It’s clear Ito had no real idea what he was doing with this book. He basically apologies for as much in the afterward. Maybe he was under time pressure from the publisher, maybe he just didn’t know what to do with it - who knows. The end result is a disjointed and mostly uninteresting story. Yes the art is great, and yes several panels are classic freaky-gross Ito, but none of that elevates the trash story and boring characters.