Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan - Precious Lies: Psychos Just Around the Corner

Usotsuki Mi-kun to Kowareta Ma-chan Totteoki no Uso

By Iruma Hiruma and Satou Atsunori

Mii-kun: (Maa-chan and I were kidnapped 8 years ago.)
Maa-chan: Mii-kun! I'm so happy that we're together again~
Mii-kun: (We were tormented together... broken together... and driven insane together.)
Maa-chan: Let's live together, Mii-kun~
Mii-kun: Maa-chan, you kidnapped those kids?
Maa-chan: Yep~
Mii-kun: *to kidnapped children* I want you two to think of me as your kidnapper. The big sister over there has nothing to do with this. If you do that, I'll release you guys.
Kidnapped Children: Deal.
Mii-kun: ....(What I said was a lie.... I actually plan to kill these kids).

RATING: A- (AMAZING!)
FAVORITISM: 4.5 Hearts ---> ADDICTION

Victims of terrifying crimes are left with psychological scars that are difficult to cure. I love how this series portrayed the possible effects that could happen on different individuals. What's frightening is that those in bad states could be anyone... even if they seem normal on the outside.

Our main characters weren't just imprisoned by a kidnapper; but they were tortured... physically and psychologically. They may have survived those horrifying events, but their sanity had become questionable after that incident.

The most obvious one was the girl, Maa-chan, with her screams during the night.... unconsciously repeating what her tormentor did... having a strange obsession with her childhood friend... and her real strange views on things. Like this for instance:

(Yup, a hand bleeding because of a fork seemed like an ordinary thing to her.)

As the title indicates, she's broken. Even the leading guy, Mii-kun, is aware of that. But he's no different, and he's aware of that too.

If the main characters are already crazy individually, naturally their relationship is twisted as well. They were close friends and currently they're in a romantic relationship... or are they?

(They're so sweet~)

They do majority of the things that couples do: exchange of "I love you"s, hugging and kissing, living in the same place and sleeping together. She considers him as her most precious one... and he's the only one she trusts. He already calls her his wife... and she was the one whom he had vowed to protect. Romantic, isn't it?

But, she had nearly killed him more than once, and it has been questionable whether the actual person she loves is really him. He was never seen happy being with her, and his constant lying also makes it questionable whether his words or love for her were also lies or not. Still romantic?

Their relationship is really complicated but no doubt they have also been very sweet. My favorite relationship is between Mii-kun and the kidnapped children:

(Believe it or not, they LOVE their kidnapper's bodyguard)

Even though this is a series mainly on dark themes, it still added some positive elements such as kindness, compassion, hope, and love (I like the sibling love in this series. I was very touched). Our psychos may have some devilish sides, but that doesn't mean they're completely evil. Even if Mii-kun's protectiveness was fake.... even if Maa-chan's love is a little extreme.... there's still no doubt that there's goodness in them.

By the way, the main characters aren't the only abnormal ones in this series. They don't need a tragic past to have such a mental state either. The most interesting among them for me is the detective. She's pretty peculiar... even Mii-kun, who is already a confusing character, couldn't figure her out. It's fun to watch her counterattack Mii-kun's lies though, haha!

However, I'm also disappointed with her character. I mean, she's a detective... a very capable one in fact in terms of brains and guts. She even understands our mentally unstable main characters better than the actual psychiatrist in the series! Yet... she failed to solve the case she's working on. Jeez, please let professionals do their job.

Speaking of professionals, I'm also disappointed on the psychiatrist. She just said that she has done everything and improving her patient's situation is impossible. I dunno... for me she gives a bad image to psychiatrists in the real world... it's like saying that they are useless no matter what they do. Oh she really didn't seem like a psychiatrist to me =_= just some woman ranting about the girl she didn't get along with. The manga could've at least made her mention the methods she used to improve her patient's condition.... but no, she was only there just to show that one of our main characters actually has a psychiatrist. Meh.

What made me more annoyed with the psychiatrist is that for some reason, she has a crush on our dear Mii-kun:

(Mii-kun got injured so she went tsun tsun but deep inside baaaaaaww)

I think it's more believable if she was just a physician who suddenly had a crush on her good-looking patient, not a psychiatrist who is better in curing physical injuries than emotional/mental ones! Ugh...

Ugh, I think it would've been acceptable for me if she was just a doctor/physician. But no, she's a psychiatrist who

It's not just those characters I had a problem with, but also the time the story started. I mean, why did these kidnapping and serial killing happen only 8 years later? Why happen at the same time? What triggered them? Why did Mii-kun only show up at that time? I can understand that there are some things that are meant to remain a mystery until the end, but leaving too many unanswered made it feel lacking.

Oh who cares of such minor flaws when everything else is brilliant? xD The best for me is the storytelling style:

(Fufufufufufufu~)

Its story was narrated in a unique and mind-boggling way. Interestingly, it picked a liar as its narrator xD It's challenging to figure out what Mii-kun really thinks and feels, since he ends many of his lines by saying that he actually lied. What made it more difficult is that sometimes he doesn't know whether what he's saying is the truth or not himself. It's complicated indeed, but finding out what really happened behind the confusions the narrator's making.

(poor darling ;_;)

If you're craving for an excellent psychological thriller, this manga is definitely one of those I'll highly recommend. It's crazy and confusing... yet also very interesting and intriguing. It's a unique story presented awesomely... and it sure knows its themes very well. It could make its reader giggle, feel sad, go "WTF?!" and freak out xD The cast may be weird... but they're also very charming in their own way~ Last but not the least, the artwork's really amazing! The series' setting may not require complicated illustrations, but they're still drawn so well that it makes me stare at the artwork from time to time.