Title: OMORI Vol. 1
Author: OMOCAT (Author), Nui Konoito (Manga)
Publisher: Kodansha
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 210
Genre: Horror, Supernatural
Publication Date: June 9, 2026
The Story
We continue parallel stories between Omori and Sunny, and since Omori’s starts off first, I’ll cover that one, then jump over to Sunny’s rather than explaining things chapter by chapter, since it alternates.
For Omori, they are still searching for Basil on the moon. When we last saw them, there was a mysterious boy who showed up, and he looked to be someone dangerous. They band together to fight, and after they defeat him, he’s revealed as Captain Spaceboy, and he’s become aggressive because of a broken heart. The girl he likes, Sweetheart, won’t bother with him, no matter what he does to get her attention. He thanks them for helping him write a love letter to her, then leaves. They continue to explore until they come across a castle… Sweetheart’s castle… and they learn that she’s about to get married… and not to the Captain! It’s up to them to try to stop the wedding.
Back in the real world, Sunny and Kel are visiting Basil after they locate his missing photo album. There, Basil says that he wants to give the album to Sunny, despite it being precious to him, but then Kel drops the news that Sunny is moving away, and he only has a few days left. Basil becomes sick to his stomach and runs to the bathroom. When Sunny chases after him, things take a turn towards the dark side, and Sunny does something that causes him to black out. When he wakes up, he’s in Kel’s bedroom. She said she was about to call the hospital when he woke up. They decide to go check on Basil to see how he was doing, but when they arrive, he’s gone missing. They look all over and find him at their former secret base by the lake, surrounded by Aubrey and her friends. There, we learn a dark secret, and it results in a perilous situation!
Characters
Captain Spaceboy is one of our new characters, although he seems like an “arc only” character… and the same can be said for Sweetheart. Spaceboy is just a space pirate captain with a broken heart. You kind of feel bad for him because the one girl he loves the most won’t even acknowledge him. Whether it’s baking a cake or buying her clothes, she always rejects the gifts or repurposes them into something more to her liking. Why he would continue chasing after someone like that is beyond me, but sometimes love makes us do crazy things.
Sweetheart, on the other hand, is the epitome of vanity. Without going into spoilers, when you see who she’s trying to marry, it all clicks about what kind of person she is, and how her ego is way out of control. I guess being a princess in a castle can do things to people (as we’ve seen in so many other stories with characters like that). I did laugh when she got angry and attacked everyone with a heart-shaped morning star.
Basil is still as fragile as ever, but you couldn’t help but feel gutted for him when he learned about Sunny moving away. The fact that he instantly got sick to his stomach tells you just how much Sunny means to him as a friend. The fact that he loves and cherishes their photo album also shows just how much he appreciates all the friends he has and the time they spent together. I don’t know if he would feel the same way if anyone else decided to move away, but we at least know that Sunny is special to him, which is why the plot point at the end of the volume hits a bit harder than it should.
Aubrey is being set up for a bit of a redemption arc here. We’re starting to see that she didn’t turn her back on all of her friends for no reason. It all has to do with the photo album, and it’s quite obvious that those photos meant a lot to her, too. When something happened to a couple of them, that’s what caused the change in attitude. While I don’t agree with the way she’s been acting, we are starting to get some of the pieces to the puzzle.
Final Thoughts
I will be honest… right now, I am enjoying the real world’s story (Sunny) more than the alternate world’s story (Omori). I get what each world represents, but maybe it’s the fact that I’m a bigger slice-of-life fan than I am an adventure fan, but that story hooks me a bit more. It doesn’t mean that I can’t see the parallels between them. Both worlds have the same goal of searching for Basil, and I get that there are subtle connections between them, so that part I can truly appreciate… I just don’t connect with the randomness of the alternate world as much.
It’s not stopping me from enjoying the series, though. Just because I’m not enjoying the alternate world’s story as much doesn’t mean I’m not enjoying it at all. I did like Captain Spaceboy’s character, and I did find Sweetheart to be a hilariously stuck-up villain. But the slice-of-life purist in me just finds those types of stories more attractive, which is why I am enjoying Kel and Sunny’s dynamic with Basil and Aubrey more.
While this volume started off in the alternate world, I’m thinking Volume 3 still starts off in the real world. We were given a big setup for an info dump, which should include a bit more of Aubrey’s reasoning for turning her back on her friends, along with some backstory for Basil. I’m looking forward to that, and now that the current “chapter” of the alternate world’s adventure is all but over, it’ll be interesting to see where they go next.
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This item was purchased for review.
