Sep 8, 2025
Itai ndesu is a collection of twenty-two short stories, each detailing a painful experience in mangaka Nori Ochazuke’s life. The stories are ordered according to the severity of the pain, following the six-point verbal rating scale (VRS). They range from more common experiences, such as paper cuts, to more niche and painful, such as spilling boiling soup into a boot. The structure of each chapter is simple: minimal context introduces the painful event, the event occurs, and a few panels emphasize the consequences. Given the incredibly brief nature of these stories, I’ve opted to focus less on individual chapters and more on the concept and
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its overall execution.
The idea of a manga showcasing a series of painful events is interesting in theory. The benefit is that, especially with the more familiar stories, Ochazuke can draw upon the reader’s own experiences to create a visceral reaction. After all, who hasn’t felt the sting of a papercut? This is what Ochazuke is banking on for many stories: the moment you see a character’s finger graze a sheet of paper and hear the ensuing shriek, you are reminded of your own experience and may even relive the sensation yourself. In this regard, the manga can be extremely engaging, pulling the reader through a series of shared pains alongside its characters.
Unfortunately, the execution suffers from several major flaws. For one, each chapter exists solely to depict the painful event, leaving some chapters as short as three pages. As a result, characters exist only as mediums for the painful events, serving as self-inserts for the reader. Although I take no issue with this style of story telling, it becomes clear that the success of these stories is contingent on how well the author can convey the sensation of pain. Consider chapter 20: a ramen shop owner drops a pot of boiling soup into his rubber boot, burning his skin. Because the situation is so specific, it lacks the immediacy and force of a more universal pain. This could be redeemed by a more detailed art style that visually depicts the severity of the burn, but in this case, Ochazuke’s more cartoony style often undercuts the physicality of these moments.
Another major flaw lies in the scaling of pain across episodes. For example, the first chapter depicts a woman cutting her nail too short then stubbing her toe, while the twenty-first chapter depicts a lady cutting her fingertips. The difference in severity between these two episodes does not accurately reflect the difference between a one and a six on the VRS. Herein lies the problem: Ochazuke struggles to imagine experiences that capture “the worst pain possible.” His attempts result in overly contrived examples that often lose the reader on the level of relatability, and the simplified art style further limits his ability to convey the intensity of these events. The result is a series without a clear sense of scale that quickly loses its appeal.
Beyond that, the manga’s novelty wears thin. As previously mentioned, nothing happens in each chapter other than the painful event. If the reader cannot relate or is unmoved by the invocation of such an event, then the manga is extremely stale: characters are lifeless, environments are totally unexplored, and there is no real sense of narrative development. Although the manga was effective at keeping me engaged at times, I would not disregard any reader who levies the criticism of "boring" against Itai ndesu.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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