Sumire17
I've been reading scanlations from Snoopycool ever since someone posted a bit from Franken Fran back at the old s_d. They've got a bunch of awesome series - Franken Fran, Doubt, El El, Crazy Maniax, Aoi Destruction, and more.
Recently, they've started one called Sumire17, which...well, the first few pages of any given chapter do a much better job of explaining the premise than I could... I'm using chapter 5, since I'm particularly fond of how it's done.
Remember, manga, right-to-left.
A puppet!
Why does he do it? We don't know. He may be the creepy creep people invariably initially think he is, or...he may just be kind of odd.
Or Sumire may actually be alive, and parasitically controlling him.
Or, sometimes I wonder if maybe the students are all delusional, and Sumire really is just a normal 17 year old girl, and they just see the puppeteer, who really isn't there.
... Probably one of the first two, though.
In any case...by this point, most of the students have come to accept Sumire. (For why, read the first chapter.) For the most part.
For the most part.
Seriously, they tease her, but, they really do like her. Yes, her - Sumire is the character...the puppeteer is the prop. Sumire talks, acts, emotes. The puppeteer...he's just there for the jokes.
Anyway...
Every single teacher in the school is the same way - the squiggly eyes, the refusal to believe the puppeteer is there, the protectiveness of Sumire. (They're also all men, interestingly. Maybe they're just wishing they could pull it off.)
Whatever their reasons, all the teachers are...well, I was going to say 'in on it', but they don't seem to be deliberately playing a game. Which is why I kind of wonder if the kids are the ones who are delusional. Either the students or the teachers are. Probably the teachers, but the story gets a while lot funnier if you think it's the students.
Also, huhn. I've never conciously noticed that Sumire blushes, until now. I must have noticed it, but never conciously, if you get me. Anyway, we go on...
(That second panel, as a sidenote, is a bit odd...she's never done something like that before.)
Sumire is indominable!
And the Puppeteer is either a masochist, REALLY devoted to his art, or delusional. This happens a LOT, by the way - people try to punish the Puppeteer for being a pervert, and Sumire just keeps soldiering on. Without seeming to notice what's happening to the dude who's got his arm stuck in her back.
And return to our regularly scheduled post, to continue without further interruption.
And, once again, Sumire wins her friends over, despite the really weird growth on her back.
But...what's that, the ominous sound of a shutter?
Sadly, the chapter ended on a cliffhanger (this wasn't the cliffhanger, there's a couple more pages, but this sets it up).