Omori Manga Ch. 6- Things Left Behind

Written by Rei Caldombra 12/25/24 Previous chapter: Omori Manga Ch. 4 + 5 - Mixed Changes in Space — Blog Under a Log

This chapter we’ve got a lot of things that can center around the idea of being left behind, mostly based around the story but one point in a meta sense. But overall the manga continues to succeed at bringing strong emotional scenes and showing that it has value to bring to this series. Usual spoiler warning for all of Omori.

We start out with Kel and Sunny looking for the photo album, finally finding it in Aubrey’s trash can. Then we move into my favorite part of this chapter, Aubrey going home.

This chapter excels the same as the last by giving us a fantastic original scene that further shows why this manga justifies its existence. I really hope this will continue as a trend. The expansion on Aubrey’s home life before the scene of the gang entering her house is heart wrenching. In the game most of the details of Aubrey’s life are implications and assumptions. You can guess that Aubrey’s Mom at least neglects her the same way she is neglecting the house. But here we see that it goes beyond neglect, its contempt.

We could tell that Aubrey’s Mom is dissociated from the world in the game, with her only staring into the TV while her daughter and the house fall apart around her. We get to see more of how badly their house is in disrepair. Not even people entering her house shakes her. The house represents how Aubrey’s mother feels, her world started falling apart when Aubrey’s father left. And here, we see that she was so broken by Aubrey’s father leaving that she assumes Aubrey will too. If Aubrey continues coming home, she is reminded of her husband and the possibility of Aubrey leaving still hangs over her. If Aubrey left, she would truly be alone. And would be validated in her lack of faith in her family. She will be a miserable person no matter what Aubrey does. And this misery is pushed onto Aubrey, who would also be in a terrible situation no matter what she does. If she runs away, she has no home. If she goes home, she is miserable. Aubrey was metaphorically and literally behind by her parents.

This might be overanalyzing a little bit but take note that Aubrey says Ma rather than Mom, Mother, etc. This could be as simple as Aubrey’s preferred word being Ma. But Ma is also half of Mari. This could be a double meaning, showing how Mari is the person she thinks of when she is in pain. Mari was always caring and like a big sister to her. So in this moment of devastation, maybe her gut instinct was to seek out Mari. But Mari isn’t here anymore. Her loss is what pushed her down this path. We’ve been seeing that play out over the story and now it’s pretty clear even for a Manga only viewer. Yes, I do still the game’s way of showing things is better objectively, but I still think the manga works.

You could argue that more confirmation on Aubrey’s home life is a downside, as it leads less to the imagination. I still do subscribe to that idea in principle, but it’s not all encompassing. Here I have no issue with these confirmations because it still leaves a lot on the table and carries the silence from the original game’s scene of the mother. Aubrey says nothing other than “Ma” in this scene. You are still left to decide for yourself exactly what Aubrey is thinking. She is clearly devastated and miserable, but the finer details are still up to the eye of the beholder.

We then go to Sunny and Kel returning the scrapbook to Basil, with the scene playing out like the game. They get invited inside, put together the photo album, and Basil flees to the bathroom after finding out Sunny is moving.

I really like the flashback scene of them in the rain. This scene reinforces how much Mari meant to Aubrey. Mari not being there in that scene because of piano practice is also foreshadowing. As Mari’s dedication to the piano is part of what led to her death. Which took her away from them, like how the piano took her away from being with them. The conflict between Sunny and Mari that led to her death is in part that her perfectionism drove a wedge between them. One interpretation of why they got in a fight was because Sunny wanted to back out of the recital. Mari was so dedicated to the piano that she spent less time with Sunny and the others. And what time she did spend with Sunny was sometimes focused on practicing for the recital, which we know made Sunny unhappy. This scene also enhances the feeling of loss, I like to believe that she would’ve wanted to have spent time with them instead of practicing if she knew she was not going to be alive for much longer. In a way, in this particular scene you could say Mari left them behind metaphorically to move towards music. This is not at all me trying to portray Mari as a bad person to be clear. But like everyone else, she has her flaws and played a part in the situation that she and the others are a victim of.

Now we get into the first horrific scene between Sunny and Basil. One of Basil’s coping mechanisms ever since what happened with Mari was to deny reality. Basil and Sunny both sort of got stuck in a headspace (ha ha) of how things were before Mari’s death. As usual, the horror visuals look awesome.

Hug :)

Basil thinks that the imaginary monsters he sees are what made him push Mari, rather than his own actions. While he never his intentioned to seriously hurt Mari, he is the one who pushed her. He is afraid of losing Sunny again. After Sunny when full hikikomori, he effectively left Basil for years. Just like Aubrey, Sunny was not able to help him or Basil process things better. Sunny left Basil behind. And that left Basil to fester in his trauma pretty much alone, which led to his unhealthy actions such as marking the book and everything he does in his major scenes with Sunny. There will be ample opportunity to talk about Basil further in.

Sunny is so overwhelmed in this scene that he breaks down and retreats back into Headspace. Again, we have a mid-scene transition from real life to Headspace. We end of the chapter with Omori and the gang getting ready to storm Sweetheart’s Castle. Here we have another sacrifice for the Manga’s faster pacing, with Pyrefly forest seemingly being skipped over. That makes me sad, I wanted to see King Crawler at least. Here is our final thing that falls under the theme of being “left behind”.

I’m curious for everyone following along as it proceeds, how many chapters do you think the manga will have by the end? It’s been fun trying to predict it, but very difficult due to how the game’s story has been spread out and paced. Between some things moving fast, additional scenes, and scenes being skipped it’s hard to tell. I feel decently confident about 12, which would put us halfway through.

That brings this chapter review to a close. Thanks for reading!

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