there was no room left to unpack or examine any of that, why it happened, and what it meant for the characters.
That said, even though the finale didn't work for me, I would read other works by the same author. I think her art style and character examination make her stand out in the manga scene.

Beautiful and difficult story. well drawn. but not for everyone. the narrative style is static and philosophical. it might be boring for some readers. i liked the human relationships, nostalgia and character development.
because it is a dark and difficult story, I recommend buying and reading it based on the reviews and content.
Kyōko Okazaki has beautifully drawn and told a difficult story in a distant and calm way.
Not for everyone, but a good book to recommend.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for the free review copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I had this Manga kind of lost in my NetGalley app, but luckily I was able to read just before it was lost forever. Kyoko Okazaki, brings us a very real and crude image of adolescence, all the mistakes, reality, angst, that this age brings, it was brought to life in this manga. I was quite drawn to the drawing, made it more real.

Since the themes are quite strong, you have a bulimic character, several characters that sell sexual favours, adolescent pregnancy, suicide, attempted murder, there's also the preventing the burial of a dead body, I cant in a good fate recommend this book for young teens, but older teens young adults forward is a good manga to read. Keep in mind the theme is very adult while the characters are young themselves…

Thank you Netgalley and Kodansha Comics | Vertical Comics, for the free ARC and this is my honest opinion.

Set in the early 1990s Tokyo, this tells the story of a group of teenagers who all go to the school near the river's mouth. In black and white ink this paints a bleak and often real picture of the struggle and confusion of being on the verge of adulthood while still inhabiting the curiosity and fearlessness of a child. It challenges the nostalgic notion of calling our school days to be the best period of one's life, a life free of worry, uncertainty, and responsibilities. It shatters romanticism and forces us to face the truth head-on.

After all, wasn't school the first place one gets to learn how thin or fat or ugly they are? Wasn't it the first place to wound you so deep that years of unlearning didn't do much to the trauma you experienced? So it takes us inside the narrow and harrowing halls of your adolescence and you witness a kid being beaten, bullied, scarred by another kid! It makes you wonder where this cruelty comes from and where it all went wrong!!

But it doesn't stop there. It goes to the deep end of what it means to be truly young and their first encounter with the myriad stages of adulthood. It's the time of our first introduction to sex, drugs, love, and the overwhelming rush of everything all at once. In the span of only 245 pages, it narrates a story that perfectly encapsulates all of that while being true to the timeline it was set in. So we witness their interaction with celebrity gossip, sex- both protected and unprotected, we witness abuse- physical, emotional, parental neglect, love, obsession, manipulation, eating disorder, apathy, friendship, disgust, and wonder in equal measure. The loneliness it shows is personal.

I would recommend it to everyone.

And for criticism, I think what I struggled with initially is there is a long list of characters that appear here and as it is a black-and-white comic, I found it difficult to distinguish who is who. A character list at the beginning or end would have made the experience significantly better.

Please check out the content warning before reading this.

Thanks to NetGalley and Vertical Comics for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange of my honest opinion.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley as the publication of a new edition of the formerly serialized manga Rivers Edge. This manga told a story that, from its core, was about the lives and mishaps of the teen experience. Navigating relationships, sexuality, and bullying is something that is a timeless experience, especially in the high school age. This is an incredible story that encompasses the teen experience of the recent past in a way that makes it seem no different from that of the experiences of teens today.

This was a very interesting and dark graphic novel following several tragedies in a neighborhood. It follows a group of teens, their interactions and lives, all of them have their own issues and demons and how those affect them and the people around them. It's violent, sad, gritty, raw. I enjoyed it, however it definitely isn't for everyone. There is a particular audience for this book and if you're looking for a lighthearted cozy graphic novel this is not it and not for you. It does, however, make you think about teens, decisions, etc and I ultimately am glad to have read it.

The illustrations are perfect for the story, which is strong. Revealing the lives of several characters, who have lives or go through intense things.
The book was quite interesting, setting a really good story.

The artstyle wasn't really to my liking but I liked the story!
It's about Wakakusa who dosen't really mind anything in life, so it appears at least. And the boy Yamada, who is gay.
It's quite a adult kind of manga, slice of life and adolescens theme. Subjects like sex, homosexuality and friendship are in the focus and I kinda liked how open the subjects where, even if the pace was slowed.

Thank you NetGalley, for providing an e-arc.

This was a really solid read. It was very emotional in places and I felt like I could connect with our main character. Great read.

River's Edge by Kyōko Okazaki delivers a raw, unflinching exploration of disaffected youth, set against the gritty backdrop of 1990s urban Japan. The story revolves around a group of teenagers grappling with their own personal demons, societal pressures, and the suffocating sense of alienation that permeates their lives. Okazaki's storytelling intertwines their paths in unexpected and often disturbing ways, revealing the darker undercurrents of human nature.
First things first: I can't really connect to this setting, since I am European, so I can't really tell if it's an accurate depiction. But there seem to be a lot of pop culture references, which are all explained in footnotes. I didn't really care about said footnotes, since I took the pop culture references as such and moved on.
The artstyle isn't something I usually gravitate towards. It's messy on purpose, minimalistic, and exactly what this kind of story needed in a way. It doesn't take away from what's happening by being this simplistic. It actually adds to the raw, unfiltered reality of adolescence, with all its confusion and pain.
I resonated with some parts of what the teenagers were feeling and experiencing. It can be unnerving to see them open up to each other about some of the things they did open up to - but that's exactly what it's like. No one talks about it but everyone knows it happened.
Still, the whole narrative was a bit boring. It didn't feel like an actual story. There simply was no plot whatsoever. This is very much a snapshot of the life of these teenagers. There is little before, there is nothing after. Nothing gets resolved. This kind of fragmented storyline (and I hesitate to call it a storyline) led to me having trouble connecting with the characters. I can't tell you their names; I can barely remember the relationships these characters had to each other beyond "they go to school together".
It's still a solid read, I just don't know how to place it. It's nothing revolutionary, it's nothing totally underwhelming. It's the definition of solid middle.
You do have to be able to stomach quite the list of triggering content though. We have open and clear depictions of sexual exploitation and assault, drug use, eating disorders, violence, mental health struggles, death, gore, mental abuse, physical abuse, and possibly more - and they are not talked about, treated, or even resolved. These things are there, they are raw, they are part of characters who haven't learned how to deal with such things.

This book falls into the category of so many others: disjointed scenes, lack of background, hard to figure out where the story line is. The artwork is good, it's that the storyline itself seems to be all over the place.

Okay, so technically I didn’t like this because so many awful things happened. But I think it was well done.

Energy: Visceral. Compulsive. Devastating.
Scene: 🇯🇵 Set in Tokyo, Japan.
Perspective: Observing the day-to-day struggles of a cast of high school students.

🐩 Tail Wags: The startling, sad, but believable storylines. Illustration style.

🤔 Random Thoughts:
Throws every bad thing that could happen to someone as a teen at the reader, but it didn’t feel gratuitous. It seemed plausible.

Check content heads-up as a lot of it is graphic especially when you can watch it play out on the page.

This was originally from the ‘90s and it feels that way. Some of it didn’t age well, but the topics and outcomes aren’t irrelevant for today. Footnotes provide context when popular media is referenced from that time.

----
🤓 Reader Role: Watching the scene unfold getting to understand the group dynamics and backstories.
🗺️ World-Building: Immersive, sensory, gritty.
🔥 Fuel: Character de-evolution, parallel plots, and atmospheric tension. Who will survive, who will succumb, and will there be justice?
📖 Cred: Hyper-realistic to plausible.

Mood Reading Match-Up:
Stagnant water. Canadian goldenrod. Factory smoke. Steam whistle. School bell. Tears. Faint ocean breeze. Sewage. Ozone.
-1980s/’90s high school drama
-Cruel coming-of-age tragedies
-Harsh life struggles
-Dark foreboding atmosphere
-Teen psychological horrors

Content Heads-Up: Homophobia, homophobic slurs. Outing (by friends). Bullying (physical assault, humiliation, name-calling, threats). Toxic relationship. Adult/minor relationship. Fatphobia. Sexual content (consenting; graphic, on page; rough off page). Corpse (discovery, disposal). Eating disorder (bingeing, purging; on page). Violence (attack, strangling). Murder. Cheating on romantic partner. Pregnancy. Abortion (discussion of). Obsession, unrequited love. Animal cruelty (cat torture, death; on page). Fire (fatality). Suicide. Blood. Miscarriage. Rape (on page). Vomit. Body fluids (semen). Drug use.

Rep: Japanese. Gay. Lesbian. Heterosexual. Cisgender.

📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from Kodansha Comics, Vertical Comics, and NetGalley.

My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶

I was totally captivated by this story. The plot is dark and gritty and gets under your skin. The different characters all have very different baggage to carry (bullying, anorexia, the search for oneself). The narrative style is very uncompromising and unembellished and portrays this feeling of nirvana and a certain hopelessness. The drawings and the complexity of the plot reminded me of the narrative style of Fuyumi Sōryō (Mars, Eternal Sabbath), whose series I loved as a teenager. I can't really put it into words, except to say that I found the drawings and panels incredibly impressive and expressive and the narrative absolutely captivating. If you like dark and melancholy stories with a touch of nostalgia and seriousness, you should definitely pick up this one!

The most absurdly melodramatic high school comic I've ever read. Teenagers - kids - behaving like gangsters and psychopaths and nobody steps in and says anything or thinks how weird it all is. I couldn't buy any of it. Saying "well it was the '70s" doesn't cut it either - this is just plain silly. Boring non-stories featuring reprehensible scumbags, this manga was trying way too hard to seem edgy and shocking. Instead it comes off as, ironically, childish. The worst manga I've read in some time - no wonder it's unknown.

I thought the pacing was a bit off, where certain scenes that I expected to happen over a page was dealt with in one box. In that same vein, I felt like a lot of the story was expositioned rather than shown to the reader. I also think that the story suffered from too many serious stories only being touched upon in a superficial level.

5 stars

I am new to Kyōko Okazaki and this was such an impactful manga for me. I am not even sure how to explain the plot because I feel like I will give important aspects of character dynamics away, and I could list the plot out in spoilers, but I don't want to do that for this review. I think River's Edge just has to be experienced without knowing what to expect. Just know that this is a Josei manga that looks at feminist, queer, and coming-of-age themes set in a high school that is located nearby a river and there's a dead body that is being observed similarly to the boys in Stand by Me (The Body by Stephen King). I gave this 4 stars when I finished it in my reading notes, and then I couldn't stop thinking about it. The next I purchased all of Kyōko Okazaki's mangas that have been translated and I can't wait to read them. I am a fan!

This book was deep and intimate. An interesting slice of life into Japan in the 90s. Would recommended.