Holiday Review #20: COLETTE DECIDES TO DIE

Ok, let's cover a shojo manga that's a little lighter in tone and content.

Yes I know what that title says, let me explain.

COLETTE DECIDES TO DIE (Koretto wa Shinu Koto ni Shita), by Alto Yukimura.  First published in 2013 and first published in North America in 2024.

PLOT:

Colette is an overworked apothecary who is at her physical and mental limit.  She leaps into a well hoping for some relief in the land of Hades, but instead finds that Hades himself is in need of her skills!  She's able to cure him, but now she finds herself at his beck and call to help him and other in need of some tough love and good medicine, be they demi-gods or the shades of former loved ones.

STORY:

For the longest time I only knew of this series as a favorite of Colleen, a manga Youtuber and fervent shojo advocate.  I can't deny that the title isn't eye-catching and I do love me some Greek mythology, but Colette Decides to Die has plenty more to offer than a title and some divine trappings.

I'm used to spunky young shojo heroines, but Colette might be one of the rare examples of a workaholic shojo heroine.  She's confident in her skills, but too stubborn to share her responsibilities with others and too busy to connect with her community outside of the sickroom.  It's no wonder that she gets so burnt out that she considers what she presumed was a one-way ticket to the underworld! It's only after she meets with Hades that the healer can begin to heal herself.  At first it's just a matter of getting some additional rest, a change of scenery, and the occasional perspective check from Hades himself.  As the story goes on, it involves Colette learning to share the load with some assistants, reconnect with her past, and to start making some friends in both the mortal realm and the underworld.

In turn, Colette helps Hades heal from a lot more than the full-body rash he got from too much sunlight.  Like Colette, Hades shoulders heavy responsibilities for his realm and is too stubborn and proud to share those (or any health problems) with his many skeletal servants.  Colette not only helps to heal his sunlight-induced rash but push him in turn to interact more with the greater world, be they forgotten servants, the shades of Asphodel, a trip to a human village, or even interacting with his divine relatives.  Hades is clearly smitten with Colette by the end of this omnibus, but Yukimura is more than content to let any potential romance between these two simmer in the background.  That's fine by me because they've already got a good thing going and there's no need to rush things.

ART:

Yukimura's character designs are nothing revolutionary.  Colette herself feels a little bit like a throwback to the 1990s with her scrawny build, although her simply designed face and dark, limpid eyes are definitely more modern touches.  Hades (and a number of the other young men we see) are built on long, lanky lines, with pretty faces but way too much neck.  Perhaps the most notable thing about them are their costumes, which are cute but a big incongruous.  This is clearly meant to be a story set in ancient Greece, yet there's not a chiton to be seen.  Instead Yukimura seems to have been drawing more from more recent folk costumes, be with Hades's elaborately patterned robes or Colette's little head scarf and her casual, bell-skirted dress.  

The paneling is decidedly unfussy and they take a light hand with the shading.  I feel that this is a bit of a mistake when it comes to the scenes in the underworld (where moodier shading would feel more apt).  I guess it fits with the generally light-hearted tone of the story, but visually it tends to flatten everything out.  I do like what they do with Hades's minions, most of whom are silly little ghost-like creatures with dark bodies and skull-like heads.  The same goes for Cerberus, who splits into three adorable little puppies when he's hungry.  It's just generally a very pleasant-looking book.

PRESENTATION:

There's a short story included between volumes, "Night and the Melody."  It's about a girl reconnecting with her former senpai, who has since started working as a hairdresser while she's stuck working her way through cram school for the sake of a scholarship.  I'm sure there's probably more, but this story is very rambling, I struggled to keep track of what was going on, and I just skipped ahead to the next volume midway through.

RATING:

Colette Decides to Die sounds morbid but is in fact a charming story about slowing down and enjoying life with others, whether you're a human or a death god.  I'll add my own seal of approval to this series, as it's a crowd-pleaser that would fare just as well on a library shelf as it would on your own.

This manga is published by Viz under their Shojo Beat imprint.  This series is complete in Japan with 20 volumes available.  2 volumes have been released in 1 2-in-1 omnibus, which is currently in print.

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