Review: QQ Sweeper vols 1-3 – Kyousuke Motomi

Once I read that this manga’s author set out to “create the darkest shojo manga series” I couldn’t check this out of the library fast enough! Whether or not it’s earned that title, it manages to tackle some very tough and intense topics while still maintaining an overall hopeful tone.

As you might expect, the reviews for the later volumes will include spoilers for the previous volumes. The content notes below are for the series as a whole.

Content notes: View Spoiler »depression, suicidal ideation (including an attempt), bullying, violence (mostly against insects, some against other characters) « Hide Spoiler

Fumi is the newest student at a private high school under very unusual circumstances. She’s an orphan and her latest batch of relatives have skipped town – though thankfully after paying for a full year’s tuition. The entire situation seems odd to the principal, especially after Fumi stumbles into a series of events that reveal that her fellow student Kyutaro – who lives with the principal – has paranormal abilities, ones that Fumi may share. Before she knows it, Fumi’s hired as the live-in housekeeper and apprenticed to the serious Kyutaro.

Kyutaro – Q – is a “cleaner” not in the assassin sense, but the mundane with a side of paranormal. Bad thoughts collect like grime in people’s minds and that grime attracts bugs, paranormal baddies that must be cleaned away in order for the person to be healed. Part of that healing also includes a literal cleaning of the person’s environment (along with actual psychiatric care, thank goodness). This has repercussions for Kyutaro and the others who live with him as their home has to be kept spotless.

Enter Fumi, whose new jobs both mean working closely with Kyutaro. He takes cleaning very seriously and he won’t accept anything less than perfection from her. Which, considering that she’s been abandoned by her remaining family and is adjusting to a new school, seems like a LOT to deal with. Despite everything – or perhaps because of everything – Fumi is more often than not a source of humor in the manga. She views herself as a Cinderella in search of her Prince Charming, meaning that her main goal in life is to marry a rich guy. It may seem superficial, sure, but it’s serious business for her, down to (badly-drawn) dossiers. She’s also kind, brave and a good friend (for instance, stepping back when she finds out someone else is into her current prince-elect). And naturally, there seems to be a romance brewing between the two, except that Kyutaro’s in love with some girl named Fuyu…?

As a huge Marie Kondo fan, there’s definitely something appealing about the whole cleaning your space / cleaning your mind aspect. There’s a larger portion that doesn’t sit well with my personal history of depression and cleaning. It’s nice that a lot of the value is in the process itself rather than just the end results (“a toilet clean enough to drink out of”). Plus the way Fumi describes a freshly cleaned room – and the way it’s drawn – hit just right. It’s so easy to picture it exactly! To my amusement, there were a few cleaning tips included as well.

While the art is in black and white, that doesn’t detract at all from the storytelling quality. The facial expressions especially are excellent, both the hilarious ones and the more serious ones. Much like the story, it easily segues back and forth from humor to more serious topics (or giant centipedes) with everything handled exceptionally well.

Obviously, I was hooked because I immediately went and checked out the next two volumes…

When this volume picks up, Fumi’s been living with the Horikitas for a month. Q calls her a “shameless little miss sunshine” which honestly is true. Whether she’s making up silly cleaning songs or giving her search for Prince Charming her full attention, Fumi’s determination not to give up hope despite her past (more on that in a minute) is, frankly, utterly sweet and somewhat awe-inspiring. And anyway, what’s a better counterpoint to all of Kyutaro’s talk of mental illness than hope?

Fumi finally begins to open up to the Horikitas about her past and her “curse.” Among other things, Fumi reveals that her earliest memory is only from ten years ago – something that lines up with a pivotal occurrence in Kyutaro’s life.

A large part of the plot revolves around the mysterious Fuyu and Kyutaro’s relationship with her. Kyutaro only knew her for one winter – during a particularly bad period of his life – but has never been able to forget her. Whether the rest of his family believe she’s real or just something a lonely boy imagined up, Kyutaro still has a lot of trauma around the way she left. Strangely enough, many of Fumi’s actions seem to be stirring up his memories of Fuyu.

Up until now, besides Fumi’s doubts, the main antagonists have been the bugs. The end of this volume teases a new and much more active villain role, something that I’m hoping reveals more clues about Fumi’s past! On to the next!

With the appearance of the new villain, things get serious very quickly. A bug handler uses bugs to manipulate people, basically turning them into puppets, and this one has his eye on Fumi for some reason. In some ways (the way he dresses omg help) the villain is hilarious but he is also truly frightening, leading to some of the most intensely horrific and emotional moments so far in the series.

On top of all that, Kyutaro is now convinced that Fumi and Fuyu are the same person. But with her memory loss, how much harm would telling her cause? It’s a bittersweet situation in that he’s got his childhood friend back – sort of – but he can’t tell her that, or why he’s happy, or that he has *gulp* feelings for her.

One of the things I haven’t mentioned before is the focus on family and community in the books. Fumi assumed that due to her curse she’d always end up hurting those close to her and being abandoned. Relying on anyone else is dangerous and weak and will only end in disappointment. The Horikitas, however, refuse to accept that – though sometimes they have to show her that in sneaky ways. Of course there’s her developing relationship with Kyutaro, but also those with Koichi and Granny. It’s continuously emphasized to her that going it alone is dangerous (in the case of being a cleaner) and unnecessary (because they’re there for her).

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And with that, the series changes over to Queen’s Quality, a name change that seemingly baffles even the mangaka! Luckily my library also has those, though it looks like I’ll be waiting a while for the holds!

Overall, if you’re looking for an interesting and gorgeously drawn take on mental illness, I’d highly recommend this!

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