ミステリーなのに、なぜか明るく、透明感あふれるお話です。ずっと集英社から作品を出版していた岩館真理子さんですが、この本にある作品は角川書店の雑誌、「ヤング・ロゼ」に掲載されていたものです。
Although it’s a mystery story, it’s also full of cheerful atmosphere and a sense of transparency. Iwadate Mariko had published all her works from Shueisya till when this comic book was published. This story appeared in a comic magazine called Young Rose which was published from Kadokawa publishing company.
小高い丘の上へと続く、長い長い階段。その階段を上った先にある、普通の家へと主人公の少女、似季（にき）は夏の間だけのお手伝いさんとしてやってきます。この家に住んでいるのは、ネタ切れ気味のくたびれた漫画家、春彦とその家族でした。広い空と海沿いの街を見晴るかすこの家に、あっけらかんと住んでいる様子の彼らでしたが、似季がここに来たのは、この家族のある秘密を探るためでした。彼女の生母である篠子は、春彦が離婚したあとに後妻としてこの家に来たはずが、いつの間にか行方不明になっていたのです。篠子に何が起こったのかを探る似季は、思いがけず、一家の複雑な人間関係を目の当たりにするのですが……。
There are many flights of stairs that go up to the top of the hillock. The main character called Niki comes to the ordinary home which is located on the hilltop as a housemaid during the summer. The people who lives there are Haruhiko, a cartoonist who is running out of ideas, and his family. Their house overlook a vast sky and a town beside the sea, and they live there nonchalantly but the reason Niki comes there is to reveal their secret. Her real mother called Shinoko must have come here as the second wife of Haruhiko who had divorced but she ended up going missing. Niki who tries to know what happened to Shinoko reveals the unexpectedly complicated relationships of the family…….
明るいタッチで描かれるこのお話は、一種のサイコ・スリラーであり、今でいうイヤミスと言えると思います。主人公の似季は、線が細く色白で、ぷっくりとした唇をもつ、岩館作品に典型的な少女です。この表題作のほかに、「夏が来れば思い出す」、「綺麗」という２つの短編、そして、岩館さん自身のパリ旅行記が収録されているこの単行本は装丁がとてもさわやかで印象的です。
This story which is depicted rather cheerfully is actually a kind of psycho thriller, and I can probably call it a “Iyamisu”, a word which is recently often used to describe a kind of mystery story with an unpleasant aftertaste. The main character Niki is a typical girl Iwadate Mariko used to depict, a girl with feeble-looking, clear skin, and full lips. This comic book contains two other short stories, “Natu ga Kureba Omoidasu” and “Kirei”, and a record of her travels in Paris. I love its binding because the atmosphere is impressively fresh.
何かしら影のある美少女が登場するミステリーを、岩館さんにまた描いてほしいです。
I’d like Iwadate to publish another mystery story which features a beautiful girl with some melancholy.
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