Harisugawa in Mirror World: Unedited Audio and Recording Notes (Patreon)

Manga Details

• Japanese title literally translates to “Harisugawa of the Land/Country of the Mirror”
• Author: Yasuhiro Kano
  • Notable people they were an assistant for:
    • Ryu Fujisaki (Hoshin Engi, Sakura Tetsu Taiwahen)
      • This was on the one-shot DIGITALIAN, as they were close friends, along with Munenori Michimoto.
  • Notable people they had as assistants:
    • Tatsuya Endo (Spy x Family, Tista)
      • This was on Pretty Face (vol.6 credit)
    • Kimiya Kaji (Meister)
      • This was on Pretty Face (vol.6 credit)
    • Gege Akutami (Jujutsu Kaisen)
      • Noted in a French interview, but I don't know which specific series this was on: https://www.lefigaro.fr/bd/gege-akutami-pour-le-heros-de-mon-manga-je-me-suis-inspire-de-mon-frere-20201007
• Author’s other works:
  • Three one-shot collections
    • Black City (1992)
    • Tokyo Ants (2003)
    • Snow in the Dark (2007)
  • Pretty Face (2002-2003, 6 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump)
    • Masashi Rando is a hot-tempered young man who gets in a bus accident. Thankfully an esteemed plastic surgeon restores his face based on a photo in his wallet OF HIS CRUSH.
  • Mx0 (2006-2008, 10 vols, Weekly Shonen Jump)
    • Taiga Kuzumi is a hot-tempered young man who accidentally applies to a magic school, and goes from rejected to accepted, having to maintain the illusion of being an ultra-powerful student while having no magic abilities!
  • Kiss x Death (2014-2018, 7 vols, Shonen Jump Plus)
    • A parasitic alien is tasked with bringing five criminals of its kind to Earth to trap within frogs and other weak lifeforms, but fucks up and they possess five schoolgirls and kill his host body.
  • Kiruru Kill Me (2020-present, 5 volumes, Shonen Jump Plus)
    • Aoi Nemo is a handsome and successful heir to a pharmaceutical empire with one big problem: there’s a hit out on him, and he’s the one who put it out! This has been on hiatus since 2022. Available now from Seven Seas.
• Run dates:  Jul 11, 2011 to Feb 13, 2012
  • Series it replaced:
    • Sengoku Armors by Shota Sakaki (flop, 2 vols) Flop eligible
  • Series that replaced it:
    • Haikyu!! by Haruichi Furudate (MEGA-HIT, 45 vols)
  • Series in same round:
    • ST&RS by Ryosuke Takeuchi & Masaru Miyokawa (flop, 5 vols) covering soon
• Chapters/Volumes: 29/3

About the Manga

• Plot
  • After saving Satomi from getting hit by a car when they were kids, Harisugawa fell in love with her. But oh no he’s stuck in the friend zone! One day however Satomi buys an old mirror from a thrift shop and almost gets hit by a car again but Harisugawa jumps in front to save her again. This time though he gets trapped in the mirror. There he meets this really fucked up looking guy who tells him that he can only let one person know about this or he’ll be trapped forever, and then suddenly disappears. He’s able to see through the mirror as well as every mirror in the immediate vicinity which leads to him seeing a lot of panty shots from high school girls. After revealing himself to Satomi and seeing a bunch of panty shots, they discover that by touching each other through the mirror they can switch places for an hour before Harisugawa comes back. The next day he rushes home, tells his family he’s leaving school and going on a trip, and most importantly cleans up all his porn. For some reason he has a mirror on his collar and Satomi is able to see him hold up a picture while saying “this is my crush” to no one, and she sees that it has her friend Saki on it and doesn’t see that she is ALSO in the picture. Satomi and Harisugawa track down the original owner of the mirror: an old goth fortune teller who looks like my girlfriend’s mom.
  • 
    
  • She says it’s called the love mirror, and the only way to escape it is for two people to say that they love each other and mean it or else they’ll be trapped forever. But Harisugawa hears them say that they only get one shot at this or else they’re fucked. After seeing more panty shots and switching places with Satomi when she’s in a changing room by accident, Harisugawa saves Saki from some creepy dudes and she starts crushing on him. Flash forward to a hiking trip and after he sees a bunch of naked girls in the mandatory hot springs chapter, Saki sprains her ankle and Harisugawa carries her to the bus when she confesses her love to him. She knows he loves Satomi though and is willing to help him get with her despite her feelings. Oh no though, Saki accidentally touches the mirror and switches with Harisugawa noooo. Apparently the guy lied earlier when he said only one person could know, whatever. Also Satomi is unable to switch with him for one page which is weird but never happens again. They go back to the old goth lady who tells them that now he needs to fall in love with both of them. Harisugawa soon realizes that actually you know what? He does love Saki after all. He tells her and then suddenly something happens and Saki forgets that she loves him but now there’s no time limit on him leaving the mirror.
  • 
    
  • Satomi then discovers that she’s moving to America Jk only her mom and dad are moving so she’s got the whole place to herself wink wink. Saki comes over to switch places with Harisugawa for the day and watch a 24 hour tv marathon so Satomi and Harisugawa can spend the day together. Idk, some stuff happens and Harisugawa probably sees more panties and naked girls. Satomi finally sees the full photograph from earlier and realizes she’s in it while her friends just tell her outright that Harisugawa loves her. Finally she says that she loves Harisugawa, he says he loves her too, and he’s free but she forgets that she said that. The next day Harisugawa goes to school again, fights off her suitors, and tells Satomi he loves her again because the whole scenario gave him some big dick kenergy. Then there’s a beach chapter where we see the girls in revealing bikinis and sexual poses again.
• Characters
  • Harisugawa Tetsu
    • Mc
    • A simp I think?
  • Satomi Mao
    • Miss panty shot
    • School idol
    • Bro with the mc
    • Talks shit
  • Saki
    • Mc has crush on her
    • Strong willed friend of satomi
    • Tsundere
    • Crushes on the mc and says it
    • Watching tv in the mirror world is a genius move.

Why it failed

• So panty shot in the first chapter
• I worry this premise doesn't have legs
• So much ecchi
• Everything is so convoluted and really is an excuse plot
• None of the characters have any depth to them that are related to the manga itself
• It really is just treading water the whole time
• I really struggled to keep track of the love triangle idk who likes who cause it's all so vague
• I honestly don't know how the mirrors rules work

What it did well

• Some good art
• I like the dialogue
• His dad is pretty funny and we saw their parents
• Cell phone mirror to talk is quite clever
• I like how they don't beat around the bush that satomi knows about Tetsu and saki
• I liked the twisted ankle date in the mountains I thought that's a cute way to get them together
• Saki actually confesses like a giga chad
• I like that he actually had to go through the sacrifice of losing his love

Where it could have gone

• What if everyone thought the mc was dead and mao uses this as an attempt to get popular since she can still talk to him so it's like weeb dear Evan Hansen
• What if instead of sucking his body in it sucked his soul in and he's in a coma so we have stakes where she has to fix it before his body gives out and she has to deal with the stress of knowing the truth but having to hide it
• Remove the hiding situation lmitation it's so dumb
• Maybe it's about the romantic rebuild like a 50 first dates thing

Misc Thoughts

• What an iconic Isekai start
• I wonder if it works in telescope mirrors and he just goes to space
• How did the female mc not know the mc has a sister if they've been childhood friends ?
• Is it me or does the school logo look like underpants
• Is this about polygamy?
• The mirror is that makes you ace
• Maxy Bee thoughts:
  • Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carrol is titled Kagami no Kuni no Arisu in Japanese. And so in Japanese this is called Kagami no Kuni no Harisugawa. It’s a homage.
  • This series debuted strong. Volume 1 had first week sales of ~45k, and received comfortable placement in the magazine’s table of contents for most of its run. It is widely accepted that this wasn’t cancelled for its reception, but for a lack of ideas.
    • The epilogue chapter, with perverse shenanigans is notable for two reasons. One, it is NOT included in the volumes. That’s a magazine exclusive, baybee. Two, it literally ends with a caption saying that Kano does not plan on continuing the comic in any shape or form. He peaces out, rather than just get axed.
  • In the starting pages of chapter 1, child Harisugawa is wearing a tee with “M0” on the back. Mx0 reference.
  • Mao’s phone is a flip-phone, which were still very much in vogue in 2011 in Japan, but has quickly dated this series, as smartphone adoption increased massively in the years since.
  • Voyeurism is a criminal offence, even in Japan, though photo voyeurism (i.e. upskirt photos and the like) has literally ONLY JUST been criminalised. Peeping through magical mirror is a less common version of the crime, and the severity of the crime is yet unknown.
  • Golf ball stack trivia: the Guinness World Record for largest stack of golf balls belongs to Don Athey of Bridgeport, Ohio, who stacked 9 balls vertically in October of 1998. Harisugawa’s mental golf ball stack simply cannot compare.

Final Verdict

• Six Word summary
  • Community
    • Maxybee: On reflection, a very limited concept
    • Diego (Phantom Seer): Illuso's not so bizarre horny adventure
    • duderocks the earthchild stan: accidental pervert gags ruin good premise
    • LordAnubis, #1RedHoodFan/Mourner: Give us MX0 now, Viz Media! | It flopped so Brulee could run
    • Meru (Charly): I only remember the onsen chapter
    • Portal man: a short reflection into the past
    • Resident Warhammer Nerd: peeping pervs perpetually panicking pulverizes plot
    • Sandmandf: 💘💦👎🤮🥱💩
    • Sbubby: He went from Mx0 to this?
    • Spike: Reflecting on early 2000's ecchi... distilled
    • SuperDave: Wow! An actual Monty Python ending!
    • The Grey Potter: Can true love defeat creepy voyeurism?
    • 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕸𝕱 𝖄𝖊𝖙𝖎: Madcap miscreant's misogynistic magic mirror misadventures | randy rapscallion's raunchy reflective reformatory romps
    • The Wolf The Wood The Trafalgar: Bonk! Go to horny mirror jail
  • David: author should reflect on his morals | I must confess, this series sucks
  • Jordan: this is bad I dislike it
  • Guest:
• Flop or not
  • Certified flop, watch platonic