History Manga / NotSimple

* TraumaCongaLine: The story of poor Ian's life.
** To be exact,[[spoiler: he is the product of incest between his father and sister, and that causes his "parents" to divorce, he then lives with an alcoholic grandmother who sells him into prostitution at age 13, which causes him to get H.I.V. His only goal in life is to find his mother/sister, but before he can, she dies from pneumonia in prison, which she gets because she contracted H.I.V from the same man who gave it to Ian. If that wasn't bad enough, neither of his parents even want to look at him ever again, and it's implied his mother/grandmother blames him for everything that has happened to her. Then, when Ian finally finds something worthwhile in his life, he is killed, possibly by his own father's command.]]

* {{Seinen}}
* TitleDrop

* OhCrap: Jim has one when he sees Ian come back broken from his encounter with Kylie's ex-boyfriend. He notices that Ian arrives with chewing gum in his hand, and realizes all at once that [[spoiler:the man who eventually gave Kylie the illness that killed her is ''also'' the one who pimped out Ian, since he regularly rewarded him with gum when he did his "duties".]]

It [[JustifiedTitle lives up to its title]], telling the story of Ian in a unique and complex fashion by jumping back and forth across various times in his life as Jim writes the young man's strange and tragic tale. The manga is written and illustrated by Natsume Ono (''Manga/HouseOfFiveLeaves'', ''Manga/RistoranteParadiso''). As with Ono's other works, ''Not Simple'' is notable not only for its quirky art style, giving the series a more western look when compared to most modern manga, but also for its mature and hard-hitting story. The manga was originally serialized in ''Ikki'' and later (...), collected into a one-volume graphic novel by Shogakugan, and was licensed for an English release in 2010 by Creator/VizMedia.

It [[JustifiedTitle lives up to its title]], telling the story of Ian in a unique and complex fashion by jumping back and forth across various times in his life as Jim writes the young man's strange and tragic tale. The manga is written and illustrated by Natsume Ono (''Manga/HouseOfFiveLeaves'', ''Manga/RistoranteParadiso''). As with Ono's other works, ''Not Simple'' is notable not only for its quirky art style, giving the series a more western look when compared to most modern manga, but also for its mature and hard-hitting story. The manga was originally published in 2006 by Shogakukan, and was licensed for an English release in 2010 by Creator/VizMedia.

* RapeAsDrama: [[spoiler: Of the statutory kind.]]

* DownerBeginning: The story starts at the end of Ian's journey, with him picked up by Irene to use him as a decoy in case her father came after her boyfriend. He learns that the girl he's been waiting for these last three years is dead (she isn't, but he'll never know that), becomes the target of an assassination, and left to die believing that he'd never accomplish any of his life's goals. Irene even cries for him, saying that the end he got was unfair.

* EurekaMoment: Played for drama. Jim has one when he sees Ian come back broken from his encounter with Kylie's ex-boyfriend. He notices that Ian arrives with chewing gum in his hand, and realizes all at once that [[spoiler:the man who eventually gave Kylie the illness that killed her is ''also'' the one who pimped out Ian, since he regularly rewarded him with gum when he did his "duties".]]

* DownerBeginning

* PoorCommunicationKills -- Ian is killed by Irene's dad's men in the [[DownerEnding Downer Beginning]] shortly after hearing that the woman he loved (and whom he planned to run away together with once they reunited) died since he last saw her three years ago. This was told to him by the woman's niece, Irene, whose mother had recounted the story of Ian and her Aunt after her Aunt died. [[spoiler: However, it all turned out to be a mistake, as Irene was unaware that it was actually ''her mother'' who had met and planned to run away with Ian... her mother was just lying to protect her daughter's feelings.]]

* YouRemindMeOfX: A tragic example; Ian's resemblance to his father is part of the reason his mother hates him. It is implied his father also dislikes the resemblance, though that might be because [[spoiler: it made it impossible to pass him off as Kylie's child]]

* FamilyRelationshipSwitcharoo: [[spoiler: Kylie is actually Ian's mother, not his sister]].

''Not Simple'' is the tale of a young man named Ian who has spent the majority of his life in search of his older sister, whom he hasn't seen since childhood. His journey takes him from his birthplace of Melbourne, Australia, to faraway England, to several cross-country trips on foot across the United States. Each new and often painful twist on which these travels take him are chronicled by Jim, a freelance journalist and Ian's only friend.

It [[JustifiedTitle lives up to its title]], telling the story of Ian in a unique and complex fashion by jumping back and forth across various times in his life as Jim writes the young man's strange and tragic tale. The manga is written and illustrated by Natsume Ono (''HouseOfFiveLeaves'', ''Manga/RistoranteParadiso''). As with Ono's other works, ''Not Simple'' is notable not only for its quirky art style, giving the series a more western look when compared to most modern manga, but also for its mature and hard-hitting story. The manga was originally published in 2006 by Shogakukan, and was licensed for an English release in 2010 by Creator/VizMedia.

* YouRemindMeOfX: A tragic example; it's implied that Ian's resemblance to his father is part of the reason his mother hates him.

* YouRemindMeOfX: A tragic example; it's implied that Ian's resemblance to his father is part of the reason his mother and possibly his father hate him.

It [[JustifiedTitle lives up to its title]], telling the story of Ian in a unique and complex fashion by jumping back and forth across various times in his life as Jim writes the young man's strange and tragic tale. The manga is written and illustrated by Natsume Ono (''HouseOfFiveLeaves'', ''RistoranteParadiso''). As with Ono's other works, ''Not Simple'' is notable not only for its quirky art style, giving the series a more western look when compared to most modern manga, but also for its mature and hard-hitting story. The manga was originally published in 2006 by Shogakukan, and was licensed for an English release in 2010 by Creator/VizMedia.

* DownerEnding: Downer beginning?

* ItGotWorse: These three words pretty much sum up poor Ian's life.

* ParentalIncest: [[spoiler: It is revealed that Ian's sister is also his mother, who concieved him after having sex with their shared father.]]

* AbusiveParents -- ''Not Simple'' runs the full gamut of this trope, from Ian's distant and verbally abusive father to his alcoholic mother, who even [[spoiler: sells a young Ian's body to a pimp in order to pay for her habit]].
* AnachronicOrder -- The story continuously jumps around in time The beginning is set before the events that lead to the end, followed by the end, followed by the beginning, which then carries on up until near the opening scene, and then finally jumps back sometime near the middle of the story.
* BreakTheCutie Ian, pretty much the whole time. Even as an adult he has that wistful, innocent look that makes all the unsimple things even worse.

* FramingDevice -- The story of this manga is told as Jim writes a book (also titled ''Not Simple'') detailing the trials of Ian's life.
* HowWeGotHere--The story of Ian's life starts to be told after his death.
* ItGotWorse -- These three words pretty much sum up poor Ian's life.

* ParentalIncest -- [[spoiler: It is revealed that Ian's sister is also his mother, who concieved him after having sex with their shared father.]]

* RapeAsDrama -- [[spoiler: Of the statutory kind.]]

* TraumaCongaLine -- The story of poor Ian's life.
* TheWoobie Ian.

* FridgeBrilliance / FridgeHorror --[[spoiler: The rich woman that met Ian and took him out to dinner was his stepmother-- the woman his father married after getting divorced. Meaning, Irene is actually Ian's HALF SISTER, and Ian's father is the one who had him killed.]]

It [[JustifiedTitle lives up to its title]], telling the story of Ian in a unique and complex fashion by jumping back and forth across various times in his life as Jim writes the young man's strange and tragic tale. The manga is written and illustrated by Natsume Ono (''HouseOfFiveLeaves'', ''RistoranteParadiso''). As with Ono's other works, ''Not Simple'' is notable not only for its quirky art style, giving the series a more western look when compared to most modern manga, but also for its mature and hard-hitting story. The manga was originally published in 2006 by Shogakukan, and was licensed for an English release in 2010 by VizMedia.

''Not Simple'' [[JustifiedTitle lives up to its title]], telling the story of Ian in a unique and complex fashion by jumping back and forth across various times in his life as Jim writes the young man's strange and tragic tale. The manga is written and illustrated by Natsume Ono (''HouseOfFiveLeaves'', ''RistoranteParadiso''). As with Ono's other works, ''Not Simple'' is notable not only for its quirky art style, giving the series a more western look when compared to most modern manga, but also for its mature and hard-hitting story. The manga was originally published in 2006 by Shogakukan, and was licensed for an English release in 2010 by VizMedia.

* ParentalIncest -- [[spoiler: It is revealed that Ian's sister is also his mother.]]

* PoorCommunicationKills -- Ian commits suicide in the [[DownerEnding Downer Beginning]] after hearing that the woman he loved (and whom he planned to run away together with once they reunited) died since he last saw her three years ago. This was told to him by the woman's niece, Irene, whose mother had recounted the story of Ian and her Aunt after her Aunt died. [[spoiler: However, it all turned out to be a mistake, as Irene was unaware that it was actually ''her mother'' who had met and planned to run away with Ian... her mother was just lying to protect her daughter's feelings.]]