Nijigahara Holograph

Suzuki is a boy burdened by a troubled existence. Shuttled between uncaring foster parents and alienated from his classmates, he has grown into a cynical and unhappy young man. Komatsuzaki is a volatile bully whose erratic, inexplicable behavior stems from a traumatic head injury. Arakawa is a pragmatic, levelheaded girl who harbors unrequited feelings for Komatsuzaki, knowing she can never truly reach him. Around them circle a one-eyed teacher, a mother who took her own life, and a daughter lying in an endless coma. The narrative threads together attempted rape, murder, extortion, sexual deviance, and a bizarre explosion in the butterfly population. Spanning a decade, this is a story steeped in darkness, anguish, and the specter of apocalypse—yet it holds out the faintest glimmer of hope and redemption. It exists as a spiritual fusion of Kyoko Okazaki's *Rivers Edge*, with its seething suburban misanthropy, and the eerie, uncanny mysticism of *Donnie Darko*.