We're not talking about the Shakespeare play, just to be clear. The title Othello refers to a board game in which the players flip the pieces over from black to white and vice-versa in order to win, I guess. I'm no authority. Although Shakespeare's play might be similar, I'm not sure.
Anyway, I quite like this title. It's a pretty short series, only seven volumes, and contains quite a bit of pop culture that pleases the Lii, such as punk rockers, gothic lolita, and crazy justice-seeking alter-egos.
Ahem. I'm getting ahead of myself.
The main character of this manga is named Higuchi Yaya, and her life freaking sucks. Her father's an overprotective old fart who guilts her into suppressing her needs and desires; her closest "friends" hang out with her just to make every moment miserable; and, hitting quite close to home, she really hates herself for being so weak that she can't stand up to the people making her life a living hell. The story opens with Yaya heading out to a party with Seri and Moe, the two bitches who torture her for fun. She is called home by her idiot of a father and spends the New Year absolutely miserable. The next day, she recieves a time capsule in the mail from her five-year-old self. She comes to the conclusion that she hates herself and she hates her life, and we are regaled with flashbacks of why she's degenerated so far - her timid nature is not entirely her fault, and the hole she was in just kept getting deeper and deeper.
So the chapter goes on to show that Yaya escapes to Harujuku every Sunday to cosplay, and is bending over backwards to keep her "friends" from finding this out. They find out anyway, and guilt Yaya into coming to a karaoke party with a bunch of older guys. Yaya is humiliated further when Seri, Moe, and the college-age bozos find her old magical girl compact in her purse and goad her into singing. She glances into the mirror.
Suddenly, a change comes over Yaya, she grabs the mike, and blows the group away with her raw singing talent. Then, she proceeds to beat the crap out of the older guys, who really want in her pants, and in the process manages to toss Seri and Moe around too. She ends the display with the announcement, "I'm Nana." Then she trips on a microphone, bumps her head, and reverts back to Yaya.
Nana is Yaya's alternate personality that comes out whenever Yaya is traumatized enough, when she glances in a mirror or reflective surface, or when she bumps her head. Nana is tough, sassy, and confident, everything that Yaya isn't, and gets Yaya out of all of the trouble that Yaya manages to stumble into. She also exacts revenge in the most comical ways (tossing a bag full of frogs into Seri's room is one of the more memorable incidents). Yaya is unaware of Nana's existence, and wonders why everyone acts scared of her when she "wakes up".
Yaya and Nana have many adventures, the least of which include a former visual kei singer, his pet alligator, an awesome punk band led by Yaya's crush, Moriyama-kun, and an areal duel with a crazed fan of Moriyama's. Plus, you start waiting for Nana's constant yelling of "Justice is done!" every time she takes care of a particularly nasty adversary.
Personally, I can relate to Yaya. My middle school years were pretty much hell on wheels, and I totally understand Yaya's low self-esteem and self-hate problems. (Incidentally, this "hell-on-wheels" time period is when I really got into anime, drawing it, and mahou shoujo as an escape). A stronger alternate self would be a nice ally to have, and the ability to handle all situations as smooth and suave as Nana sometimes manages to pull off is a rather attractive one. Nana is her own separate character. Sometimes, you forget that Yaya is really the protagonist, and Nana is only a facet of Yaya's personality. Moriyama's relationship with both of Yaya's personalities is interesting and a rather humorous contrast. The other antagonistic characters are extremely exaggerated, and really - don't the bullies in life seem larger than they really are sometimes? The story is entertaining, full of slapstick and "Justice!", and has a very satisfying ending. I highly recommend it to fans of magical girl shows (this isn't magical girl story at all, but it's similar - split personalities) and to people who enjoy teen comedy, such as Ranma 1/2 and others like it. Del Rey has translated and released all seven volumes, but it's out of stock pretty much everywhere. My local library has three of them, but I had to find the rest online. You can read scanlations of Othello on Mangafox if you're unable to find the English volumes, but I highly suggest buying and supporting the series if you can!
In other news, I'm still waiting on my SSN business to get sorted out. It's really getting annoying, not being able to even apply for jobs and other important things I need my SSN for - like credit cards, for instance. I don't need one yet, but if I did, I'd be S.O.L. Some stuff did manage to go right today... I got a really nice haircut and color job, managed to drive home without getting too lost (I did have to break out the GPS, but only for a little bit) and got to watch my hands-down favorite episode of NCIS ("Requiem" - it makes me cry every time). I'll be busy all weekend, so if anything happens, I'll find out on Monday. Here's to hoping this weekend goes well. Knock on wood.
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