The Murderer And Her Runaway Desire Manga Review

The Murderer and Her Runaway Desire by Aneido is a 90-page erotic comic originally self-published on X (formerly Twitter) before being picked up by Red String Translations, who also successfully Kickstarted a print edition that is now being distributed by Manga Mavericks. This is a disturbing, psychosexual story marketed as a toxic yuri thriller.

I did not find it thrilling or yuriful.

The Murderer’s Plot

The protagonist of The Murderer and Her Runaway Desire is a teacher who systematically murders her students. In the opening scene, we see her stab a student in the chest in the middle of the classroom, which is when another student, “Desire,” catches her in the act and decides to blackmail her into erotic acts. The logistical implausibility of the situation (everyone’s so calm about so many people dying in one high school class!) and the claustrophobic framework limiting events to the school and the teacher’s home make it clear fairly quickly that the story is more of an allegorical morality play than a depiction of actual events. And if the uncanny setup isn’t obvious enough, the names of the students– Sorrow, Desire, Anger, Hope– clarify it further.

From the synopsis, I thought the student-murdering would be emotionally relevant to the world at large, and that the reason Desire has a hold on her teacher is that her teacher doesn’t want anyone to find out she’s a murderer. But since the entire story takes place inside the teacher’s mind, the stakes are significantly smaller. Everyone kind of knows the teacher’s the murderer and doesn’t care because they’re all manifestations of her own emotions. The teacher also doesn’t really care, because when the story begins, she’d already killed off Hatred, Hope, and Anger, losing her ability to feel those emotions. This lack of back-and-forth tension made the story feel less like a thriller and more like a depiction of someone’s stress dream. If you’re interested in abstract fever dream scenarios, this might be more for you than me.

Since the teacher is missing vital emotions already, she comes off as extremely passive and detached, even when she’s murdering her students, and Desire almost bullies her into sexual situations. It doesn’t feel like Desire is responding to or awakening what the teacher really wants. It’s framed like the teacher doesn’t want it at all, even if her body is reacting to the advances. The teacher doesn’t really seem to desire anything, though she is gentle and caring with Sorrow. I personally am not into one-sided sexual advances – for me, the appeal of a “toxic yuri” story is when the attraction is mutual, despite many good reasons why it shouldn’t be.

Why Does the Metaphor Have a Favorite Food?

The least successful aspect of this story is the clarity of the metaphorical element itself, as it seems to be confused as to how fleshed out its mind-prison school environment needs to be. There are other teachers in the school – Are they also people killing off emotions in their classes? The final page of the book has bonus art describing the characters’ attributes. Why does a metaphor have a well-off family? Why does a metaphor have a favorite food? Is the teacher making up an elaborate cast of imaginary friends to murder? Perhaps the problem is that I’m being too literal-minded, but I do think this ambiguity is more confusing than intriguing.

The Murderer and Her Runaway Visuals

There is a lot of explicit sexual content packed into these 96 pages. Whether or not it’s sexy is definitely a matter of personal preference, but I do think it’s intended to be titillating and not simply uncomfortable.

However, the art style feels very stiff, with thin, feathery linework and layered hatching more reminiscent of academic student drawing than manga. It almost looks as though the comic was drawn with a 2H pencil rather than inked, which is unusual for a comic. The characters are easy to tell apart, but that’s mostly due to their hairstyles and the teacher being taller than her students. Their eyes are wide and vacant. The darkest tones are generally reserved for the sailor collar of the school uniforms and Desire’s hair, making the rest of the lighting in the comic feel very soft and gentle, contrasting with the dark subject matter. The shadows are mostly a soft, medium gray, textured by hand, rather than with the use of patterned tones. The stiff, awkward posing adds to the allegorical, metaphorical feeling, as the characters’ movements feel slightly at odds with those of real people.

Verdict

The Murderer and Her Runaway Desire is a 90-page graphic novella that feels like the self-published work it is, which is why it’s a surprise it was picked up for wide release even by a small publisher like Red String. Also, the price is staggering. Almost $30 USD for a 90-page B5-sized black and white book is a lot, even if it comes with a bookmark, and even if, as a small publisher, you’re doing relatively small print runs and relying on other small publishers to distribute it. (Most printed manga in the US retail at somewhere around $12-18 USD for around twice as many pages, often with color inserts.) I’m impressed it appears to be selling well, even at that price.

The abstract plot and specific aesthetic will not appeal to everyone. And yet the Kickstarter to fund its initial print run was successful, and it has acquired a cult following online. This comic was not for me, but it might be for you.

Credits:

Art and Writing by Aneido
Translation: tsuk
Lettering: Red
Inventory & Logistics Manager: Varun Gupta (Manga Mavericks Books)
Distributor: Manga Mavericks Books

Thank you to Manga Mavericks Books for providing a review copy. Receiving this copy did not affect the reviewer’s opinions as expressed here.

Article edited by: Anne Estrada