Cute, beautiful art, and a wonderful concept. Unfortunately for me, the story felt a little rushed and messily put together. I saw at teh end that this was the author's first full manga, and it definitely felt like that, but they could only get better from here. Solid three stars.

This was a cute little story, well drawn, and aiming to tell a nice message.
Unfortunately, it lacked a bit of depth, spending a lot of time focusing on menial details, rather than the deep drivers.
While I'm happy for my feelings that it was on the much sweeter end of bittersweet, everything tied a bit too neatly to drive a proper emotional impact needed for it to stand out and be remembered .
The author had a good idea and a good style, hopefully with time she'll get a bit more daring, and her stories will have the success they deserve.

<b>Pre-read</b>
A boy and a ghost? 🤔 Curious about how this will go. I hope it won't be too bittersweet.
I LOVE the cover. So beautiful.

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Coming out on March 11th, this manga is about a college freshman, Iku, who can see ghosts and one day he meets a friendly spirit named Mimori (which could be a reference to memento mori? Though. I could be overthinking it & it’s just a coincidence) who “haunts” a local bridge.They quickly become friends but every day at precisely 23:45 (11:45) Mimori finds himself back at the bridge recreating the scene of his last conscious moment. And we’re given this quote from Iku “I won’t ever let you die again.” It’s a will they, can they save Mimori from a never ending cycle from his own death. I feel like this could remind me of an alternate universe of A Silent Voice, and that thought startles me and that’s okay.

I gave this 4 stars: I love the relationship between the two boys and the fact that Mimori’s incident was in the same time period as Iku was a cherry on the cake. I don’t see a lot of those scenarios anymore and the ending was really nice. I can’t wait for volume two and see how further their friendship takes them. The art style was beautiful and one of my favorite styles, the way the eyes said everything and Iku’s Otaku personality with Mimori’s go with the flow seeing the bright side of things, not the kind of friendship you’d expect to thrive but it does. This gave enough to want me yearning for what comes next, so thank you Ohana. Mahalo <3

"...I used to think I was just a nobody. That I didn't matter. But then I saw a easily a few stupid words I said came so close to ending another person's life... and it terrified me."

A deeply moving and highly emotional boy's love story that masterfully plays with the reader's emotions—just when you think you know where it's headed, it surprises you again.

The story unfolds in a seemingly simple yet beautifully executed way, centering on young student Iku, who struggles with an overwhelming fear of loss and a heavy sense of guilt. His life takes an unexpected turn when Mimori, a ghost, suddenly moves in with him. Mimori gradually pulls Iku out of his otaku shell, showing him that life is far too rich and complex to be defined solely by fear.

Iku's emotions feel incredibly real, making it easy to empathize with him. His fear—the anxiety of saying or doing the wrong thing, of making an irreversible mistake—is something most readers can likely relate to. At the same time, the mystery surrounding Mimori and what exactly happened to him keeps the story engaging. The revelation behind it is genuinely surprising in the best possible way.

Chapter by chapter, we get to know Mimori better—despite his ghostly nature, he is just as troubled by deeply human insecurities. After all, what truly defines a good person?

Despite the manga’s short length, it manages to explore an impressive range of themes, making the story feel vivid and immersive. I would have loved to see another volume!

3.5⭐
Cute~

Thank you for the Arc, it's such a cute story, not overly dramatic or cliche. I hope to see more from the Mangaka!

23:45 
Release: March 11 
23:45 Re release: July 

Kurihara moves to attend university, although that is just an excuse to run from his fear/problem. One night, his life made a turn when he discovered he could see a ghost. This ghost followed him home and soon they became friends. Mimori remembers very little about his past including the time around 23:45 every night, where like clock work Mimori (the ghost) is “pulled” to the bridge and falls over. Kurihara becomes concerned about Mimori and starts to look into his situation, but more questions arise when he starts looking. As they become closer by the day, Kurihara becomes conflicted about helping Mimori pass on or wanting him to stay by his side. 

I did like the build up of this volume and how we were given more information about their past. Both had their own worries and regrets, but they sorta helped each other through them. The character designs seemed fitting for their personalities and there was some growth at the end (mainly seen in Kurihara). Kurihara is an otaku and keeps to himself, whereas Mimiro is like a ray of sunshine and seems to be social.There is another volume for this series; however, it looks like it may focus on another pair. It is hard to say who the pair is since there were very few moments with side characters (going to guess though it will be the person he worked with at the convenience store possibly). I hope Kurihara and Mimori make an appearance in it and find out more about their relationship. There are no spicy scenes if you are worried about that and if I remember correctly the age gap is only 2 years. 

WARNING I AM GOING TO TALK ABOUT SPOILERS ON THIS ONE 

 At the end, I was really hoping we would get a chapter of Mimori regaining his memories of his time with Kurihara when he was in his “ghost” form. He does question why he started to do certain things he didn’t do in the past and feels drawn to Kurihara; but why couldn’t we get him actually remembering him. Originally it seemed like Kurihara was just going to watch him from afar, but then when Mimori finds himself at his door and hee no longer holds it back and confesses.

This was the literal cutest thing ever.
The characters felt so fleshed out, so real, and their story was everything.
The depth to their emotions, their thoughts and everything that they went though 😭
And the romance was so cute, I love how they got to know each other, and their interests and really started opening up to each other, it was so cute <3
The only issue I had was with a few of the scenes were slightly confusing to me, but that might just be because I don’t read much manga.
I highly recommend this to anyone looking for something that is as good as Heartstopper <3

I loved every moment of this manga. The art is amazing, the story engaging and the characters were interesting.

This was an interesting title that left me with a ton of questions. The ghost part gets completely skipped over and leaves me questioning their connection and the random sex scene? I just found myself confused and underwhelmed by the organization of the story. I believe there's a sequel so I'd like to read it before dnf'ing this series.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4. I actually liked this more than I expected! I loved many elements from it, although I found it lacking a bit in one of them, but I still enjoyed it a lot.

The story is about Iku, a closed-off guy who has recently moved to Tokyo and is an anime fan. He has a secret though - he is able to see ghosts. There is one in particular that he sees frequently on the bridge that he crosses in his daily walk. One night, the ghost speaks to him. Iku discovers he's able to touch him after the ghost appears at his apartment door. Soon, the ghost moves in, and Iku will try to discover the reason of his wandering state.

The title grabbed my attention right away along with the detail of this manga being a ghost story. I really enjoyed the melancholic atmosphere and I thought the simple artstyle was perfect for such plot, it makes the reader get immerse into the actual substance of the story.

While I thought the romance was a bit underdeveloped, I really liked the interactions between the MCs. Some of their conversations and thoughts were very interesting. I thought the ending was fitting after the "reveal" - which I also enjoyed and wasn't expecting.

Overall, this was a sweet and comforting BL manga with some sad undertones due to the subject matter (death) that also touches some interesting themes such as escapism, the human desire of feeling important for others and the effect that words can have on people.

Art: 5/5
Story: 5/5
Ease of Comprehension: 2/5 lol

So, this might be a "me" problem, but as much as i loved the art and the overall story of this, I found it really hard to understand. It's in English, mind, and there are no problems with the actual text localization which is perfect native English. The problem for me is that the story is kinda in "stream of conciousness" format, where thoughts overlap and flow into each other and characters are speaking and thinking at the same time, and I had a really hard time following it. This is definitely not my first time reading manga, and while I wouldn't consider myself a manga afficionado or anything, I'm not exactly a stranger to it and I found it really hard to figure out what character was saying what, which bubbles were thoughts, and what was the narration. It was really jarring at times because I would have to flip back a few pages and try to figure out what was going on, which kinda killed the simmering, emotional buildup the author was trying to achieve. I'm not sure if this would be easier to understand in the original Japanese, or the localization editors could have done a better job, or if I just kinda suck at reading manga but unfortunately this fell a bit short of what it could have been.

This was my first time reading a manga on my kindle. I'm not going to lie I was disappointed I had to swipe like a book but read like a manga, but that is more about how I love reading manga than anything wrong with the book. Once I got used to this reading mechanic it went smoothly. The story was super cute. I really enjoyed the the characters and their different personalities. Seo Mimori is a cute little cinnamon roll. He just exudes goodness. Iku reacted like anyone else would when confronted with seeing ghosts and that made his character personable. I liked that he didn't immediately accept he could see ghosts and tried his best to ignore it.

The art was lovely though some scenes I had to reread before I figured out what was happening. Ohana told Iku and Seo's story very well with their illustrations. They made the story a visual experience. Iku and Seo has more to tell and I am invested in their story. I am looking forward to more of them and can't wait to see where Ohana takes them. This is definitely a manga I would like to add to my shelf.

Honestly, this is a super interesting premise for a manga, & it even manages to tug at the heartstrings a little! Boy who can see ghosts... meets ghost boy? Awesome. Follow along with this duo as they form a bond while trying to get to the bottom of why this new ghost friend is caught stuck in a time-loop, seemingly repeating his last day indefinitely. I enjoyed the underlying mystery, & appreciated the time given to unwrap the backstory of both of these MMC's.

Also, since this is a manga— obligatory note that although the art was simple, it was beautiful! However, some pages did get a little crowded by text bubbles & could benefit from some additional panel spacing.

⛩️ Set in Japan
👻 Paranormal
❤️ Romance
🔍 Mystery
🥺 Heartfelt moments & personal reflection!

Thank you so much to NetGalley & Kodansha for this ARC!

I actually really liked this story. For me it was really sweet and a cute romance. I liked how the ending was different than i originally anticipated and it made it cuter in my opinion. The two main characters were brought together by chance and it was sweet to see how their fates are intertwined even after the fact. I’d definitely read the next one after to see how their story ends.

Iku is living his best life as an otaku after moving alone to Tokyo. But things are a bit… interesting. For some reason, every night at 23:45, Iku is drawn to a pedestrian bridge and watches the ghost of a man fall off the bridge.

Part of Iku doesn’t believe it’s real, so he ignores the friendly spirit. But after he drops his doujin on the bridge, his life is about to change forever. The ghost of the bridge rescues his manga, knocks on his door and introduces himself as Seo Mimori.

Overall thoughts:

Loneliness attracts the lonely.

Man, what a line. These introspective reads always catch me off guard. If you’re expecting a wholesome romance between a ghost and an otaku, there’s much more than meets the eye here.

This is a story to read more than once to pick up on whatever you missed and then clicked in the ending. It’s an introspective story some things are left open and others you kind of piece together later and have that little “ohhhh” moment. Hence, your mileage may vary!

Who is this for?

This story is for fans of introspective and implicit relationships. It has a couple of details that are left to the imagination—or the sequel—so you might want to read this more than once and then back-to-back with the sequel. Certainly one for fans who enjoy reading a little more into stories!

This volume comes out on March 11! Let me know if you’ll be getting this one, or if you’ve already read it!

See you in the next one!

I love fluffy ghosty stories, and 23:45 was a super cute one.
A simple art style and a predictable storyline, but still very sweet and heart-warming.
Would’ve loved to see more of the romance or more of why Iku sees ghosts, but it was still a fun read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC.

Iku moves to Tokyo when he starts seeing ghosts. He becomes close with a ghost named Mimori. I liked the concept of this manga and I loved the art, but I felt like the pacing was kinda off. I also had a hard time getting invested in any of the characters.

The storyline was really great and catched my attention from the start. The art style was beautiful. Sometimes there were a few too many speech and thought bubbles on one page.

3.25
This was quite sweet and the art was gorgeous but I found it difficult to connect with the characters.
I think this manga might have attempted to deal with too much since it only had six chapters (spoiler ahead), Iku's strained relationship with his mother, the mystery around Mimori's death, Mimori's childhood, ghost stories popping up all over the place, questions about what it means to live and die...really it was a lot. I think it was handled well, it was poetic and graceful, but simply too much in one go unfortunately.
I also had some minor issues with the translation at times but that was not too distracting.
Thank you to NetGalley and the author for this ARC.

This is a complete story at one volume, halfway a Sasaki to Miyano type thing, halfway a standard supernatural romance with a ghost of a hot dude in a coma (and if that sounds familiar as a concept, you can tell exactly how every beat of the story will go). It managed to be a mix of predictable and chaotic, the bits that felt sincere had no relation to the main romance (this would be the relationship between the MC and his mother) and the supernatural element resolved in a pretty anticlimactic manner.