Roar: A Star in the Abyss
-released
-volume 2: September
-revenge, drama, thriller, mystery
-Netgalley & Kodansha ARC read

Between the art and the telling, the series aims to tug at your emotions- that is for sure. When you think things are going somewhat ok for Misato, something comes up to take a turn for the worst. You either like or hate the characters there is really no inbetween.
I enjoyed reading this one so far, the first volume focuses on Misato’s childhood which is setting up for the plot to understand why she wants revenge. She does have a traumatic childhood with finding out she was adopted, her parents caught in a fire, and taken away from her childhood friend into a home that abuses her. We do get glimpses of her birth, which raises some questions. Why did she need to be hidden?

I feel like the house fire was due to the fact someone saw Misato acting in a show and came to handle the “issue”. When the lady appears to take Misato “home” claiming she is her mother creates more mystery, because why does she dislike her so much. I think this lady might have a grudge against Misato’s real mom- who knows if we’ll ever discover who it is though.

The premise for this series is very mysterious and interesting. There's a lot of interpersonal drama and strong emotional moments. It's definitely using this first volume to set the scene and build the character relationships and backstory, which I personally appreciate, but that of course means it hasn't gotten into the major revenge plotline yet. I really like when a series takes the time to plan for its long game, so I'm hoping it leads to well-developed payoff. I look forward to read the next installments in the series.

2.5. If my library gets the next volume I’ll check it out but right now it’s giving trama. And I don’t truly understand a lot of these people’s motivations. They created and instigated ( and I think started the OG fire but that is not said in anyway shape or form it’s my educated guess). And I like that the main character seems like a survivor emotionally, but I am not necessarily sure I’m invested.

What an interesting first volume - I absolutely have to continue this series (and watch the live action)!

Years ago Misato was a normal young girl living by the ocean with her parents and only friend. She stood up to bullies, took karate and enjoyed her life. One day she's encouraged to be an extra on a TV show being filmed in their hometown and secrets start to surface. After a tragedy, Misato is taken from her hometown and forced to live with a new family that claimed they would be giving her a better life all the while abusing her. 10 years later she's determined to escape the abuse and make it on her own. Her star shown bright as an extra on that set so many years ago and someone was watching and hoping to discover her.. will she succeed and get revenge on the family who took everything from her?

The first volume of Roar: A Star in the Abyss is a solid start for a drama series. Most of the first installment focuses on the events prior to our main story. Therefore, there are lots of infodumping and foreshadowing about our main character's past. Misato has a very traumatic childhood with a lot of terrible people in her life but she still tries to find meaningful connections despite her struggles.

Overall, I liked the subtle hints of her even more dramatic heritage and how she is getting closer (unconsciuosly) to the entertainment industry. But I felt the "villains" were too cartoony sometimes, and I would have enjoyed it more if the snippets of her past had more connection storytelling-wise. I think the second problem can be just a classic symptom of telling the "prequel" part of the main story so this can improve in the second book. I usually have to read at least two volumes of a new manga to decide whether I want to continue the series or not, so it is too early for me to give a definite yes or no to the whole series.

I received an arc of this book thanks to Netgalley and Kodansha Comics.

This heart-wrenching story is of a young girl who was ripped from her childhood home only to grow up, isolated in a loveless home and spurned by a cold mother. Her only comfort is her adoptive brother, a sickly, bed-ridden sort who treats her with kindness but refuses to disobey their mother. Misato dreams of the day she can break out and travel back to the island town of her childhood. This story is a minefield of tragic characters and emotional situations, and a scarce number of redeemable characters amidst the cruelty.

Sara's Rating: 7/10
Suitability Level: Grades 10-12

Thank you to Netgalley and Kodansha Comics for the opportunity to read and review this manga. So many verbal and physical abuse involved but also there is a mystery that is curious, but I do not think that I personally will be able to handle it because it is a more serious than Skip Beat but similar to Oshi No Ko in the tragedy. Overall, I am curious but also, I think it is one that I will be reading once they are on sale. 3 out of 5 stars

Rating 3.5 stars
I liked this first volume—Misato is a sympathetic main character and the art, especially the character designs, is really striking. The story’s dark and intense right from the start, maybe a bit too fast-paced with all the tragedy piled on, but it kept me interested. Looking forward to seeing how her story unfolds.

After Misato's parents are killed in a house fire a woman arrives claiming to be her real mother and takes her to Tokyo. From the moment she arrives her "mother" and new "sister" Ayane begin to bully her. Misato is never allowed to even leave the house and both girls seem hell-bent on ensuring that Misato is miserable. One day after the family leaves Misato decides that she is going to run away, she packs a bag and goes to leave but finds a young boy she's never seen before in a room all by himself, she introduces herself and discovers that she has also had a "new brother" this whole time. Since he is disabled Yoshiki has been treated the same way as Misato has been by the women of the house and the two of them become fast friends bonding over stories of an outside world denied to them. As the two of them grow yearning to get away from their prison their "mother" and their "sister's" obsession with destroying their lives becomes almost unbearable and when Misato discovers she's been lied to the whole time she'll need to choose to leave Yoshiki behind or escape her long nightmare.

This was an excellent start to a promising mystery series! Misato is a wonderful character who even through years of abuse still has a heart of gold. Her sister and her mom are sociopaths and whatever especially her "mother's" motivation is to abuse both Misato and Yoshiki the way she seems to be rooted in some sort of jealousy and omg do I hope both her and her daughter end up absolutely miserable for the rest of their lives by the end of this. They are truly awful. However, her "dad" maybe even worse as he clearly knows what's going on and does absolutely nothing about it. Basically, the only people in this whole house who shouldn't be in prison are Yoshiki, Misato, and the maid.

The mystery side of this is great as well, we are given just enough backstory on both Misto's life and how she is connected to her new "family" to make this immediately intriguing. The mom seems to be motivated by some sort of jealousy in regards to her husband's connection to be Misato but that is genuinely a vague guess from the little clues we are given. Misato being a naturally talented actress is clearly going to play a large role in the entire thing but how and why I have no clue, and I'd say its fairly obvious her actual parents were murdered. So there's a lot going on here but in a good way. There's a lot of knots in a thread that all goes back to Misato.

Can't end this without mentioning the art though as it is absolutely amazing! The facial expressions for each of the characters are truly well done, which since acting is going to play a role here I find that to be necessary to really drive home the emotions of each scene.

Highly recommend if you're a fan of mysteries!

As always thanks to Netgally and Kodansha Comics for the eArc!

Roar: A Star in the Abyss is an interesting and suffocating josei manga. Our main character is Misato, who had a picture perfect childhood on an island with loving parents until she lost them. Not only that but it seems they weren't her actual parents and her life is turned upside down thanks to a TV show to which she cast as an extra. Then it's just plunge into hell basically as she lives with a family that detests her and she wants to get out, but cannot really. This first part is quite hard to grasp. Misato's history and everything around it is scattered and mostly I felt there was too much happening for it to make enough sense. I do enjoy the fact that this is a revenge story and the mystery is interesting as we get to know it together with Misato as years run by.

The art looks good, although the kids look slightly like small adults. The facial expressions look great and all in all the manga is quite lively. The setting is promising and there are tons of possibilities where this could go. Gladly this is josei too, so it's dark and oddly distant, which is great.

Misato at the beginning of this volume is just a little girl living a normal life with her best friend Jun-Chan. That is until tragety strikes causing her whole life to flip upside down. She is forced to live with a woman she doesn't even know in a home of people that hate her.
I hope in future volumes that she is able to get back to Jun-Chan and live a better life.

˙₊➴ ꒰ 2-stars★ ꒱ ꒷⊹࣪˖

Roar: A Star in the Abyss follows the early childhood of Misato-chan, a bright and beloved girl growing up in the peaceful countryside. Surrounded by love from her family and friends, her life seemed full of promise until an unfortunate incident changed everything.
As her once-hopeful life takes a darker turn, Misato is thrust into a new life filled with pain, silence, and unanswered questions. Will she rise from the pain of her past, or will she be lost in the abyss that follows?

⊹ ࣪ ˖ੈ Thoughts

The manga begins with a hopeful, radiant Misato ready to take on the world. But as the story progresses, the abrupt shift from a lighthearted tone to a darker, messier narrative felt jarring. While a dark, troubled past can be compelling for a revenge-driven MC, the sudden change feels rushed and underdeveloped. As a result, Misato’s emotions and personality seem glossed over, making it hard to truly connect with her. There are moments where the story clearly aims to evoke sympathy, but the uneven pacing and sharp 360 shift leaves the intended impact feeling hollow rather than powerful.

I understand that this part of the manga is meant to lay the foundation for Misato's character and the person she’s destined to become. However, at times it felt like one of those backstories where a character is given a tragic past simply to justify a path of revenge. The pacing was quick, and while that kept things moving, I found myself wanting more depth and more time to sit with her experiences. That said, I’m still genuinely curious to see where the story goes from here, and I’m hopeful that Misato’s journey will grow even more compelling as she begins to face the hardships that have shaped her.

➳ Huge thanks to the publisher & author—Kodansha Comics, Ai Okaue & NetGalley—for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

╴╴╴╴╴⋅˚₊‧ ୨ Full and more detailed review is on Goodreads & Fable! ୧ ‧₊˚⋅ ╴╴╴╴╴

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for this ARC!

This is an emotionally heavy, haunting start to what looks to be a very intense story. The first volume immediately throws you into the darkness of the main character’s life, and it’s hard not to feel for her, I’m genuinely intrigued to see how (or if) she manages to escape the pain and trauma she is trapped in.

That said, I did find the multiple plot shifts a little confusing at times, especially when the transitions weren’t always clear. It occasionally broke the flow and left me flipping back to reorient myself. Still, the raw emotion, the grim atmosphere, and the sense of something deeper just beneath the surface kept me turning pages.

I would definitely consider picking up a few more volumes in this Manga to see how things go.

Engaging and mysterious! Childhood arcs are normally difficult to get right, but Roar has endearing child characters who act their age and react to both horrific and mundane (but horrific for a child) situations realistically and heart-wrenchingly. Classism and subtle abuse/gaslighting is also well portrayed. But it's not an over-the-top "bullied-revenge" situation, and Misato has more going for her than revenge. She's a good actress, who can emote well, and cares for her brother figures.

There were a few gaps that took me out of the story- I'm sure they'll be explained in later volumes, but the lack of any interaction whatsoever between the hidden son and the rest of the family didn't feel adequately explored. There were no reactions as to why they made the decisions they did or how each of them individually felt about him - this took away from the world building and had the family characters cemented as one-dimensional villains

In addition, introducing three possible mothers for the main character with little explanation as to how the doctor's wife was able to just take the MC was a lot. You could guess that she falsified documents or bribed, but as none of that is shown, you're left wondering even as the plot moves ten years past that interaction

It feels like it's going to be a revenge/messy soap opera style story, in which case all the moving pieces may make more sense, but as of the first chapter there are missing pieces of information in between a lot going on that can overwhelm the reader - very intriguing and leaves me looking forward to seeing it all unravel though!

I liked it. I felt like a LOT happened in just 190 pages, and this perhaps makes it lose some of the "intensity" and weight it has on the protagonist's life. I definitely want to know how it continues and what happens to her and her relationships.

Thank you so much, Kodansha Comics, for the ARC I read on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This started off promising even if it was a little lost at times. But somewhere early on it was getting bland and the plot felt a little aimless. Like it was trying to do to much at once and got messy. Soon the writing felt flat and one dimensional and honestly at some points the dialogue didn’t even make sense.

Overall I didn’t enjoy it and I built no connection whatsoever with the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital readers copy of this manga.

Review to come in July (my blog is full and it is already a miracle I was able to move things around, haha) on my blog/other places.

I received this book from the publisher/Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

Wow, what a freaking ride. Seriously though I flew through this one. At one point I was like where am I in the story, how far am I in? I flip to the next page and it was the last page! It doesn't always happen that I get so fully absorbed, so that deserves all the credit *claps*.

In this book we meet a tiny girl named Misato. She is having a good life on an island with her family and friends. Doing karate. Kicking bullies to the curb. And everything is perfect. Misato is an adorable kid and I love how sweet and kind she was. I loved it when she got a chance to shine in front of the camera and I loved how she kicked ass even there, she was able to get so much emotion and none of it felt fake (then again she was thinking about her friend and the bullies). But oh my gosh my heart just broke when that event happened and she had to leave the island. It seems like such a wonderful house and a new chance for Misato, but Misato soon finds out that things aren't that good. Yup. If you think that lavish manor in the blurb is fun and that only outside things happen? Oh no. Misato has a terrifying time at her new home. She is abused by her new older sister who is absolutely vile. Her "mom" is an utter bitch for letting it all happen and making harsh remarks as time continues. The dad is wuss (seriously, that is the only way I can describe him). We see Misato spiral into abyss and I just wanted to grab her and take her back to the island, to give her hugs, to make her happy again. The only thing that is keeping her spirits OK is when she finds a boy in the basement. A boy who cannot walk and thus is dumped into the basement (a lavish basement, but still a basement) with the only one visiting the maid. As I said, the family is disgusting. I mean wtf is wrong with you. I was so happy that Misato found a space for herself to be herself and that she befriended the boy there. Those parts made me tear up (and smile), but also I was fearful, because I knew that one moment the family would find out or something would happen. I just knew it. They just didn't want Misato or the boy to be happy after all. I was dreading the moment, but also kind of hoping that maybe nothing would happen? Reader, bring tissues. And find a punching bag xxxl because you will need it.

I loved that we got some flashbacks on Misato's birth which gave me some answers, but also many more questions. Who is that girl???? Why did the doctor act so shady???? I need to KNOW. Hopefully in the next volume we will figure things out or at least get more hints and puzzle pieces.

Oh, and I am also very curious about the guy (who didn't seem to have aged, which made me laugh). He has an interest in Misato (in a good way, not in an icky way) and I am curious what his next steps will be. 

I am not sure how I felt about the fact that NO ONE asked for papers to identify the woman as Misato's mom. They just gave her away, or at least that is how it felt to me. I would have fought harder. I also found it a bit too coincidental that THAT happened before the big event that led Misato to be taken away from the island.

The art was so good. I love how well the style fitted with the story. And that cover! So pretty, but also ominous.

All in all, if you are looking for a read that will make you cry, make you want to punch something, makes you feel all the things + you want to root for a character, be sure to get this one. I need the next volume ASAP.

This first volume was the perfect set up to the story and leaves readers wanting for more. I loved the framing of the story seeing Misato’s back story and setting up the series in such a way that you cannot help but want to continue.
The art style is brilliantly tied to the genre and story and the layout of the panels I found had a nice balance between text and graphics. I also found that we got a good understanding of the characters although not perhaps their full motives which adds a nice air of mystery and keeps us guessing. For fans of thrillers this is going to be a must read.
As always thank you to Kodansha Comics for the advanced copy to review, my reviews are always honest and freely given.

This was an emotional rollercoaster of a first manga that made me hungry for the showbiz future and the revenge arc promised.

Wow, what a fast-paced first volume! We rushed through the main character's childhood so fast and with so much drama. I was captivated by the story and wanted to see where the story was going. That being said, some of the story plot was almost unbelievable. The "mom" appearing out of nowhere and able to take her in no question asked was the strangest. Did no one check on these children? I liked Misato as a character and want to see what her future has in store for her. Hopefully, her vengeance will be satisfying. There are many mysteries that need to be solved, and I would love to read more to untangle them. Overall, an intriguing start to a series.

Solid start to a new series! Shout out to the publisher for giving us a new Josie title, which is hard to come by.
There are so many layers to this story that will eventually be pulled away as this series progresses! The character development is fantastic, we know that our protagonist is going to be on a ride throughout the story, and we will be going with her. With this in mind the first volume is a little slower paced because the mystery is being laid out. Expect twists and turns, as well as emotional investment.