アイテルシー

I TELL C

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
3
RELEASE
June 28, 2021
CHAPTERS
24

DESCRIPTION

A popular female celebrity is murdered! The investigation leads to a suspicious woman whose next target may be the famous actor Tagame. What could the suspect's motive be? Twin detectives are on the suspect's trail, but then... A unique take on the crime-suspense genre!

(Source: MANGA Plus)

Note: Includes 2 extra chapters and one-shot "Shinobi Shinobazu".

CAST

Risa Aioi
Sakon Fukatsuki
Ukon Fukatsuki

CHAPTERS

RELATED TO I TELL C

ONE SHOT ComedyI Tell C: Bangai-hen

ONE SHOT ComedyShinobi Shinobazu

REVIEWS

sadJoe
55/100
If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going, You Might End Up Somewhere Else.
__Axed Before It Found Its Legs__

I picked up i tell c when it first appeared in Jump. My first impressions of the manga were pretty positive. It had everything one could ask for in a first chapter for a new WSJ manga. Though I would not have been able to determine where the series would end up, I had an inkling that it would pan out to be a solid one. I’m honestly still surprised how fast this notion of mine was flipped.

I don’t read a ton of ongoing WSJ, so I don’t feel like I’m the best judge when it comes to determining the life expectancy for a manga. Putting this aside, I have to admit that there is something different about picking up a new series from chapter one as a reader. At the moment, I am unable to place my finger on the exact reason, but reading and following along a work throughout its conception/shelf life hits different. I feel like others may be able to relate. It really is a different sensation when you’re able to watch a series evolve throughout time, knowing that you have been there from the beginning.

At the conclusion of chapter one for i tell c, there was a part of me that was stoked. It was by no means a continental-driving, earth-shattering chapter; but it was definitely good. Though I don’t recall giving it too much thought, I genuinely enjoyed it and had no questions about whether or not I would continue to read it week after week. It was enough to get me invested, which is saying something.

The very first chapter opens up with tasty bait—in a similar vein of the more stimulating stories that readers will encounter from time to time. Considering it got axed and left with only 21 chapters, I don’t have any intention to give away one of the coolest parts of the manga. I will only say that the mangaka introduces an enigmatic individual (who later turns out to be the title character/protagonist); this girl exhibits all of the notable characteristics of a stalker. In the aforementioned first chapter, these antics are blatantly put on display—in such a way that puts the reader on edge.

Before touching base on the tragedy of i tell c, I want to talk about Kazusa Inaoka’s art. Considering that I am lacking in both artistic awareness and sufficient language for critiquing it, it may not be much to say. What I do want to say is that the art is absolutely fantastic. Of the eight or so ongoing _WSJ_series that I am following, it is among the strongest and one of which I am most fond of. I really appreciate the way Inaoka’s characters eyes are drawn—most notably Risa Aioi’s eyes. One of my favorite parts about reading the manga was getting to lock my eyes with such an exquisite beauty. /s

With no intention of tooting my horn, I will say that I followed the manga on a weekly basis. There was nothing more that I would have wanted than to see it push the envelope and maintain its identity throughout its time. The thing is, it never became. Though I cannot say that I knew for sure, by the 4th chapter I sincerely felt that this manga was not going to last. When it comes to this subject, I know very little—particularly when it comes to the logistics of the industry and the publishing process. Be that as it may, I have read Bakuman, so I don’t think it would be responsible of me to say that I have no idea how any of it works.

Perhaps this goes without saying, but it is essential for a manga to know its audience. This is key, for all creative works really. Knowing one’s audience allows for the story to maintain congruity and consistency in its tone. I’m not trying to sound pretentious or be ambiguous with my wording; what I mean to say is that i tell c had no idea what it was supposed to be.

I recognize the difficult nature of the process of producing a serialized work. It cannot be easy trying to come up with a new addition to an ongoing plot line week after week after week. Maintaining quality, both in terms of theme and art, does not come easy.

Jokes aside, my gut feeling on i tell c is that the mangaka just didn’t have a clear direction of where they wanted things to go. I probably did not elaborate enough on this point, but I feel that it really isn’t necessary. Anyone who has read the work will know exactly what I am referring to. If not, who do happen to read the series in the future will come to notice this tone discrepancy throughout the manga. If you don't mind spoilers, here is one of the more notable examples:

The following scene takes place in chapter(s) 7 and 8. Mind you, this is following one of the (at least what should be) most dramatic scenes in the entire manga. Considering that one of the main characters literally just died protecting his brother and partner a mere few pages prior to these panels.

Yeah...

I am not saying that I am an expert, by any stretch of the imagination, but I feel like that isn't really a viable response to your brother's murder that just took place a couple hours prior. Even if it is a manga, this still is out of place. That's putting it nicely

No one in their right mind wants a series to do poorly. I have nothing but admiration, respect, and sympathy for the manga artists who pour their hearts and souls into their work for the sake of readers. With that being said, one in such a position must be wary and take responsibility for their position.

"By failing to prepare, you are preparing for failure."

All things considered, the art for i tell c is sharp. Kazusa Inaoka has a knack for this; they have the talent for this and are in the right line of work. I have noticed a few people alluding to how this art was wasted on th series, but I would disagree. The tools that brought this work to life belong to the mangaka. They have the ability to create and are free to do so at their own discretion. Though this series may not be a success in the denotative sense of the word, it is a step in the right direction. I wish the mangaka all the best, and I am looking forward to their work in the future. I will definitely be following them.
__originally published on my blog, [Mild Melancholia](https://mildmelancholia.com/2021/06/29/if-you-dont-know-where-youre-going-you-might-end-up-somewhere-else/)__.
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AnotherBadger
35/100
There was potential, but i tell c struggled to break free from its core concept
“Crime equates to poison, and once you have poison on your hands, no one will reach for them.”
- Chapter 3
i tell c was a series that had the writing on the wall for the latter half of its run. It took a while to get on its feet and this was its death sentence. When the core premise is ‘woman falls in love with criminals’ you need to work fast to establish confidence in the reader while walking a very tricky line. Especially when it comes to the potential romanticisation of kidnap, assault, stalking, and murder.

Outside of the issues that arise from i tell c’s premise, one of the other difficult elements to overcome was the repetition. One of the most notable instances was the motif of poison which would appear a lot in the early chapters. There needs to be a little bit more faith that the reader understands your intentions because it began to feel more like a miniature lecture. The other is that all of the cases taken followed a similar pattern that i tell c struggled to break away from and meant that there was a lack of stand-out moments that would make a reader want to continue.

Some of the characters were interesting and set the foundation for growth, but many more felt a little lacklustre. The supposed main villain added a bit of danger to the plot but was only around for a few chapters before disappearing so it was difficult to really establish him. This is especially true since he has already had a big impact on the character’s lives.

The character designs, however, were really interesting. Some were pretty creepy while others were absolutely ridiculous… I mean one character’s mohawk was so tall that it never fit in the panel; regardless of the angle (which was really good, I promise). This disparity in design does highlight another one of i tell c’s flaws. It doesn’t quite mix the more slapstick moments with the darker themes. I admire Inaoka’s attempt as it is something difficult to do and, especially in the later chapters, they seemed to be growing in confidence.

The art itself is able to move between a wide variety of moods and this flexibility will definitely leave Inaoka’s options open for any future works. Hopefully, they will be given another chance as the potential beginning to appear in i tell c shows that there could be a promising future for them.

It is a shame that they weren’t given a little more time to wrap up the loose ends of i tell c though as a couple of the plot threads were interesting and they could have it be a bit more satisfying. But there isn’t much that can be done about this.

Overall, i tell c was a series that took too long to establish its potential while dealing with concepts that could quickly turn its readers away. I hope that those who worked on it are able to move on to new series because there was definitely potential that could be improved upon.
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aijkngiKN
45/100
Don't you also hate when you are a criminal and a cute female cop says she loves you?
# ``SPOILER FREE REVIEW``

Reminder that this is my first review and english isn't my first language so I am sorry for eventual mistakes you will find in this but I also hope that this review will somehow help people in determining whether they should read this or not.

___i tell c___ _is a manga that doesn't actually have a real plot... or, most specifically, it tried to have one but it ended up being completely worthless considering the fact that it got axed and never managed to present a consistent and solid story. Having said so, I will describe this manga simply as a mere detective story with a charming protagonist and... nothing else (probably)._ _First of all, I would like to talk about how I personally found the concept of this manga to be surprisingly interesting. Basically, the protagonist of which I talked before is a female cop which has an "obsession" for criminals and this leads her to fall in love with every one of them whenever a new case to solve appears. A motivation of why she does so has even be mentioned but just that, it never got fully explored (this due to the series being axed)._ _Another very valid thing I liked about it was the art. There were even some good panels worthy of a screenshot and overall I think the paneling was ok (even though I am not a professional lol)._ _Now, the issues with i tell c are many:_
1. It doesn't manage to end the story properly as I already mentioned multiple times before and this is a big factor of why this manga is unworthy of being read.

2. Another thing I found to be frustrating while reading this is that in some parts the writing sucked and the characters acted totally incoherent to what just happened a few chapters before at the point that my only reaction was "wow, cringe". Seriously... other than that there was even a death that was so unnecessary and out of place that I was almost going to drop the whole thing but, fortunately (I think), Risa Aioi was cute enough to let me finish this mediocre piece of work.

3. Talking about characters, there were a few interesting ones but almost none got sufficiently explored at the point to tell that it was a well written character or at least decent or something. Even Risa Aioi, the only reason why you should read this, is not exactly good and what frustrates me the most about her is that she had a damn fucking interesting backstory. I was hoping the whole time I read i tell c that they would at least end the Risa story properly, even if this meant that the story would have been rushed af but they didn't. :(
_Now that you know what makes i tell c bad I think that you should also know I was able to finish it. At least, from my experience, I got a few laughs from it and even if some arcs began slow they were able to deliver a decent amount of positive reactions from me but... that's just it. Let's say that to the average reader this is surely something to drop, but there surely might be a few exceptions of people who may enjoy this._ _Well, now that we arrived at the end of the review it's time for the score. I do not want to rate this very low since I personally believe it's the kind of readable trash. Considering the drawings, characters, story and development... I'd give this a 45/100 which to me equals to something that, if it wasn't for a small thing in it, it would definitely be bad, and in this case the small thing is Risa Aioi. She literally carried this._
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