Hen na Ie - Vol. 6 Ch. 26.2 - Extra

[MangaDex]

 

[Tsama0]

Some notes for this upload:

• That's it for vol 6, looking forward to 7...
• Not saying Uketsu should do this for all his novels/manga, but I'm really digging this mini-mystery format that eventually leads up to some larger plot.
• I don't know if it's just the manga that does this, but I also like the "small moments" the MC has with Kurihara.

In any case, looking forward to the next manga release - apparently Hen na E (Strange Pictures) vol 4 will be released sometime this month.

 

[HoneyPopper]

So excited! Thanks for the translation!
I also lived in a house with no privacy, so I can see how the kid went nuts.

Also, in Japan, there are hair salons for people with spectrums of social anxieties, and you can request to not have a conversation with the stylist.

 

[pio]

Also, in Japan, there are hair salons for people with spectrums of social anxieties, and you can request to not have a conversation with the stylist.

Honestly that's really nice. I love my hairstylist but in the past I've gone through salons pretty quickly because I catch an awkward vibe one time and I think I've ruined my image forever. Shouts out to Stevie.

 

[BalrogDeMorgoth]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[friendly]

Truly love this explanation for the MCs hair length. Thank you for your hard work!

 

[nkicflt]

thank you for translating the extra also!!!!!

 

[aaaaa8]

I really ship Kurihara and the MC, I love how casual their relationship feels... Thanks for the translation!

 

[reyvarie]

I don't know if it's just the manga that does this, but I also like the "small moments" the MC has with Kurihara.

It's pretty much the mangaka's doing. If you notice, the MC is on the cover of every single volume of the manga, as well as every single inner colour page. A rather unusual choice especially considering how unimportant they are. In the original novel they're barely a character, stemming from the fact that it was sorta meant to be a spooky "this is a true story of what I encountered" kind of framing. The mangaka seems to have found the golden opportunity to give this blank slate their favourite character design and spend every opportunity getting to draw more of it.

 

[enhydriodon]

The mangaka seems to have found the golden opportunity to give this blank slate their favourite character design and spend every opportunity getting to draw more of it.

The character design we currently see actually went through about 10 iterations, stated in this interview with the mangaka: https://hon-hikidashi.jp/book-person/31988/

The mangaka was also picked through an art contest open to all. In their original entry, the designs for MC and Kurihara were very different. They're... uh... Kurihara looks like Mads Mikkelsen and MC looks like they're from some kind of kids' TCG anime.
(Result announcement: https://daysneo.com/award/henieconresult.html, entry: https://illust.daysneo.com/works/dbb7d5caab223f37519bf0ed2a97426d.html)

In the novels, the author is Uketsu as confirmed by Kurihara's afterword in Strange Houses and an "interview" in the barnes and nobles exclusive edition of Strange Buildings, which has Kurihara interviewing Uketsu in his house with photos and all. (Sidenote I've seen Kurihara called an author insert but if anything to me he's more like Uketsu's dream mystery-solving man he self ships with.)

The manga protag was designed to distance from Uketsu while keeping the vibes not too far off and is generally considered separate, the JP fandom sometimes calls them Watashi-san to differentiate. There's clearly some sort of fanservice appeal going on, you get postcard prints of them being cute with the volumes from tsutaya.

 

[reyvarie]

The character design we currently see actually went through about 10 iterations, stated in this interview with the mangaka: https://hon-hikidashi.jp/book-person/31988/

The mangaka was also picked through an art contest open to all. In their original entry, the designs for MC and Kurihara were very different. They're... uh... Kurihara looks like Mads Mikkelsen and MC looks like they're from some kind of kids' TCG anime.
(Result announcement: https://daysneo.com/award/henieconresult.html, entry: https://illust.daysneo.com/works/dbb7d5caab223f37519bf0ed2a97426d.html)

In the novels, the author is Uketsu as confirmed by Kurihara's afterword in Strange Houses and an "interview" in the barnes and nobles exclusive edition of Strange Buildings, which has Kurihara interviewing Uketsu in his house with photos and all. (Sidenote I've seen Kurihara called an author insert but if anything to me he's more like Uketsu's dream mystery-solving man he self ships with.)

The manga protag was designed to distance from Uketsu while keeping the vibes not too far off and is generally considered separate, the JP fandom sometimes calls them Watashi-san to differentiate. There's clearly some sort of fanservice appeal going on, you get postcard prints of them being cute with the volumes from tsutaya.

That's really interesting info, the two look so different in the original design. I wonder why the mangaka doesn't ever draw the other characters on the colour pages then.

 

[Tsama0]

It's pretty much the mangaka's doing. If you notice, the MC is on the cover of every single volume of the manga, as well as every single inner colour page. A rather unusual choice especially considering how unimportant they are. In the original novel they're barely a character, stemming from the fact that it was sorta meant to be a spooky "this is a true story of what I encountered" kind of framing. The mangaka seems to have found the golden opportunity to give this blank slate their favourite character design and spend every opportunity getting to draw more of it.

Yeah, I should really get around to actually reading the original Hen na Ie novel. Odd how I looked at some of Uketsu's other stuff but never touched their most famous writings. But it's interesting he isn't really involved in the story of the original novel. In some of Uketsu's other works, they're the one doing most of the investigations and interviews (calling on Kurihara whenever they're stuck) and keeping the plot moving.

The character design we currently see actually went through about 10 iterations, stated in this interview with the mangaka: https://hon-hikidashi.jp/book-person/31988/

The mangaka was also picked through an art contest open to all. In their original entry, the designs for MC and Kurihara were very different. They're... uh... Kurihara looks like Mads Mikkelsen and MC looks like they're from some kind of kids' TCG anime.
(Result announcement: https://daysneo.com/award/henieconresult.html, entry: https://illust.daysneo.com/works/dbb7d5caab223f37519bf0ed2a97426d.html)

In the novels, the author is Uketsu as confirmed by Kurihara's afterword in Strange Houses and an "interview" in the barnes and nobles exclusive edition of Strange Buildings, which has Kurihara interviewing Uketsu in his house with photos and all. (Sidenote I've seen Kurihara called an author insert but if anything to me he's more like Uketsu's dream mystery-solving man he self ships with.)

The manga protag was designed to distance from Uketsu while keeping the vibes not too far off and is generally considered separate, the JP fandom sometimes calls them Watashi-san to differentiate. There's clearly some sort of fanservice appeal going on, you get postcard prints of them being cute with the volumes from tsutaya.

WOW, this is all fascinating stuff. It's interesting to see how the manga artist made the character (and the story to an extent) their own while making the story accurate to the books (apparently). Those prototype designs are, uh, unexpected. Thank you for sharing this.

 

[reyvarie]

Yeah, I should really get around to actually reading the original Hen na Ie novel. Odd how I looked at some of Uketsu's other stuff but never touched their most famous writings. But it's interesting he isn't really involved in the story of the original novel. In some of Uketsu's other works, they're the one doing most of the investigations and interviews (calling on Kurihara whenever they're stuck) and keeping the plot moving.

I think you might have taken what I said too far. The unnamed protagonist does do the interviews and calls and stuff, what I mean is more that they don't really have much of a personality or meaningful characterisation (at least in Strange Houses, idk about Strange Buildings i.e. Vol 6 onwards). It's just things that you could see any regular person doing in the sort of situation they were in. The manga's additional scenes don't really add much depth, but they do help to make the MC come across more like an actual person than a self-insert.

 

[enhydriodon]

A lot of the color pages are references to Uketsu, so it makes sense the MC is alone in them, though I'm not sure it's all of them. There is definitely favoritism towards the MC in promo material, I'm surprised Kurihara doesn't show up at all in them since he's also a fan favorite. I honestly admire the (subtle) fanservice they manage to pull off with the MC while keeping them fully gender ambiguous (my French copy of vol 1 does gender them as masculine but that's the limitations of the language) and it sure works on me because I want them really badly.

Also throwing it out there that so far the second part of the manga is deviating quite a bit from Strange Buildings in pacing. In the novel

Spoiler: slight novel spoilers, mainly about the way the story is told but no major plot points

Kurihara goes through all the files in one several-hours sitting, at the end of the novel, rather than going through them individually at different moments while hanging out with Uketsu/MC. I like how the manga does this a lot better and the way the novel did it would've been awkward for this format.

The MC's "what is a house really?" musings are also a manga addition. They show a lot more emotion than Uketsu in the novels so I'm eager to see how that goes for them because boy does this get dark.

 

[Tsama0]

I think you might have taken what I said too far. The unnamed protagonist does do the interviews and calls and stuff, what I mean is more that they don't really have much of a personality or meaningful characterisation (at least in Strange Houses, idk about Strange Buildings i.e. Vol 6 onwards). It's just things that you could see any regular person doing in the sort of situation they were in. The manga's additional scenes don't really add much depth, but they do help to make the MC come across more like an actual person than a self-insert.

Aah, gotcha, my apologies. Yeah, Uketsu in their online stories doesn't reveal much about themselves and always seems to talk business, never sitting down just for a chat. I guess the difference in characterization's due to the target audience. Uketsu's online stories/videos are aimed at people who're looking for urban legend/creepypasta where the narrator's anonymous, place names are censored, format is shorter, and the stories don't necessarily have a resolution. Manga readers on the other hand would expect the main characters to have at least some depth.