[Manga] Shiori Experience - My Plain Self and an Odd Old Man
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Alternate titles: シオリエクスペリエンス ~ジミなわたしとヘンなおじさん~, Shiori Experience - Jimi na Watashi to Hen na Ojisan
Author: Kazuya Machida
Artist: Yu-Ko Osada
Publisher: Square Enix (Big Gangan Comics)
Volumes: 18 (ongoing)Synopsis: Shiori was once a guitarist in a light music club in high school. But her first live performance was dashed when her brother ran away from home with a lot of debt, to become a musician in Tokyo.
A decade later, Shiori is now a high school teacher, leading a boring, uneventful life and paying off the debt… till she runs into the ghost of none other than a famous guitarist Jim-you-know-who.
A story of a 27-year-old woman on her way to a music legend begins here.
Comments: The synopsis says it all - this is the story of a high school teacher who is possessed by the ghost of Jimi Hendrix in an occult ritual gone wrong, and has to become a famous rockstar within one year or she’ll die.
The art is amazing - each chapter has a unique way of displaying how music is played, and you can really get a sense of the energy of the musicians involved. The writing’s pretty top notch too.
Only caveat is that, well, Jimi Hendrix and his songs are directly referenced here, which is why many licensing companies are afraid to publish this lest his estate get litigious.
Not to mention that despite how good it is, the series doesn’t really seem to get a lot of traction. But even if it’s logistically impossible for this manga to be licensed, I at least want more people to know about it.