Sometimes I just want a standalone one-and-done tale that leaves me thinking after I put it down. Kodansha recently unveiled Confession, a classic thriller manga that highlights the frailty of the human mind in times of immense stress and danger. A minimal cast of characters and the frightening cold make this a perfect single-night read for those wanting some suspenseful thrills.

Longtime mountaineering friends Asai and Ishikura are stranded on a mountain, with no hope in sight. Fearing that he will die where he lays, Ishikura admits a heavy burden: He killed fellow mountaineering club member Sayuri.

Fortunately for Asai, the two find shelter in an abandoned cabin. Unfortunately, Ishikura seems shifty and Asai gets paranoid about the situation. Throughout the story, Asai tries to grapple with the fact that he’s in living quarters with a killer. What will happen with the two, and will Asai survive the night?

Confession was a gripping tale that had me hooked on the first page. I always saw the “deathbed-confession-but-not-really” trope to be a more comical trope, but here this takes that to a frightening conclusion. After all, finding out your friend is a murderer while he has a way to kill you isn’t the most peaceful scenario out there. The manga does a masterful job with creating a claustrophobic and tense atmosphere with its two main characters, and nothing is quite as it seems.

While the buildup after the initial confession does take some time to fully realize itself, once it does, the story hits its stride. At a little over 300
pages, this single volume work is the perfect size to eat it up in one sitting. If you want a grim thriller with a great suspenseful narrative, Confession should be up your alley this winter.

Confession was a very interesting manga in that I really hadn't read anything like it before, at least in terms of manga. The actual confession in the beginning felt a bit forced since we had never met these characters before, but what can you do when you only have a little bit of time to set the story up? Overall, I enjoyed it.

what a thrill! Confession kept me on the edge! asai and ishikura are trapped besides their convictions within a cabin as the shadow of secrecy and paranoia grows. the atmosphere was suffocating and the art was brilliant. predicted it a bit but overall, i loved the concept, specifically the twist. kudos to Fukumoto!

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Summary:

Asai and Ishikura are good friends, which is how they ended up in this situation together. It was meant to be a big group of them hiking up into the mountains, but it ended up just being two of them due to a series of events.

Then the storm hit, leading Ishikura to get dangerously wounded. It’s only natural that he believed these were his final moments…leading to a deathbed confession. Both fortunately and unfortunately for him, the tides turned, and now it looks like he will survive.

Review:

Ohhhh. Confession is perfect for all the readers who love a good psychological thriller or a story with good murder/mystery vibes. It also has strong survival elements, as our main character desperately fights for a way to survive this situation.

This was a fun twist on the whole “stranged in the mountains due to a storm” trope. Instead of having the horrible event start and end on this mountain, it turns out that at least half had previously occurred…and it’s the confession that kicks everything off (again).

I liked that twist. It made for a dark setting, even if I thought the whole thing was quickly blown out of proportion. (Would they both really jump to those conclusions that quickly? Not having been in that situation, I’m far from a subject expert).

Be sure to check out Confession if you’re looking for a tense survival story.

Highlights:
Paranoia & Danger
Dark Secrets
Survival

Trigger Warnings:
Fatal Situations
Death & Murder

I'd like to thank Kaiji Kawaguchi, Nobuyuki Fukumoto, Net Galley and Kodansha Comics for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Confession follows two men, Asai and Ishikura as they climb through the mountains during a snowstorm. Ishikura injures himself and aware he may not last much longer, confesses a long held secret to Asai. Shortly after Asai finds a cabin, and both men are thrown into an endless cycle of paranoia and fear.

This manga takes place in the mountains but also in the thoughts of both paranoid men, so you see a lot of stressed "will he wont he" and its very drawn out. I enjoyed the style of the storytelling for the most part, though manga is usually more expressive than I found this story to be with a lot of staring into space thinking. It builds suspense but it also makes it so there's not much to look at, and unlike other graphic novels you may come across this is not in color. I do love the cover and I really enjoyed the plot underneath it all and I'm really grateful for the opportunity to review this!

confession reads like an abridged version of a much larger story. the idea is there, but the execution is lacking. the storytelling is too fast-paced and doesn't allow for tension buildup, which is something i expect from a thriller. the ending is also predictable.

Confession has an intriguing premise - a deathbed confession, except salvation was just round the corner. Unfortunately, I found this did very little with the concept and all that transpired was predictable. It felt silly, with comical exaggerations. I also found it quite hard to physically read the text on the grey illustrations. Maybe my expectations were too high, but this didn't deliver. As is, it's a decent-ish short story but I found it lacked tension. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

In a mountainous snowstorm, an injured friend makes a deathbed confession..... but just as he's given up, there is a cabin and a promise of rescue... so what does that mean to the two friends whose lives are now hindered by not only this confession, but the slowly expanding details around the incident from five years prior?

Nobuyuki Fukumoto's psychological thriller Confession is the spiraling of the circumstances of such a confession, played out over the hours until morning. It was originally published in Japan in 1998, but this year there was a live action film and this new English (and French) adaptation.

For my part as a reviewer, I enjoyed the older style art and the drip of details that there was more to these guys' story than just the opening chapter confession. A quick read with no real dull moments.

Thank you to Kodansha and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for review!

It reminded the mind battles between the characters from Death Note. Actually, I encountered lots of manga recently that have these kind of stuff and, although interesting, I find it sometimes a little too heavy-handed. But don't get me wrong, I liked this book very much! I recommend it.

This manga is a story of two friends that are huge hiking enthusiasts and are stuck in by a snowstorm. Feeling like they are about to die, one makes a confession. It’s a great page turner and the plot was a good one for me. Lots of suspense and it keeps you on the edge. The outcome and twist were perfect for this. I would recommend it however the only complaint for me is outdated artwork maybe but, thank you Kodansha and NetGalley for this arc.

I was looking forward to this as soon as I read the summary but it just didn’t hit for me. I unfortunately had to put this one down, I do appreciate NetGalley and to the publishers for giving me this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I could not put down this psychological thriller! This manga tells the tale of two friends stranded in a blizzard, with one severally injured and confessing his darkest secret. Surprisingly, they are able to find refuge shortly thereafter where the weight of the secret bears down on them both and drives them to madness. A thrilling read that will keep you on the edge of your seat!

The art style is quite easy to look at and the story is suspenseful , this manga explains the complexities of human nature and to the extent people can go to save their face. The pretentious nature of humans when exposed turns them into a beast.

Ready? Storytime!

Would you confess your innermost secrets if you were on the brink of death?

Asai and Ishikura have been mountain climbing and got stranded in a blizzard. Ishikura is badly injured and fighting for his life. But before he goes, he wants to go with his conscience clean. Therefore, Ishikura decides to confess his darkest secret. He was responsible for something… terrible.

Things take a turn after the truth comes to light. But Asai has always been very comprehensive and kind, being Ishikura’s one true friend. Thus, he doesn’t judge Ishikura. Asai finds a cabin and hauls them both to safety, so the looming threat of death’s embrace is a thing of the past.

The scenario of them making it out in one piece falls on them. And Ishikura starts doubting that Asai won’t keep his secret if they make it out of this one. But dialogue can solve everything, no?

This manga was such a pleasant surprise, I really enjoyed it. If you’re looking for a story that is going to keep you on your toes, I highly recommend it! I didn’t see any of the twists and turns coming and the ending left me in disbelief. Certainly one that’s going to live rent-free in my mind.

This is a psychological thriller that gives you two vastly different perspectives with survival in mind. Being stranded and on the brink of losing your life is nerve-wracking enough. Add uncertainty and the events of vulnerability in the story—it’s enough to make anyone go mad.

Some secrets should never be told.

See you in the next one!

♡ My rating: 10/10

♡ Trope: psychological thriller, mystery, confessing secrets
♡ TWs: bl••d, violence

The December Kodansha manga slate kicks off with Confession, a single-volume thriller from Kaiji author Nobuyuki Fukumoto and Zipang artist Kaiji Kawaguchi. Set atop a snowy mountain, the story begins when the injured Ishikura makes a dark confession to climbing partner Asai. But as luck would have it, Asai finds the shelter they sought. If the two can make it through the night until a rescue team arrives, they can get home safely. But Ishikura’s confession has changed everything. Asai suddenly feels deeply unsafe, and a tense and terrifying overnight stay begins.

Confession is a magnificent stand-alone story, with the deeply personal horror of Edgar Allan Poe and the claustrophobic terror of The Lighthouse. Kawaguchi’s art melds perfectly with Fukumoto’s story to get inside the heads of both of the story’s protagonists, placing the readers in their extremely uncomfortable shoes. Nothing is ever as it seems, and the final pages deliver a brutal twist. This is one every thriller fan should have in their library.

There was a point during the first seventy pages or so when I was getting annoyed with wondering if the MC was just going to be waffling between paranoia and wanting to believe the best of his friend with nothing actually happening. But then, that tension boiled over.

And it becomes a fight for survival, barricaded between potential deaths as we find there are no good people in this cabin.

Good for psychological horror manga enjoyers.

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

As death looms amidst a ferocious blizzard, things get awkward between hikers Ishikura and Asai, when the former admits to an old murder, just before they manage to find the shelter they were looking for. And suddenly the darkness is closing in, both literal and figurative.

This is a real mixed bag of a one-shot, but overall I quite enjoyed it. It starts with a classic scenario - I saw this exact same thing play out in a volume of <i>In/Spectre</i> a while back - and effectively amps up the tension.

For a story that only involves two guys and the death of a woman they both knew, it zips along at a brisk clip and doesn’t feel terribly boring. This is one of those suspense stories that knows when to pile on and it usually ratchets things up just when it might otherwise flag.

The set-up is probably the biggest hurdle, as establishing the scenario and waiting for Asai’s paranoia to really start kicking in takes a bit long, but once the snowball’s rolling and all that.

It helps that the story doesn’t play its cards close to its chest for very long either. Yes, yes, there is a certain joy in a story that is gaslighting the whole way with how innocent things are, but sometimes getting to the point is good too.

And this one barrels towards a confrontation and a conclusion that are very tense and very dark, respectively. There are no heroes in this one, putting it mildly, and while a plot twist didn’t quite land for me, the ending is savagely brutal.

The extended battle of wits and not-so-much between the two is what makes this as good as it is. The brinkmanship of two people in a life-and-death struggle to survive makes this one a real page-turner and worth the reader’s effort.

Now, story wobbles aside, some of the art here is really goofy. I love that it’s going for an older style, that part is great, but there’s one particular shot of Asai reacting that is hilariously badly drawn (I snickered, which is bad) and conveys nothing it’s supposed to. There are some other clunkers amidst the panels, but that one is egregiously bad.

3.5 stars - rounded up for being overall enjoyable for the majority of its page count and taking an old premise and making it a fun time. A good little one-shot.

Thank you so much to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC to review!

3 stars!

I genuinely enjoyed this for a manga. The tension built up right, loved the art work, and felt like the ending would go that way but enjoyed it nonetheless!

Would love a anime adaptation to ramp up the tension more as it can work with manga but I feel this story and how it builds up would be person in a more active medium if that makes any sense.

Regardless, I liked the story and how it went, and happy to find a new artist and writer!

I really enjoyed this! I was on the edge of my seat from the very beginning and couldn't stop reading. I needed to know what was going to happen between Asai and Ishikura.

We follow Asai and Ishikura who get trapped in the middle of a snowstorm after an accident. Thinking they won't survive, Ishikura confessions a dark secret. However, the two friends are able to seek refuge in a nearby cabin. As they wait for help to arrive, Asai worries that Ishikura might do anything to keep his secret.

Such a fast paced read, great characters, and amazing artwork. Definitely recommend this to anyone who loves thriller manga/graphic novels!

"For these two men, time stopped with that confession.."

Confession - Nobuyuki Fukumoto, Kaiji Kawaguchi
★★★★☆

Thank you Netgalley and Kodansha Comics for the copy in exchange for an honest review!

Confession is a psychological thriller manga following two friends, Asai and Ishikura, whose got trapped in a worst storm in a middle of hiking. Feeling death is slowly approaching, Ishikura made a confession about a murder that he committed. Unless that they made it into a near cabin and spending some times while awaiting the rescuer team. With that one confession, one is regretting his decision, while the other one is sensing danger is coming his way along with that knowledge.

This manga got me hooked with every secrets and twits revealed, especially the build up towards the end. The idea of trapped alone with a murderer in a high mountain in the middle of storm is giving me chill and horror. This book succeeded in displaying mind play, moral shift, and unease feeling through every panel. Everything is so crazy, the characters is crazy, their character development is crazy, the way the plot driven is crazy. What a great one-sit read!