Omori Manga Ch. 7 Review - Horrifying Basils

Written by Rei Caldombra 4/2/25 Previous Chapter: Omori Manga Ch. 7 Review - A Strange Castle — Blog Under a Log

Reminder that I discuss the entire story of Omori in these reviews, and that Omori contains subject matter including self-harm.

We pick right back up with the gang falling down the hole that sends Omori into the Lost Library. Aubrey shouting to him is new, as in the game they all fall silently and disappear. Not a noteworthy change in my eyes but I still wanted to point it out.

Getting into the library, I’ll start by saying the parts in the library segment is AWESOME. And I especially have to give my highest compliments to this dual page.

I have to show the two-page spread in all its glory.

This shot beautifully conveys Omori journeying through his memories of him and the gang as kids. This spread should feel super wordy because of how many text boxes we have, but the way it’s designed just feels good. There’s good spacing provided by the nice-looking visuals. Such as the tree. It’s a great looking replacement to the page break that doubles as a chilling reminder of where these memories lead. The bottom of the page and the tree looks beautiful, with the tree roots in light surrounded by pretty flowers. But at the top it gets dark, and you have to remember the significance of a tree with dark branches: Mari and her long dark hair that forms the design for SOMETHING gets hung on a tree.

For any of the readers new to Omori who hadn’t picked up on it already, the library makes it clear that what we see here is Sunny’s inner fantasy happening in the present time. This is the first fragment of the truth. Omori starts getting stressed out when the subject of playing the violin comes up in the books. That is because this is the leadup into the event that truly started this story: Sunny pushing Mari down the stairs, which results in her death. There is some ambiguity to the confrontation between Sunny and Mari at the top of the stairs, so I’ll explain how I see it for what is relevant right now. Sunny was put under immense pressure to be good at playing the violin and did not want to let anyone down. He wanted to match his talented, perfectionist sister. He did not enjoy playing the violin to the same degree that she did or desire to become great at it, so the time he lost with his friends along with the stress while practicing wore on him deeply. So here, the violin practice starts poking at his deepest repressed memories. He refuses to look any further and then notices Basil.

Oh my god this panel, 10/10

I cannot compliment this panel enough; I’m still not over it. This is easily the freakiest panel yet in the best way possible. Basil is crying, contorted, and surrounded by Basil’s Something, all while his mouth manages to form a smile. You can really feel this Basil’s agony. All the pages following this until we go back to the real world are fantastic as well. This is the peak of what the manga can offer visually that the game does not. It’s worth reading the manga just for moments like these alone.

Basil thanks Omori for finding him and begs him not to forget him. Which was first mentioned in the manga in chapter 5 after Spaceboy leaves. This plays into Black Space and everything surrounding that, which I will need to thoroughly brush up on when the time comes because I do not understand that part as well as other parts of the story to be honest.

Omori has a breakdown after facing Basil, sending him to White Space for the 2nd time in the manga. Here we have the first instance of Omori’s knife falling from the ceiling and him stabbing himself. This is another great looking page, with the expressions that the manga provides being a strong point to me. It helps sell the emotions of the scenes. Which is especially important for the manga as the loss of details due to the pacing can make the emotional moments flatter. Omori’s fearful and pained expressions from him seeing the knife to using it are great.

The start of 2 Days Left is a bit different from the game. Instead of Sunny going home, it looks like he passed out in Basil’s house when he went into Headspace for Sweetheart’s Castle. So when he wakes up from the Lost Library, he is at Kel’s instead of his house. I don’t have any issue with this change at the moment. Nothing notable happens in the house outside of you being given the choice to ignore Kel or not. And since this is following the Omori route, he would open the door anyway. I especially like it because we get a new scene showing how Kel also has the problem of being compared to his more traditionally capable sibling.

The usually relaxed and bouncy Kel being stiff as a board.

He has to hear the dreaded phrase “Be more like your sibling” that anyone who grew up with being compared to a family member knows. Here you can really tell how deep below his positive and upbeat personality; he has issues weighing him down too. This part of the story is especially great for Kel’s character, as for me it was the moment where you got to see the cracks form beneath his kind exterior that helps explain why he acts out so much and wants attention in Headspace. You could put this together in the game too, but here like many of the main points they’re making it a bit more direct, but at least in good ways. Like with the scene of Aubrey in her house with her mom, this is a great new scene that helps propel the heavy emotions for these characters. I’m grateful that I did not experience this kind of treatment, and everyone who did has my sympathy. For the MILF hunters out there, this scene also gives us a more detailed design for Kel’s Mom. I’m not one of those people but I respect it.

Unless it gets returned to after the scene at the old hangout spot, it seems that the daytime segment is skipped. Which is definitely a shame, as you are able to see some of the real-world things that inspired Headspace. You miss out on a lot of flavor text and stuff like that, but I’m not going as far as to say that we needed to see Sunny delivering pizzas or anything. Again, the pacing is diluting your attachment and engrossment into the world. This skip includes saying hi to Basil in the park before his run in with Aubrey and The Hooligans.

They acknowledge needing to get groceries and that Hero will be coming back, but they go straight to Basil’s house to check on him. Here they learn that he is missing like in the game (except they didn’t see him in the park). An important point for Basil that is left the same is that he seems to not trust the caretaker, even though according to Kel she is doing a good job. And as far as we know she is genuinely trying her best to take care of him and his grandmother. She directs them to go to the park, where they look around until they hear Basil yell like in the game. A new addition is that Sunny has a flashback to a previous time they were here, the memory of which was included in the library in both versions. But this one focuses on looking at Basil. This addition helps convey that Sunny is becoming more mentally active towards his memories and puts some more emphasis on Basil in Sunny’s mind. It also further emphasizes the passage of time, as the library shows the statue they’d jump into the lake with in full, while in the present it is missing pieces.

The chapter ends with Kel and Sunny walking in on the confrontation between Aubrey and The Hooligans. We’ll get properly into this scene next chapter, but this is an excellent page to end on. All the characters have great expressions that convey the emotions of the scene to follow pretty well.

Aubrey is here with her bat brandished in the last page, but with this page you can tell that she is not happy in this situation. Basil is genuinely having a breakdown, with his mouth open showing that he is still screaming or at least holding his mouth open after shouting for help with sweat and/or tears falling off his face. Kel and Sunny clearly see this situation as very serious right away. Which makes sense as Basil is the last person you’d expect to shout. Especially when you consider that in the Boss situation, he didn’t scream for help there. For new viewers I think this page would leave them with strong anticipation for the next chapter.

This is continuing the trend of being a chapter that I will call a mixed bag of good and bad when it comes to portraying Omori (the series). The art is awesome and is able to give us visuals that the games can’t, along with giving some additional context to some scenes. When you put the game and manga together, the scenes are elevated. But the manga on its own continues to leave great things behind that I think make it a less enjoyable experience. My current opinion is that I would not recommend the manga to someone who has not played or watched the game. I think this manga is good as supplemental material for big fans of Omori, but as a big fan I would tell someone to avoid reading it unless they refuse to take their interest towards the game because of the length or some other reason. Thanks for reading!

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