The Girl from the Other Side: Siuil A, Run Vol. 8 (The Girl from the Other Side, #8) by NAGABE

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🌻 The Girl from the Other Side Vol. 1 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌻 The Girl from the Other Side Vol. 2 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌻 The Girl from the Other Side Vol. 3 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌻 The Girl from the Other Side Vol. 4 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌻 The Girl from the Other Side Vol. 5 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌻 The Girl from the Other Side Vol. 6 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌻 The Girl from the Other Side Vol. 7 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Content/Trigger Warnings: Graphic injuries, impalement, talk of democide, grief, starvation, attempted sacrifice, terminal illness

“This time I will surely save you.”

Friends, I love this series with every fiber of my being! These characters, this world, just everything about it makes me melt into a puddle. I have been following these characters since I got my hands on the first volume and to say this isn’t a new favorite would be doing it a disservice. Also, if you haven’t read my full series review yet, please go check it out so you have a better idea about this world and these characters!

Factions

🌻 Humans/Mortals – Like you and me, live on the Inside
🌻 Cursed Ones – Beast like creatures, plagued with The Curse, feared by mortals, roam the Outside
🌻 Humans/Mortals – Like you and me, live on the Inside
🌻 The God of Light – Creator of happiness and peace
🌻 The God of Darkness – Trickster, plays pranks on the God of Light, steals away happiness, cause of The Curse

Characters

🌻 Teacher – Main character, horned Cursed Child, guardian of Shiva, either a scholar or doctor when mortal
🌻 Shiva – Main character, child of Light, protected by the most holy, innocent, companion to Teacher
🌻 Teacher – Main character, horned Cursed Child, guardian of Shiva, either a scholar or doctor when mortal
🌻 Father or Head Priest of the Church – Orders for constant capture of Shiva, believer of the “prophecy”, orders soldiers to cause democide, aid of his royal majesty
🌻 Mother – Intentions unknown, creator of the Black Children
🌻 The Black Children – Created by “Mother”, similar to Teacher, wish to obtain Shiva’s soul

This is the volume where it finally happens, the church final captures Shiva. So the majority of this book we follow her perspective and the things that befall her after Teacher saves her life. In previous volumes, we learn that the church has been trying to capture Shiva because of a prophecy that claims if you sacrifice the child of white from the Outside then the curse will be lifted. However, things don’t go according to plan when things take a turn for the worse during the ceremony.

I have said this so many times, this series is so good at building a story-line and anticipation! Not to mention that this author has a tendency to end their volumes on a cliffhanger. I have never come across a manga series that ends on so many intense cliffhangers. Now, I may be over selling it. However, in all my time reading manga, I have never wanted to acquire a series so fast because of the way the story-line is built and how each volume ends. Each volume is it’s own master piece at painting the bigger picture of the story that’s unfolding and it makes the reader become fully invested.

I really loved that we see a lot of character development in this volume. In past volumes there was character development, but in this volume we really get that sense of what the main characters mean to one another. Teacher makes the ultimate sacrifice to save Shiva, while Shiva realizes how much she wants to stay with Teacher after being captured by the church. We already had a sense of how important each main character was to the other, but this volume has both main characters acknowledge their love for one another, the importance of each other, and how they don’t want to lose one another. This is a very similar character development that you see in the manga series, The Ancient Magus Bride between Elias and Chise. I love these type of character developments and I really enjoy when characters realize the importance of their love interest or their companion/friends.

“You were like the light of a flickering candle flame. Too faint to illuminate the path ahead. You were so small, so slight and fragile. A breath could have extinguished you. And yet… You were all that I needed and more.”

Of course, we also see more of the church and His Majesty in this volume. We’ve seen bits and pieces of them in past volumes. Along with scenes of soldiers sent by the church venturing through the Outside, but we never had a volume that fully involves the church. In this volume, we learn that His Majesty is terminally ill with a type of heart condition that keeps becoming worse. We also have this sense that the church is pulling a lot more strings then it lets on. The last scene we have of the priest leaves a dark, ominous feeling that would lead to speculation that something far worse is coming or the possible potential of the church taking matters into their own hands. Either way, this volume has more darker themes than one would expect.

And I have to mention how the author includes these important moments with specific items. Near the end of this book, Shiva interacts with a stranger within the prison she’s being held in. This stranger ends up bringing her the pocket watch that Teacher gave to her. Turns out, Teacher had the pocket watch inscribed to Shiva to show how much he valued her, how important she was, and ultimately gave this pocket watch to her. Now going back to the stranger, we have no idea who this person is or what their true motives are. However, my guess is this person will be revealed in a later volume that shows them helping Shiva escape captivity or secretly be a Cursed One. Either way, I have no doubt that this person is going to be of great importance in volumes to come.

Overall, I absolutely loved this volume. I can find nothing wrong with this series and I truly love it with my very being. I can’t believe we have to wait until August for volume nine to be published in English! However, we have a cover for the volume and it is absolutely stunning! I can’t wait to see what the next volume will hold in this dark fantasy. Seriously, if you haven’t picked this series up yet, let me be the voice that tells you to give this manga series a chance! It’s so good and I recommend it with every ounce of my soul!