Starting with the premise of Iris Zero, 27 years before
the main plot, children around the world were being born with an enhance vision
called "Iris", which range from unique powers such as; to see if
someone is lying or being able to see incoming danger. Before long, a whole
generation of children are born with an Iris, to the point it is normal for
every child to have one (99% of Children as said in the manga), but there are a
few who are born without an Iris and are labeled as an "Iris Zero" by
their peers and are not looked on too kindly for being different.
The main story starts with the main character named Toru Mizushima,
while riding a train to school he explains a little bit about his "Low Exposure" policy that is explained in more detail later, that he lives a
life to not stand out or draw attention to himself as a Iris Zero; as it causes
him a lot of trouble in his life. One day in class, his life becomes very
complicated when the school idol, Koyuki Sasamori asks Toru to "Please go out with me" in front of his whole class, breaking his "Low Exposure" life. After a few amusing moments, it turns out that Koyuki
needs help in finding the next student council president; as her Iris power
allows her to see "who are the most qualified" for the task which
displays over the heads of people with "O"s for qualify and “X"s
for those who are not, but she cannot find the next president so she uses her
Iris to find the one who can help her, and thus why it lead her to Toru.
Hesitant at first to help someone so popular and endanger his privacy, Toru
helps by pointing out that maybe the reason she could not find the right person
for school council president, is because she cannot see above her own head,
which it turns out that the circle "O" she was looking for to find
the qualified person was really her. As the student body gushes about Koyuki
being student council president, Toru walks away back to his unseen life, until he finds Koyuki waiting for him outside the school gates to greet him.
After that the story goes through a series of chapters of introducing a few characters, with different Irises into the plot.
- Asahi Yuki: A hot headed girl from Toru's childhood,
who ratted out Toru as an Iris Zero because he revealed her
Iris; that allows her to tell if someone is lying or not if they have a tail, and was only able to
gain Toru's forgiveness when Koyuki asked him; to help Asahi
from being suspended after she slaps her homeroom teacher Fujimura (Age
25) for lying to her about her job choice (a Police Officer), not
realizing the teacher she had an Iris that shows a person's potential.
- Hijiri Shinozuka: A former suicidal and Toru's
best friend from middle school, they first met when Hijiri's Iris, which lets
him see butterflies that gather around living things that are about to die,
told him that his friend was going to die soon and Toru was able to help avert
the danger.
- Nanase Kuga: Shy, very polite, unassuming girl who has
the power to see everyone's feeling, that are displayed on their
backs as wings in different colors based on emotions. She met Toru on a school
field during which she was alone and he invited her into his group (because she
looked lost to him).
The Cultural Festival comes to school, much to Toru’s
annoyance, and as Koyuki, Asahi & Hijiri are holding a "Japanese Style
Café"; everyone is excited (mostly boys) for the rare chance to see Koyuki
in hakama, but when the time comes for her to wear it goes missing and the
class blames it on the maid café nearby, but no one can prove that they did it,
when someone mentions they could have hide the hakama under their maid outfit,
but Nanase points out that the hakama wouldn’t fit under the maid outfits. Toru
steps out with Hijiri for a moment and he mentions it might be Nanase, as she
was only one who knew that Koyuki was even meant to wear a hakama; but says it
only speculation as he has no proof. Koyuki hearing Toru & Hijiri goes to
ask not about her costume; but her feelings about someone she likes, because
she feels that the reasons for that are the same reasons for Nanase, and her
Iris told her she was the best person to help her understand why. Nanase apologizes
for stealing her costume as she saw the
boy she liked was in line for Koyuki’s class to see another girl in Japanese clothes,
and she believe if he saw her in Koyuki’s costume he would notice her but to no
success, she apologizes again because she was going to give it back but was
scared, the two understand each other’s feelings and Nanase mentions she wasn’t
the only who was happy that Koyuki could not wear her hakama, at that moment Koyuki asks for Nanase’s help in putting on the hakama. Toru just walking around
looking for the costume runs into Koyuki wearing the hakama, and she is happy to share the final moments of the festival with him.
After that Nanase gets a confession from Houjou, the same
boy she likes, with the others watching the event play out, but Koyuki, Asahi & Hijiri see with their Irises an “X”, a tail on Houjou and later on Hijiri tells Toru he saw a butterfly on Nanase. Toru tries to keep Koyuki out of the problem by saying
it’s not their problem to mess with Nanase’s affairs, but she ends up doing so
by talking to Nanase’s childhood friend Harumi Tokita; and asking for his help
as she says he is the most qualified person to help Nanase but secretly pretends
to not care as he has his own plans. The others confront Houjou about lying to
Nanase, but denied everything they say and walks away not realizing that Nanase
was listening to their conversation. Houjou invites Nanase to his house and
despite her better judgment with him, and the ends up in bed with little clothes
on and kissing each other. But Nanase notices that Houjou’s has colorless wings
on his back, meaning no emotions, and quickly learns he only likes her because
she looks like Koyuki, and becomes a different person at this moment scaring Houjou.
After that Nanase becomes an “Iris Hunter” stealing the student’s irises, and making
Toru think Koyuki she is scared of him and leaving the school so he would not
get in the way of her plans. But with Koyuki’s help after learning
what Toru has to go through as an Iris Zero on a daily bases, she gets him to
come back to school to help Nanase for her pain, which turns out that because
of her Iris she was abused by her father and the reason her parents divorced.
She is driven by her guilt over everything she had done, she tries to commit suicide
first by jumping off the roof before being stopped by Hijiri as he tossed the knife he had with him, and then by the same knife tried again before Tokita stops her. Tokita was the reason Houjou asked Nanase out and for her happiness,
and when it backfires and she became a Iris Hunter he took the blame and tried
to make himself the bad guy. He talks her out of it, and she cuts hair off to note she is a different person, a better person, to which Hijiri says he going
to keep his eye on her.
That’s the bulk of the story, after this point we get
some background story on how Nanase, Tokita & Houjou became friends when he
was a rebel student, an adventure on getting Koyuki a good birthday gift, and a
very endearing fake date between Hijiri and Nanase. But the biggest story point
is when the whole group debates the relationship between Koyuki and Toru and if
he notices her feelings for him, Asahi has a one way discussion with him when
they are alone when she realizes that he is only pretending to not notice because
he is scared of losing not only Koyuki but everyone as a friend, Asahi leaves
him to think about it and tells him it’s not nice to hurt a girls feelings when he
knows when she likes him.
The story is good, it has a very moe art-style to it; but
tells a story about these characters’ emotions, and each getting their own story
arcs, and even then the art is nice; especially when it comes to everyone’s
smiles. One of the few problems is that it falls into the trap of manga in
Japan of just stopping and not having an ending, grated one of the story writers got
really sick and had to stop but the story leaves off on a lot of things that
need to be explained, and chances are when the writer gets better they will not continue the story. Another good thing is the little
side stories that characters get sometimes, like Toru’s love for sweets when
he cannot get a piece of cake because he is a guy and goes against his “Minimal
Exposure” policy to get some by calling Koyuki, or the notes about how the series
came to be by the characters explaining the back story. Toru Mizushima as a character
is fun as he is a complete anti-social, but despite that still makes friends before
he realizes what happens, and to see his view on the world; when the characters
need an outside opinion on not only the world, but for themselves as people
because their Iris sometimes tell them less than they may think about other
people. Overall a good manga to check out if only for the characters and the emotional
adventures the story takes them on.
Overall Rating: 4/5
Mood: Sunny
Phrase of the day: Do not walk the path you see, run it, and any fear you might have; will fear you by your heroic march.
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