I love stories. I am obsessed with them. It is the ambrosia to my soul and many others, a bridge to an invisible world borne in each of us. A different world, a different person, but one mirror to reflect them all.

So, since today’s the last day of NaNoWriMo, I decided to pay tribute to the one story that seems to slip most people by and deeply affects me still - Spirit Circle. It is a manga series written and illustrated by Satoshi Mizukami, the same person who created Lucifer and The Biscuit Hammer and Sengoku Youko. I actually knew him through that last work before discovering Biscuit Hammer and Spirit Circle.

So, what’s Spirit Circle about? Well, like many great works, it has a simple premise - Fuuta Okeya, a 14-year-old student, one day encounters Kouko Ishigami, the new transfer student, who has a ghost around her, both of whom he found familiar even though he never met them. When she saw his birthmark, she challenged him to a duel, claiming they were bound by reincarnation and that it was her duty to eliminate him permanently. When he narrowly escaped death by her hands, he gained insight into one of his past lives, and thus his short but heavy journey began.

The whole story is mainly about the two of them, how their grudge began, and how their past lives led them to their current situation. The main character has a bunch of friends who also appear in his past lives, and they all have their own separate journeys that intersect with his, which are all pretty neat.

In essence, this is a story about change, forgiveness, and the nature of the human experience. It is a deeply human and moving story about regrets and moving on to a brighter future, learning how to become better. Of course, a lot of other stories touch on these themes too, so what makes this one so special? What traits does this manga possess that spurs me to crown it as my most cherished story ever?

Honestly, it’s the way the author presents the concept of reincarnation. Now, this isn’t the usual shitty isekai reincarnation thing. No. This is the idea of reincarnation in its original form - the idea that a human possesses a soul, and that soul continues to live different lives on planet Earth after the human dies. Each time, they’ll lose their memories, but their soul will have gained new knowledge and experience that subtly or not-so-subtly influence their new mortal life.

Now, I’m raised to believe in reincarnation, but I’m not gonna convince anyone that this totally exists or anything like that. It is simply a conclusion I came to after seeing the evidence the world has presented to me. In any case, I bring this up because it’s why this story resonated with me so much. Now, don’t worry. This isn’t like “a Christian being moved by a Christian story” kind of deal. The manga is only using this premise as a jumping-off point to tell a human, larger-than-life story.

Now, with all the context established, this is your spoiler warning. If you’re someone who adores heartfelt, moving stories about people and life, please read the manga first. It’s only 45 chapters. It’s not that long. If you have an afternoon or evening to spare, just read it first. Okay? Okay.

Spoiler begins below. (Also I know some people are just going to ignore this so I still kept spoilers to a minimum. No end-of-the-story type of spoilers.)

Fuuta’s fourth past life is when I was truly sucked into this story. The second and third weren’t bad, but they weren’t anything outstanding either. (His first life is the big secret one and the last to be revealed.) A few prominent characters are established and you get a gist of how things worked. His second life is more classic lover tragedy, and this third was a long yet ultimately fulfilling life. Kouko killed him in his second life (and was killed later because of it) and cursed him with the birthmark in the third in her dying breath, so it indicates that her hatred of him stemmed from their first lives.

His fourth life begins relatively simple. An old architect retelling tales of his youth of building a unique sphinx in the desert. He meets some familiar faces, including Kouko, who in that life is a princess/prophet. She wants to mend their grudge, though she’s only vaguely aware of their multi-lives hatred, but he doesn’t because he doesn’t believe in past lives in his fourth.

Then he returns home, marries a gal who actually loves his friend instead (both are his current day friends), and skips narrating the rest of his life. And that’s the point. For his entire life, he only did one notable thing, building that sphinx, which he is known for. No matter what he does, he can never escape the title of “Mr. Sphinx,” even though he thinks it looks stupid. Because of that one fixation in his life, he allowed his entire life to pass through him passively.

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There’s a lot more going on, but at the end of the day, before he died, he realized he had wasted his entire life, trapped by the actions of his youth. Then he just died. Alone. Unloved by himself and misunderstood by everyone. All that time he had to build something meaningful in his life, and he threw it all away because he failed to realize the truth until a day before his death.

It was a notable contrast to his third life, in which he felt utterly fulfilled having spent time with his friends and raising a daughter. He died satisfied. As for his second life, well, he essentially died in a blaze of glory for love. It was “epic.”

When he confronted Kouko the next day to learn more details about what happened in their fourth life, he was further devastated. The sphinx he built cause Kouko’s family and entire clan to be killed because of bullshit political reasons. The thing that “ruined” his life and his family’s life ended dozens more too. It was a guilt that weighed extremely heavily on him, and it was brutal. Despite what happened in his other lives, the fourth one would always feel the most somber, and it marked a turning point in his following three lives.

Usually, stories can only allow this kind of “tragic backstory” to last for a period in the main character’s lives because, well, they only have one life. But in this one, you get to see how far-reaching the consequences of the characters’ actions are. You see how their past and present impact their present and future in more ways than one, literally.

Of course, my description of the story may not sound enticing, but the way the manga frames these stories is why it’s so great. Also, again, there’s a lot more going on, like I haven’t even mentioned Rune, one of the four main characters, and the ghost around Kouko, East. They are the “mystery characters” that is tied to the central plot and why Kouku hates Fuuta.

The story constantly uses Fuuta’s past lives as a contrast between the past and present. He gets to learn other sides of the story through Kouko whenever he finishes dreaming about his past lives. He’ll notice that the people in his current life have shown up in his past lives before, one way or another, and how their roles in his past lives changed. His current life is a carefree, naive one, so he was always deeply affected by the horrific and painful ways he had affected his past lives and the past lives of others.

But, there’s joy too. Whether intentionally or not, he brings happiness to the people around him too. In the second, he loved someone deeply, wishing he could’ve saved her life, and in this third, he gets to fulfill that wish. He became the adoptive father of the girl he liked in his second life and raised her. During his fifth life, it was because of him that his friends managed to get together when they failed to do so in his fourth.

It’s a story about the terrible consequences of mistakes one makes, intentionally or otherwise, and the little and big joys in life. Life can be many, many things, but only when one can move on can one be open to many more possibilities.

The story gets into a lot of convoluted stuff near the end, but the core essence of the story never changes. One must be willing to let go to live. Being obsessed with the past, trying desperately to right a wrong you cannot undo, will only lead to further unhappiness and ruin. That was what drove his first life into madness. He didn’t want to move on, and it almost caused the end of the world if not for Kouko.

All of us have experienced that pain before, in one way or another. A terrible thing that changed our lives. We want to go back to how things are when things are better, but time stops for no one. Us humans only have so much time on this planet, and this story is a reminder to appreciate every moment. No matter how good or bad things are, for better or worse, there will always be a tomorrow.

I always find fiction or tales about human flaws and our desperate attempts to improve ourselves. Hell, I struggle with that every day. It’s hard, it’s downright impossible at times, but we have to try. A story like this is a comfort, especially with its reincarnation premise, because it suggests that, even in the end, you’ll still get another chance to try. Maybe you’ll fuck up again, but you’d still improve bit by bit because you learned something new. The execution of this idea, combined with the premise of this manga, is why I love it more than everything else.

“Why do we live? Well…It’s probably because something good will happen.”

I love stories. This manga will always remind me why. Thank you for reading.

P/S If you have a few extra minutes, please consider checking out the following mangas. They are also all very good and I want you to enjoy them too.

Golden Kamuy - A historical comedy manga about different factions searching for a lost gold deposit of sorts. Trust me, it is a deeply human story as well and I honestly considered writing about this instead. Seriously, it’s awesome. It also got an anime, but I recommend the manga. Also, don’t be scared by the “history” tag. Seriously, I know nothing about this manga’s historical setting and it still hooked me in.

Touge Oni - A brilliantly illustrated manga about a group of trio navigating ancient, mythical Japan. Seriously great stuff

Sensou Kyoushitsu - A fantasy (with a hint of sci-fi) story about a group of people with extraordinary powers. I know it sounds generic, but it’s damn fun. The main character’s power is using a trumpet to direct armies with floating signs. It’s great, check it.

Omniscient Viewpoint Reader - absolutely amazing story that plays with story conventions and modern tropes/trends. Absolute banger and beautiful art.

I have more to recommend but then I’d be here all day lel