Apart from having a lovely story to it, this comics best selling features is neither it's artwork or it's story. it is every aspect in how it deals with the narrative. now, i'm not sure how much of the narrative tools come from the ways in which the japanese language is read (as in, not left to right, top to bottom) and how much of it is purposeful.
but this books spine is on the right.
now, i know starting at the end and working your way back through the story isn't entirely original in modern story-telling. but much like the story, you read it starting at the back of the book - at the end of the story, work your way from right to left on the pages and get to the beginning of the book. - now i've not finished the book so i don't know if it ends/begins/whichever like that, but that seems to be the way it plays out.
whether the back-to-front nature of Not Simple is down to the excellent genius author, Natsume Ono's japanese origins or not, it certainly works as an excellent tool for keeping you compelled (the biggest surprise of this book is how it flows naturally to read it in this obscure sequence) and i would implore you to buy it. also, the drawings are lovely. I tried making another poster the other day and it just wasn't happening, so i'm going to give it another shot inspired by the style of art in this "graphic novel".
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