Title: The BS Situation of Tougetsu Umidori Vol. 1
Author: Miso Ameiro, Kaeru Ryouseirui (Original Story), Natsuki Amashiro (Characters)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Digital
Pages: 164
Genre: Comedy
Publication Date: May 27, 2025
The Story
We have a serious problem. Nara is convinced that someone is stealing her pencils! It was unnoticeable at first, but sooner or later, something felt off! The grip wasn’t right; the way it felt in her hand was dubious. Then, she began to leave marks on her pencils, only to notice that one of the ones with the marks had been replaced! This dire situation calls for immediate action! Nara enlists her friend, Umidori, who has a unique medical condition that prevents her from ever telling a lie, to help her with the case. Filled with the inability to turn a blind eye to those in trouble, Umidori accepts!
There’s only one problem… Umidori is the pencil thief! But, she’s not stealing the pencils because she wishes to stalk Nara or cause harm to her. After all, she used her wages from working part-time at an internet café to replace the pencils she had stolen. Swapping them means no harm, no foul, right? Wrong. To Nara, those pencils are precious. They are HER pencils, after all! And she’ll be damn if anyone takes HER pencils. So, why did Umidori do it? Because she loves eating people’s fingerprints!
Yes, fingerprints! Those delicious marks left behind when a human touches something. She loves to eat them all, Nara’s especially! But no crime goes unpunished, and that is why the Damsel Defender arrives at Umidori’s house and threatens her! Yes, her life will end by the knife unless she answers Defender’s questions! But, Umidori is much bigger than the Defender and overpowers her, reducing her to a quivering mess! Turns out, the Damsel Defender’s real name is Bullshit-chan, and she can only tell lies because she, herself, is a lie manifested in human form! She tested Umidori and found out that she does, indeed, have the power to tell only truths!
Now, Umidori must help Bullshit-chan defeat and eat other lies that have manifested, or she will soon be erased from existence… and the first person they plan to eat is… Nara!
Yes, that’s the actual story of this series.
Characters
Hoo boy. Where do I even begin with this one?
Umidori cannot tell a lie; however, it doesn’t mean she can’t bend the truth. She can turn a phrase and mask the truth without actually lying, which is quite the trait in and of itself. Using that to her advantage, she had stolen pencils from Nara for over a year, all because she likes to shave them on top of rice and eat them, or more specifically, eat Nara’s fingerprints… something she’s had a fetish for ever since she was a child. Despite her oddities, she never meant any harm, which is why she bought and replaced Nara’s pencils, thinking that if she did that much, it wouldn’t have been a problem. Because of her inability to tell lies, she was often ridiculed as a child, and that caused her to become a bit of an introvert. She has no problem conversing with people at school; however, she utterly refuses to do anything with anyone once the final bell rings. She figures this keeps everyone just far enough away so that she doesn’t have to worry about friendship. While odd, she’s quite a complex and layered character. On one hand, you feel sorry for her. On the other hand, you want to scream, “What the [expletive]!?”
Nara is a bit neurotic herself by obsessing over her pencils; however, there is a more human side to her. In the last chapter, we get a backstory of how Nara was a model. Her looks were way above average, which allowed her to land that job; however, she was too beautiful simply because she told a lie about being the most beautiful girl in the world. When you lie hard enough, it manifests and comes true, and that’s what happened with her. She was perceived to be so beautiful that she didn’t get any work because fashion designers felt her looks would overshadow the clothes they wanted her to wear. The same went with the theater as they felt her presence would cause an imbalance to everyone else on the stage, and she would command the most attention. Therefore, they decided not to renew her contract. This makes you look past the pencil obsession and see the human side of her. You can’t help but feel for Nara!
Then there is Bullshit-chan. (Yes, that’s her actual name). A living lie in the most literal sense. Her belier cast her aside, and when the belier stops believing the lie, the lie fades away, but not her. She was determined to stay in this world, so she began eating other lies until that wasn’t enough. She needs bigger, stronger lies. Therefore, she needs to eat other lies that have manifested into human form. This is probably one of the most unique characters I’ve read in quite some time. Even though Bullshit-chan isn’t human, she has a lot of human qualities… the desire to stay alive and not die by any means necessary. Even though she is a bit unorthodox in her approach, you can understand where she’s coming from. Definitely a very interesting character!
Final Thoughts
My God, what a first volume! It’s very rare that a new manga comes out and makes me fall in love with it instantly. The BS Situation of Tougetsu Umidori did just that with three of the most unique and wildest characters I’ve seen in an introduction volume in a very long time. From their unique quirks to the overall premise of the series, I almost wanted to crown it Manga of the Year instantly, but I realized that would just be hyperbole. It doesn’t discount the fact that this was an incredible first volume that hooked you, kept your attention, and entertained you page after page from cover to cover. RuriDragon was another series that did that to me, which was released earlier this year, and Boy’s Abyss did that with its first volume as well. That says a lot because not even my favorite mangaka, Inio Asano, was able to capture me with the first volume of Mujina into the Deep.
I could spend more time gushing about this book, but I think I should stop wasting your time and just tell you to go out and buy this. If you want ridiculous twist after ridiculous twist that will keep a permanent smile on your face for 168 pages, then this is the series you should be picking up!
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