By Ayami Kazama
CMX, 162 pp.
Rating: Everyone

The World I Create offers readers a glimpse into the lives of students who go to a school for projectionists—people who can take their imaginations and display pictures and landscapes for others to see. I really love the concept, since it’s based around finding a new way to satisfy the deep human desire to be able to take a thought and share it.

By using separate short stories as little windows to this world, Kazama is able to avoid the biggest pitfall of a fantasy manga: overloading the reader with page after page of exposition in the opening chapter. Instead, information is doled out over the course of the entire volume, answering a number of questions about projectionists and how they do what they do.

The opening story introduces Ritsuki and Hatsumi, two students whose exams are quickly approaching. Both of them are struggling, so Ritsuki’s father decides they should practice together. Just after meeting her for the first time, Ritsuki finds that Hatsumi now appears in his projections of an endless grassy landscape. It’s a very sweet way of showing the reader she’s made a deep first impression on him. It also gives the first hint that a projection reflects the creator’s emotions.

Azama’s second story stumbles a little bit, mostly because it tells the reader way too much. The main character, Kinoto Akitsu, explains his entire character in one line (“I don’t have any interest in people or projectionists”), even though it is made completely obvious by his interactions with people. It also raises the question of why he is paying to attend a private school full of people he dislikes. In his story—all of the stories in this volume tell boy-meets-girl tales—he crosses paths with Soyoka Kawanami, an upperclassman.

Akitsu has the ability to see projectionists’ auras and figure out which lanterns will work best for them, so he’s always being asked to help other students. Soyoka, it turns out, is skipping classes because her abilities are fading away and she’s afraid she only has one projection left before she burns out. Her aura is often muddied or hazy, but after seeing it turn to a perfect shade of blue, Akitsu is mesmerized. While he has issues expressing himself, he tries his best to connect with her, even if it’s only to fulfill a selfish desire to see her aura.

Story three is the weakest of the bunch, although it touches on the subject of teasing and bullying in schools. After being told she is short, a girl named Suzume starts interfering with the projections of others. This turns into a showdown between her and another student. At the end, the two become an item, though Kazama ruins it all with a narration that reads “And so, a relationship of sorts was formed, between pet and master.” How creepy is that? Ugh.

Fortunately, the closing tale is a redeeming one, as it takes a look at a boy who cannot project, even though his older brother, Ryoya, and his (female) best friend, Chiho, are able to. When he finds himself in a relationship with Chiho, he asks her to stay away from projection school because it makes him uncomfortable. But when he realizes it’s what makes her happy, he begins to have second thoughts.

The majority of these stories are heartwarming without being cloying. It’s a short volume that packs in a lot of detail and is fun to read. There are several factors that keep it from earning an A, though. There’s never any real explanation for how projecting works, which is both good and bad. It leaves most of the process up to the reader’s imagination, although it also makes it hard to understand why some of the students have such difficulties creating their projections. Another part that bothered me was that with the ability to project any scene they desire, the students place an insanely heavy value on projecting realistic scenes and frown on anything else. My last gripe about the school setting is that even though students are always there, they never seem to be in class. I really wanted to see a class and what there is to be taught about projecting.

The World I Create is all about people who can design scenes of great beauty that are fueled by emotion and experience. They last for a few brief moments and then fade away. And, when you think about it, isn’t that the very definition of manga?

The World I Create is available now.

Review copy provided by the publisher.