ChurchHatesTucker ☑#MangaMonday 21 “False Child” by Taku Kawamura
A tanuki who was mistreated by humans in the past decides to take revenge by sneaking into a random house and shapeshifting to match the picture of a little girl she finds, planning to cause mischief. What she doesn’t understand is that the picture was in a memorial shrine.
This is a surprisingly lighthearted tale of grief. The tanuki doesn’t fool anyone for long, but she gives the family and friends of the dead girl a second chance at closure. At the same time, the parents take an interest in the tanuki herself. This being Japan, there’s a bureaucratic process for adopting supernatural creatures.
It’s a short #manga at only 20 chapters. I suspect it was forced to end early because the question of what originally happened to the tanuki is never addressed. That aside, it comes to a satisfying–if not surprising–conclusion.
Complete with all three volumes available as individual digital chapters (Manga UP! and Bookwalker.)