Serene and Detailed Plants and the Grotesque: 'Hyakuso no Niwazaki' by Shu Aoi

Currently available in digital format. Published by Printemps Shuppan, Canna Comics, December 25, 2020.
*Please be aware that this review contains spoilers.*

I was wandering through a bookstore when I fell in love with the cover art at first sight and bought it. The art is simply beautiful. The plants are drawn with such intricate detail. I suspect the author is particularly fond of fungi. Aside from the title story, there is also a tale about a botanist, and the mycelium woven throughout that is also stunning.

The story begins with a brother and sister who wander into a dark forest to pick medicinal herbs. It starts with the boy's fear after encountering a horned, grotesque master, much like in 'Beauty and the Beast'.
The sister collapses after being bitten by a poisonous insect, and the boy cannot escape with her from the grotesque master. The master says he can detoxify the sister, and the boy begs for his life, promising to do whatever the master says if he will only save her.
True to his word, the master saves the sister. After the sister leaves the nest to get married, the boy visits the master's mansion. He is told by the grotesque man—who is actually gentle and kind—that he only wanted someone to talk to because his life was so lonely and solitary. The two gradually begin to open up to each other...

Their previously lonely lives begin to take on warm colors through the meals they prepare together, the table they share, and their gentle conversations. The mansion's library, packed with books, is a magnificent sight that any book lover would find irresistible.
The life they lead, with the grotesque man teaching the boy, who cannot read or write well, how to read and write, feels slowly fulfilling and is healing to read.
One thing that worried me was that the sister, who had a happy marriage, would visit her brother, who lived alone, on a regular basis, but he never told her anything about his life with the grotesque man...

A gentle fantasy with no violent or hurtful people.
There is nothing sexual about it, yet one feels that these two are perfectly happy just living side by side.
It is a gentle, beautiful flow of time that soaks into your heart when you are tired.

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