A lovely premise and a lovely message that falls a little flat in execution. The visuals are fascinating and appealing, but being so fully dropped into such a cluttered and confusing world makes it hard to figure out what is happening; the author does seem to be going for the vibe of a fever dream or a drug trip (success!), but even so, I prefer a little more grounding in the setting before diving fully in. Likewise, we meet Mariko and Rem right at the dissolution of their relationship; while their forced break-up is the central plot point, we never get to see them together enough to truly want that to happen. However, it was quite inventive, the visuals were interesting, and the ultimate message was a powerful and positive one.

I just don't know. I think the concept is pretty cool but the dialogue is wildly stilted which makes the characters feel so odd to me. Genuinely felt like it could have maybe been a translation issue. Good idea of a story, didn't love the execution.

I was kinda confused throughout the whole thing, but I enjoyed what I did manage to understand. The way Mariko and Rem ended up was satisfying and it was nice how it showed the way relationships can be bad for you. Seeing that can be hard, but admitting that is much, much harder. Will get for our library.

Thank you NetGalley for the review copy!

Loved the art style and colors but the story overall was a bit hard to follow!

This is a DNF. It just cannot hold my attention. We start off with our character who I believe is Mariko getting told that their government form has been denied and they can’t be with their true love. They’re true love is not human and always optimistic but then they started talking about God. It’s just turned me off, and I have no desire to finish this.

I really loved the line work and color in this story. I also thought the characters were extremely interesting.

I wish there was more of a explanation of the Sci-Fi world this is set in! Otherwise the story is cute, and I enjoyed the visuals a lot!

the synopsis of this comic book sounded very interesting, but diving in the story, made me think of an episode of 90 days fiance in steroids.

Regretful, I didn’t like much the drawing, it was more like an all color sketch than an actual comic, and I actually got a bit lost in the story, because many things were happening at the same time, it needs something to feel a bit more round up and to make more sense…

Thank you NetGalley and Mad Cave Studios, for the free ARC and this is my honest opinion.

The art style in this is so beautiful, I loved all the colors and the life just vibrating out of it. The story was really cool, I didn't expect it to go where it did, or to get so deep. I did find some things hard to follow at times, but it added to the dizzying energy of the story, and it didn't prevent me for enjoying it or actually knowing what was going on overall.

"Mariko Between Worlds" is a candid look at the dissolution of a romantic relationship set against a fantastical and chaotic background. At its core this is a story about love, loss and self realization. However, although the delivery is charming and the main character mostly likeable, the book lacks both substance and subtilty.

This book plays out as the titular character finds out that her visa application has been rejected and she will not be able to follow her boyfriend, Rem, to the dimension where his new job is located, Faced with a forced separation, Rem and Mariko decide to spend a last crazy night together as they wander the Mall of Portals,
the interdimensional crossroads in which they have been slumming and working dead end post-college jobs for the last few years. As they go clubbing across dimensions Mariko is quickly drawn into illegal hijinks in the hopes of improving her chance of staying with Rem. The resulting storyline is far less interesting than it should be and the reader is left wondering why even bother since the fate of the romantic relationship which powers the action in this book is clearly obvious within the first few panels.


Three and a half stars rounded to three.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Mad Cave Studios for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Mariko was hoping to join her boyfriend with his new job, but at the last minute couldn't. So they decide to go on one last date night before they break up. I really enjoyed the story. It was a fun portal type adventure where the two main characters were bouncing from place to place. The art was perfect for this type of story. Lots of fun colors.

4 stars

A story of two people trying to stay together but ultimately deciding that to grow into who they need to be, they should break up. Very satisfying ending.

Half the time I didn't even know what the hell was going on. I found this to be hard to follow not only in dialog but also in the art. It wasn't bad, and maybe I just wasn't the target audience, but I could barely finish it.

I am really sorry but I had to dnf this book. I didn't get warm with the story or the drawing style. But the setting and the ideas were really interesting. I hope others will enjoy this book more!

Mariko and her alien boyfriend Rem are breaking up because Mariko has lost her Visa to the Portal of Worlds or whatever it's called. They have one last day to spend together before Mariko needs to leave. What follows is something of a stream of consciousness adventure through dimensions because it can be difficult to connect the dots between story elements. Parts of this were interesting, parts confounding as I didn't know why they were happening. Part of it is on Lianga Kangas as the art sometimes looked unfinished.

72%

A book about....finding yourself, I guess? There's a lot going on here, and it fells a bit like starting a tv show in its third season - things are tense, nuanced, and you're trying to piece the history back together so you can understand what's going on in front of you. Basically, Mariko (human) is in a relationship with Rem (alien) and she's trying to save their 4-year relationship, but is realizing that maybe there isn't much worth saving. The issue here is that since there's little to no context of their relationship pre-breakup, we're learning all their relationship problems very abruptly, leaving us little time to develop any attachment to any of the characters and their problems.

That being said, I did enjoy the artistic details of the book: in a scene involving thievery there were subtle little arrows pointing at the stolen items, and in a scene where Mariko is discussing her stagnant life there's a funny little gravestone stating she "never amounted to much". These sorts of details were really fun to spot and I thought they were pretty clever.

Wow! Mariko Between Worlds was a surprise and a gift! I don't know what I expected going into this but it was wholly unexpected. The world was fantastic! I love travelling through the different dimensions and all the different characters. I enjoyed the overall story despite the bitter sweet ending. I wish it was a bit longer or we had more time for more in-depth character development. I feel a lot of it happened off page during the time-skip. And while I liked the dimensions they visited there wasn't a lot of variety to it? They all had grimy club or decaying mall vibes- which probably had some metaphorical meaning that went over my head.
It was nice melancholic story with beautiful psychedelic art and a hopeful ending.

*This review contains spoilers*

“Our lord Jesus has stolen the wheel and is wrecking our car now baby.”

This review contains spoilers because I cannot get over this happily ever after that happens despite a breakup AND leaves no party as the bad guy. This was a refreshing and surprising depiction of personal growth and healthy interpersonal interaction while managing to be funny. The illustration is absolutely phenomenal! This story moved quickly but never at the cost of world-building or substance.

I would love to read more about Mariko’s life, a Rem POV, or even just other characters in this universe!

I received an advanced review copy of this e-book via Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Mariko Between Worlds is about human Mariko and non-human Rem that needs to break up. Before that, they go into one last night, full of portals, strange creatures and complicated feelings, which may or may not change their decision.

I loved that part very dearly. The idea for a story is simple but very good, not something you see daily in romcoms, and it hooked me from the very first moment. Character designs are something worth loooking for, too, and the overall world-building was very nice.

But I wish it went deeper. I wish we had a chance to meet with it all for longer, that more was shown to us. I know the idea behind this story is meant to be short/one-night-stand, yet I can't pain to imagine what we could have get. It's definitely too short and too fast, especially when you look how much of backstory there waits.
Graphically it's not... the best. Chaotic is a good word to describe both art and plot. There's still a lot to enjoy, but sometimes the art style went messy, and details were blurry. Color pallette was great, though.

Overall, if you're looking for something quick and different, you should give this story a chance. I wish it was more than that, though, as there was a time a place for it.

Two people take a wild ride through different dimensions on the last night of their relationship. Sci-fi, heartbreak, and crazy partying? Yes, please!

I really liked the concept and story idea. I think it's important to not only focus on the romantic stages of relationships, or relationships ending because of inconsolably horrible actions of one partner. I enjoyed how Mariko realized they were not great for each other, and how Rem could appreciate the end of the relationship as something enabling him to grow.
The journey itself, however, was a little too chaotic for me, visually as well as writing-wise. The art style is on the rougher side, which in itself is neither good or bad, but there was so much going on that it was hard to follow at times. The pacing also felt a little off: the scene changes were so frequent while the comic book was very short, so no location could really be explored. The characters and their relationship likewise felt underdeveloped and I think that with a little more time, Mariko Between Worlds could've turned into a really emotionally rich story. This way, it was entertaining and gave me glimpses of a cool world, but I couldn't really get into it. Though I liked the ending a whole lot!

- ARC provided by NetGalley -