Story

Kotarou Oohira looks like a girl. This isn't his fault, exactly; despite the fact that a few of his outfits are less than testosterone-oozing, it's his effeminate features and tiny build that fetch the "Dude, is that really a guy?" comments more than anything. After suffering terrible sexual harassment at his all-boys school in Niigata, he decides to transfer to Tokyo, where he can both live with his kind grandfather and attend a more open-minded coed school. The plan seems flawless, at least until Kotarou's forced to come into contact with the other teenage family member living with gramps in the city: Kotarou's cold cousin, Tatsuki.
As children, Kotarou and Tatsuki were inseparable friends, where Kotarou gushed love for his more reserved cousin, and Tatsuki, in return, fervently protected the accident-prone little blond. Unfortunately, Kotarou possessed a mysterious power that no one, including he, was aware of: odd, psychic reactions happened to some people who touched him, which could be both unexpected and unwanted. Because of this, little Tatsuki was one day hit by the frightening ability to see the past, revealing the gruesome history of his surroundings. Needless to say, Tatsuki got freaked, refused to touch Kotarou, and basically shut himself off to Kotarou and to the rest of the world in general. Because he never told Kotarou what was going on, Kotarou was clueless as to why his friendship with Tatsuki was abruptly cut off.

In present day, ten-odd years later, Tatsuki is an aloof, cold teenager with some serious issues due to his graphic and often uncontrollable postcognition, and he does not take kindly to anyone touching him for any reason. When Kotarou moves in with him, Tatsuki is both insulting and aloof toward Kotarou, and Kotarou is more frustrated than ever with his former-friend's unexplained cruelty. What Kotarou doesn't realize, however, is that Tatsuki is terribly uneasy now that they've been reunited, and that coming in physical contact with Kotarou greatly enhances Tatsuki's postcognition. And now they have to live in the same house. Great.

Surprisingly, there's another boy at school who figures out some of what's going on: Yuuto Urushiyama, a friendly ladies' man with the psychic ability to see people's "emotional" auras--this ability basically equates to Yuuto seeing colorful auras around the people surrounding him, and, since Yuuto's had this ability since God-knows-when, he's mostly perfected the art of translating colors into emotions (i.e. a yellow aura means happiness). Seeing Kotarou and Tatsuki's interactions at school and the very odd colors that sprout up around Tatsuki intrigue Yuuto, and Yuuto quickly takes a liking to little Kotarou. Plus, Yuuto's rather intrigued to see his psychic ability is also enhanced when he touches Kotarou. Hmm.
At this point, the manga follows a basically episodic pattern of Kotarou falling into trouble in dangerous Tokyo, and Yuuto and an oddly-determined (though still cruel) Tatsuki using their psychic abilities to save him. Kotarou, it seems, has become an even greater danger magnet than he was as a child, largely due to his good looks attracting all sorts of perverts and his desire to help other people landing him in the middle of some dangerous goings-on's. Mysteries start popping up all over the place, anywhere from a classmate disappearing to a con artist vanishing with Kotarou's money, and Kotarou and his two.... I guess the word acquaintances would fit here.... end up looking into these happenings for one reason or another. Although Kotarou doesn't know about Tatsuki's and Yuuto's powers, he's surprised with how good they are at solving problems; no shock there, since Yuuto can tell who's lying when being interrogated, and Tatsuki can see past crimes and has the uncanny ability to kick the sh*t out of people. An unusual relationship starts to form between the three of them, since Kotarou has no idea why Tatsuki's a complete jerk to him yet never fails to come to the rescue, and Yuuto holds an affection for Kotarou and a sort of unplanned partnership with (not to mention curiosity toward) Tatsuki. Kotarou is basically the main character of this manga, though Katsumoto-sensei's storytelling gives all three leads substantial screentime and development. In fact, one might even argue that Tatsuki, with his deep psychological delvings and his four--yes, four--dramatic monologues on the Drama CD, is as equally the lead as Kotarou.

Despite the fact that the manga works rather episodically (at least until the middle of Volume 6), there is definitely a bigger picture that forms over time, and the inverse development of Kotarou's and Tatsuki's emotional states is both fascinating and horrifying: as Kotarou triumphs over his problems, Tatsuki only seems to spin further and further into the depths of despair, and even, after time, mental instability. With some excellent side characters who appear as the manga progresses, Sono Te Wo Dokero is a many-faceted title: dramatic, certainly, as well as intriguing and suspenseful, but also holding a fair share of action, humor, and even romance (some girls show up later....). And, as mentioned, the strongest underlying love stories in Sono Te are platonic ones, giving the manga a unique, touching spin unusual with older-girl shoujo. Throw in some great art and surprisingly funny tankoubon (book) exclusive SD (midgeted characters) parodies, and you have one excellent title. Yes, my friends--Sono Te kicks in all sorts of ways.

Character profiles for the main boys and about a half-dozen side characters will be up at a later date. Translations and summaries can be found on the Translations page. Perhaps after you've absorbed a few lovely Images, you will enjoy yourself there.