I have noticed since I was a teenager, the disparity between man and nature. Man, overcomes nature through force of willpower. Nature, seemingly, has no comeback most of the time. But when it’s a man or men against nature, then the story is different. It’s in these situations that humanity, in its little oases of “civilization”, finds out how little it knows and also how pitiable its attempts to fight back are. After reading The Walking Man, I was delighted to discover more of Taniguchi’s work, this time taking place in the realm of nature rather than an urban environment. While the main title is its lead story, the book contains more tales to enthrall.

With a timeline narrative that jump over 120 years and crosses oceans a number of times, there’s no connection between the characters, save a connection to nature. Also, if you’re looking for action then I can’t recommend this. While there are thrilling moments in the book, it’s not continuous therefore you know upfront. It’s more to do with the character’s connection to their environment. I think the same could be said for the overall arching theme of the book rather than my previous “Man Versus Nature!” statement. First and foremost, Taniguchi presents us with life in the Klondike region of Canada during the Great “Goldrush” and all the foolishness that inspired. Jack London, yes the Jack London of Call of the Wild and White Fang fame, is with three of his friends trying to strike it rich when, on a hunting trip for food, he and one of his comrades come across a native American who through his own trek in the wilderness, causes London to think about what is he really doing here panning for gold. Springboarding from that we jump to Alaska in the same time period, with two men’s perilous trek across the Yukon in a kind of survivalist “Cremation of Sam McGee”. Next we go to early Showa Period (1926–89) Japan for a man’s need to avenge his son’s death at the hands of a wily predator and then move to the middle of the Showa period for a young boy’s formative summer as an adolescent in a Japanese fishing village. Rounding it off are two tales, one set in 60’s era Japan with a young man’s cautionary quest to complete his manga while staying at a strange and quirky halfway house. and finally an amazing story of one oceanographer’s fable to witness his aquatic friends death.

With all these stories and timeframes, it would be easy to get lost but Taniguchi doesn’t confuse me with open-ended stories or having characters to personally connect with one another. Here, in its essence, is simply a collection where the people in it are either fought with, helped by or are saved by unseen forces they cannot understands not control. This goes back to my assertion that once outside of their comfort zone man can only go with nature or get beaten by it. The stories set in the mountains, The Ice Wanderer and Our Mountains are classic tales of men desperate to stand on their feet while the mountains or its inhabitants close in around them. I really do begin to see at around the same pace as Jack does how ill-equipped he and his friends are. In the other mentioned chapter, Master Gunpuchi tries to forget how the mountains cruelly punished him but he realises that what he face those years ago still waits for him in his dreams and his reality. The cost is high for him personally but I love the ending nevertheless. In White Wilderness, it’s a straight horror story with elements of supernaturalism to it. Why are the two men and the corpse they are transporting being hunted? Why them alone? Why are the creatures so unafraid of them with the flames, guns and shouts? Lovely, taunt piece with few real answers. Shokaro is a weird story with, and I’ll admit it, no real point to it. Is a ghost story, about a haunted apartment house? Or an observational, self-referencing piece about a budding mangaka observing his fellow boarders? Again, I cannot because it refuses to be one or the other. But damn, if it isn’t compelling to read. Finally, Kaiyose-Jima is a lovely piece about a young boy’s loss of the trappings of his childhood, his first steps into adolescence and the foundation of true love.

I really like all of the stories even if I don’t understand what some of them are doing in here. The stoic, totality of the wild on every continent shown is startling. The way Taniguchi conveys the wind whipping around people’s hair every time I read Ice Wanderer is a great feeling and the sheer silence that pervades White Wilderness is eerie. I read them, knowing I don’t have to experience the peril and danger. This reminds me of my childhood reading stories like Call of the Wild or Under the Hawthorne Bush where I was thrilled by the tension, adventure and the atmosphere. Taniguchi shows us glimpses of places in the world where we walk but don’t want to stay. The only two characters who want to stay where they are are the Native American who waits behind his tribe and the whale researcher in Return to the Sea. Everyone else is forced to return home or has a reason to go home. There is a small proviso against that last statement that arises in Kaiyose-Jima but I can’t state what that is without going into the plot. The cast all have their reasons for being where they are. It’s not so much about them finding their place so much as it is them knowing where their place is.

As always, Taniguchi’s lines are precise, delicate and detailed. There is a timelessness that I think generations will be able to appreciate for years to come. Whether it’s mountains, bears, boats, holy men or whales all these things are to be found. I have serious doubts that Taniguchi’s work will ever top the Amazon best sellers lists but as long as we keep reading, buying and cheering every time he wins an award in Japan or France and heaven forbid if he should ever win the Eisner Award, I think that high sales should not matter.

This is my second official entry for the Jiro Taniguchi Movable Manga Feast for the month of March 2012. More details and a list of all written pieces of the Taniguchi MMF can be found here.

Wandering Son Vol.1 was an eye-opening read for me, full of opinions and options I had never considered before, and that I’ve already watched the series means nothing to how much I’ve enjoyed the manga. The first volume serves as a reintroduction to Nitori and Takatsuki, the young boy and girl who wish they were the other’s gender, and for those who’ve never seen the series, will not confused or disheartened. Looking at volume 2, we are presented with a new dilemma: now that I know how I’d like be, there’s the world to deal with. If Vol.1 was a masterclass in people not wanting to accept the status quo within their own minds, Vol.2 shows the uncertainty of the waiting world. The way that Nitori and Takatsuki fumble forward with no plan is painful and endearing. They know the two of them are better together but there’s the problem of dealing with classmates, family and teachers. It’s not easy and well done to Takako for not short-circuiting the process. It’s not easy writing characters in distress but it’s wonderful to read it. If you can recognise the character’s pain and sympathise despite your differences, it proves you’re human and so is the author.

First of all, I think I’m beginning to understand Chiba-san a bit better. She comes across as a weird pseudo-Christian in the first story and, in the TV series seems to be suffering from a breach between her and the other two, but in this I’m getting a lot more insight. She helps Nitori the most but she remains friends with Takatsuki. She helps seal a rift between her and Nitori
by not getting hung up by the exchange diary class exercise. Nitori and Takatsuki want to invite her to their diary exchange but they are unsure about asking and worry about having to invite Sasa-san, a classmate, into the circle. In the end, Chiba decides life’s too short and just does her own diary exchange with Sasa. There is a bit of tension when she invites Nitori to take some of her dresses but he hesitates and she remarks that he only will take Takatsuki’s dress. I think Chiba is worried she’ll lose Nitori to Takatsuki. Hmm, I don’t know what to tell her, I really don’t.

One character that I’ve fallen in love with was seen in passing in volume 1 and makes appearances in the TV series is Yuki. A transgender women, she lives with her boyfriend Shi. She is amazing with a demeanour the belies how serious a catalyst she proves to the children. After struggling with her identity throughout school, she finally broke free after her coming of age ceremony and ended up living with her boyfriend Shi, a childhood classmate. It is from her that the two children learn to be themselves, if only amongst themselves. Yuki’s and Shi’s apartment becomes a haven to them. While their families love them and would probably tolerate or even encourage them to be themselves, they can be understand and explain themselves with Yuki and Shi. I’m not saying that the whole world is miserable to them, I’m saying they can relax at Yuki’s. Also, the point where Shi is introduced to Nitori and Takatsuki properly is both hilarious and somewhat, um, I’m trying to search for a word that means weird but that everything is cool. Can’t find one so I hope the previous will suffice.

The emphasis in this volume seems to be on Nitori rather than Takatsuki. Takatsuki is not ignored, just that Nitori is the focus rather than the subject. The impasse his sister Maho comes to when she realises that the boy in her class likes Nitori in his girl persona is interesting. She doesn’t criticise, she just laments the fact. Actually, she encourages the confusion by giving the boy, Seko, a picture of Nitori dressed as a girl. I don’t quite understand why she did that. It’s not like Nitori will do anything about it. Curiouser and curiouser. However, the main event that dominates the book this time round, is the class trip. This trip is about Nitori, pure and simple. On the trip, he is embarrassed by one of the boys on the excursion. I want to curl up and die every time I read him getting up earlier than the others and waiting in the hall for the girls. It makes me angry and hurt that people can be made to suffer like this, this social death of a thousand cuts. When I was younger, I endured teasing and bullying at the hands of some small minded bigots who thought they could get away with it. My mother defended me on school business and took all comers but at the end of the day, it’s just you in your mind with all the fears, paranoia, the why me’s and the how come’s. So when Nitori declares in a quiet moment “I want to go home”, I’m there. But the resolution to the crisis comes from an unexpected source (or maybe an expected source, now that I think about it) and Takako tackles it with an amazing amount of dignity and doesn’t cheapen it with false emotion or sentiment. By the end of the chapter arc, Nitori has the courage to know what he should say.

Are there problems with this volume? Maybe, but they are cosmetic rather than structural. The artwork still leaves me a bit confused if the person on the page is not a main character. The child sitting next to Nitori on the bus, I don’t know if that’s the same child who teases Nitori on the trip. Arrgh, ‘tis maddening! But other than that, I cannot find fault. So much of what we read is a kind of literary false economy. We put in so much and get so little out of it. Wandering Son asks so little of you and you get so much out of it. While I’ve never understood what LGBT people have to go through on a daily basis, I respect the struggle that a person goes through to be able to say “I am Who I Am, without fear or favour.” It is a wonderful, sweet, heartbreaking window into being different, young, unsure, afraid and human.

(Disclaimer: In referring to Yuki, I stumbled into a problem, namely which gender to refer to Yuki as having. In some info on the series, Yuki is referred to as a transgender man while on Wikipedia she is referred to as a transsexual woman. So in the light of the fact that I am ill-equipped to assign values to what gender I should refer to a pre-op transgender or a post-op transsexual person, I will not get into a conversation about how I should refer to characters and people within this grouping. In my mind and book I have seeing Yuki as a woman, referring to her as a woman in conversation, reading characters in Wandering Son referring to her as a woman so therefore she is a woman in my eyes and I will refer to her as such from here on in. Thanks to Brian, Ed, Linda, Sean and Erica for help wading through this minefield.)

Please click on the image of the book at the top of the review and you’ll go straight to Amazon US and I’ll get a referral fee! See, one hand washes the other!

Jiro Taniguchi is a wonder to behold. You could read one of his books, marvel at the artwork and not even have to read the dialogue. I’m not saying you will follow every window but you could get by without them. The man is a modern wonder. He hasn’t written a magnus opus (well, I think he has but I’m not everyone) but there’s a world in all of his books. I’ve written before about this effect in his books where you try and peer around buildings and people because you want to see more. I am happy to read and write about Taniguchi for as long as I can keep reading his stuff. With that, I commend to you, The Walking Man.

Well, what can I say about The Walking Man? Really, there’s not much to say about the plot. A thirty-something salary man spends time reading, buying essentials, spending time with his wife, meeting people going about their business. While walking. That’s about it, in essence. There really is nothing else to it. So, what is left to describe? Plenty, in my book. The first thing to say is the timelessness of the story in that it could happen at any time during the last forty years of Japan’s history. It’s take place in a prefecture in Tokyo but not in the actual city. There’s no large architecture, no identifiable buildings. The city has railways, trams and modern canal rivers. But this is where the measurable world stops. Other than that, no other modern conveniences come into the view. So the Man goes about his life and we stop worrying. Without a forward moving narrative, Taniguchi forces us into outward viewing habits. Streets are examined, landscapes are considered and the full luster of Taniguchi’s world is on display. Oddly, for such an outside view, my mood during this has been introverted. I find myself asking fundamental questions about myself. Am I really happy in my life? Do I take time to appreciate what wonders are around me?

There is a stillness to Taniguchi’s work here that is similar but not entirely the same as, say, Quest for The Missing Girl or The Ice Wanderer. In Quest, the events dictate the scenery and in Ice Wanderer the location dictate the events, hence the scenery. I know this sounds weird but every time I read this and it comes to the park scene, I swear I can hear birdsong. Plus, when it snows, I can feel the snow. When the Man goes to climb a tree, he stops and takes in the view, and it’s a great view, going on and on into the distance. When was the last time you read something like that in a manga?

Is it fair to try and describe the characters in a story that eschews normal narratives like plot construction and character arcs? The Man is a good solid character with a quiet disposition. He’s our guide but he is not the primary player. His wife seems to not mind his figaries, sometimes coming with him. The rest of the people are people who the Man encounters on his travels. Children, elderly ladies, fellow walkers are all passengers in this book. The Man is a conscientious citizen who helps his fellow man but he’s not above, ahem, breaking and entering a public pool to go for a swim. But no harm, no foul in this case. I like when he comes home from the local bar slightly tipsy and, rather than subject his wife to a chorus of “Honey, I’m home!”, he decides to walk it off. In doing so, he learns, as do we, of the wonder of the night. I can go on but I’m just spoiling the book.

Now, there is one thing that, well, I’m not so happy with about in Walking Man. The last chapter, titled 10 Years Later, is literally set ten years later. The Man is still the same as is his Wife and everything else. But for this final chapter we have narration. In the other chapters, there is dialogue but that’s about it. Having narration, I feel, adds an element to the story that’s not necessary. I do realise this story was written ten years in real life and yes, authors can and do change their minds about things. But if this is the case then go back and add narration to all of the chapters or remove all of it. It’s just not needed. But it’s just my whims, and it shouldn’t detract from this amazing work.

In the final analysis, this is unlike anything I’ve ever read. Once, I asked a schoolmate so very, very long ago now, what would a graphic novel or comic look like with no narrators boxes or dialogue. Aside from the final chapter and the odd bit of dialogue, I believer I’ve found it.

The Walking Man, as with a lot of Taniguchi’s work published jointly by Fanfare UK/Ponent Mon. They do wonderful jobs at packaging and presentation. Walking Man is present flipped to read from left to right but don’t let that put you off. I implore you to enjoy this for yourself. It’s really that good.

This review is presented as part of the Jiro Taniguchi Manga Movable Feast for the month of March 2012. More info can be found here.

I was once, in a former life, a video jockey at my local video rental place. Even before I started working there, I was a regular customer, I knew where each section was, knew which tapes were in good nick, knew all the staff and could recommend films to other customers. Every person had a story, a path or a purpose that brought them to my desk. More often than not, they knew what they wanted. But sometimes they were too stumped or too frazzled to pick something. So, I would chose something for them. Usually, it was a children’s film, a drama or a good action flick. The people who rented that last genre would be so drunk they wouldn’t even notice what I gave them. But they wanted an action film so I picked the one I thought they’d like. They would always come back to me. (Please note: not all my customers were drunk when they came in. The example given is a small cross section of my former customers). So when I began to read Kingyo, I found the manga equivalent of my video shop. So after I read each volume that’s been released so far, I would let out the same sigh I used to have when another satisfied customer would go out the door of the video shop. I felt good that a character had found contentment. It’s a wonderful feeling to have and it came from a book showing a world I knew nothing about.

Natsuki is technically in charge of Kingyo and when her grandfather announces he is going to go on a search for manga in Japan, she takes over the running of the shop. She is easily my favourite character simply because it isn’t that she’s a manga freak like Shiba is, it’s just that she gets a huge amount of joy from helping people. Shiba is a fantastic character. He reminds me of myself when I was in my teens. Always reading with my head in the clouds. I love the feisty, lively and, if exasperating at times, relationship he has with Natsuki. He clearly likes her but he’s too much of a dreamer to make the first move. I think Seitaro is a wonderful player on this stage. Sage-wise with a hint of self-deprecating humour about him. My discovery of the relationship that grows between Ayu and Tome, two Sedori (people who buy manga cheap and resell at higher prices to used books shops) who, on the surface, don’t have anything in common with each other is heartwarming. But Tome, while unsure of what to do or say around her, wants to get closer to her and gets pushed away in a nice way by Ayu. But he persists and we get to know them both them in a great way. Going back to Natsuki, her parents have a charm about them. They drive me crazy with their different personalities so I can only imagine how Natsuki has learned to live with them. With each volume, I learn more and more about the cast so it’s a win-win for me.

The background characters are equally impressive. They’ve all got their reasons for going to Kingyo. Sometimes they get an answer to whatever is bothering them at the shop. Sometimes it happens outside the shop. But always it is a surprise when we see the resolution of their arcs. In one story, a young lad stays with his friend rising the train late at night because the boy feels his friend can’t or won’t go home. The friend is inspired to stay on the on the train thanks to Leiji Matsumoto’s Galaxy Express 999. But in the end, the story is resolved with some thought and care, I’m happy to say. Reading a review of volume 3 by Manga Curmudgeon in relation to the Kazuo Umezu chapter and it being somewhat predictable, I agree with him about it being un-Umezu, however, I don’t think this detracts from the story. Far from it, the way the characters describe Umezu, his writing and art makes me want to read more of his work. The chapters that struck a chord with me the most were the chapters about Night on the Galactic Railroad and the one where Shiba drags an uppity kid all over town all because he wouldn’t simply pick up a manga to read, finally lets him take a look at Go Nagai’s Devilman. The Night on The Galactic Railroad story is a wonderful piece about a hostess girl who sort of adopts a small child whose mother abandoned her. The child wants her to read to her the Night on… book so the girl, despite not wanting to, finds herself reading night after night to the child. It’s sweet, sincere and utterly without any purpose. The Devilman chapter is superb because you see this child who is supposedly not fazed by anything get riled by Go Nagai’s titular characte.

You notice how I keep mentioning the “Devilman” chapter or the “Umezu” chapter? This is because Kingyo Used Books focuses on a different book, a real book, for some of it’s chapters. OK, nearly every chapter mentions different books but some actually focus on an author or book and the end of each volume of Kingyo, we get a real used book shop owner explaining the significance of each title. This is because while Japanese readers might be familiar with names like Hinako Sugiura, Kyoko Hikawa, Etsushi Haruki, Tochi Ueyama and Masako Watanabe, English speaking readers may not. This window into certain titles and authors allows us to glimpse into the cavernous world of manga and it made me realise how little I know about it. I find myself drawn to the notes about the titles from the 60’s and 70’s that we have no chance of reading. It grieves me that I’ll have to import them. Maybe, though, JManga might publish some of them. I can certainly hope so.

Another thing I like about the series is the idea of the impermanence of things, i.e. Mono no aware: the feeling of noticing things and being in the moment, for the moment is fleeting. The cast of Kingyo move in their arcs, all the while we are conscious that they too will one day be gone and the books they care for or read will one day be in the hands of someone else. Few things in anime or manga have taught me as valuable a lesson as this concept has. When I have read stories like this (or even any book/anime/film) I try and commit it to memory. It helps me to form a more complete map of my own internal workings. Because as the man said: “[time] goes with us on the journey, reminds to cherish every moment. Because they’ll never come again.” I applaud Ms. Yoshizaki for being to able to communicate this kind of concept and I wish I could read more of her works. It’s just another reason on my list to try and learn Japanese if only to expand my worldview.

Ultimately Kingyo Used Books is a story about used book sellers and readers enjoying their books while trying to make their way through life. There’s nothing else to it, no magic second or third act that the cast suddenly become intergalactic bounty hunters. Though, that would be interesting, I’m sure. If you have an inclination to read something that challenges you beyond the confines of typical manga. The series is ongoing in Japan but at this time VIZ under their SIGIkki line has put out the first four volumes so far at six month intervals. March this year will mark the end of the last six month cycle. Here’s hoping that people read this overview and give the series a try.

I encourage you to sample Kingyo Used Books on the SIGIkki website along with others in the line. If I could recommend some others, then please check out Saturn Apartments and I’ll Give It My All…Tomorrow. If you would further indulge me, check out my podcast with Ed Sizemore where we discuss Kingyo Used Books in further detail.

Ed’s Twitter page

Comics Worth Reading (Johanna Draper Carlson’s site and an excellent resource for manga)

Ed’s entries on Comics Worth Reading (Ed used to have a regular column there and still writes for it)

Caleb Dunaway’s Twitter

Download audio file (ECP_Season_3_kingyo.mp3)

DIRECT DOWNLOAD

Please buy Kingyo Used Books through our Amazon links. It helps maintain the podcast.

Amazon UK:

Kingyo Used Books, Volume 1

Kingyo Used Books, Volume 2

Kingyo Used Books, Volume 4

Kingyo Used Books, Volume 4

Amazon US:

Kingyo Used Books, Vol. 1

Kingyo Used Books, Vol. 2

Kingyo Used Books, Vol. 3

Kingyo Used Books, Vol. 4

Side note: I’m now writing almost all the time now for Otaku News with news and review pieces. Check it out and look for my handle in the headers and see else I’ve screwed up on. I’m also writing a monthly column for MangaBookShelf called Shoujo I’m Scared Of.

Today, we tackle Sumomomo Momomo: The Strongest Bride on Earth Shinobu Ohtaka. A fun little diversion, nevertheless the slight ick factor could threaten to destroy what is otherwise a good manga. Also, I’ve now discovered the best Japanese tongue twister by researching this title. Click on the download link for more info. As always, click on the post image to buy volume 1 from Amazon US. Or follow the text links below for the volumes I’ve covered so far.

Download audio file (ECP_Season_3_number_2.mp3)

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Amazon US links:

• Sumomomo, Momomo, Vol. 1: The Strongest Bride on Earth (v. 1)
• Sumomomo, Momomo, Vol. 2: The Strongest Bride on Earth (v. 2)

Amazon UK links:

• Sumomomo, Momomo: v. 1
• Sumomomo, Momomo: v. 2

A small capsule review of Kaoru Mori’s A Bride’s Story here. I liked this story and I would say that if you’re tired of the usual fare in manga, this is a welcome change of pace. Volume one can be ordered from Amazon by clicking on the post image above and volume two can be preordered by clicking here.

UPDATE: Volume three is now up on Amazon for preorder for March 2012. Here’s the link.

Download audio file (ECP_Season_3_number_huh.mp3)

Direct Download

Thanks to Ed Sizemore and Johanna Draper Carlson for tackling the manga on their sites. Thanks to Kate Dacey over at Manga Critic for reviewing Bride’s Story and also to David Welsh and lastly to Deb Aoki and Melinda Beasi for putting me on the title in the first place.

However, in Not Love…’s favour, if you want a great side story surrounding the act of food restaurant crawls then this is right up your alley. With “fictional” manga-ka F-mi Y-Naga, the author may or may not be presenting her real life to us. Much of Yoshinaga’s real life is in here, is anyone’s guess. But anyway, the point of the story is that Y-Naga when she’s not doing manga of some sort, goes with her friends and roommate, S-Hara to various restaurants and eateries to sample, enjoy and discuss the food on display.

I love the off kelter take the book has. When we are introduced to Y-Naga, it describes her as making a living “by drawing men engaging in anal sex” and then proceeds to make her both attractive and ugly while showing that really other than food she really doesn’t have it together. And the people around her are just as bad if not worse. Her roommate, S-Hara, is also one of her assistants and he’s just as scatterbrained as she is insofar as he not only tolerates her eccentricities but actually doesn’t care anymore. So their life revolves around work then food and Y-Naga eating like a slob. But the book doesn’t go out of its way to show you their lives all that much. Oh, no. The book does something far, far better.

It’s only goal in life is to sell you food. Mountains and mountains of it. Fumi Yoshinaga went around the eateries and restaurants in Tokyo and wrote down or took pictures of the food, drew the maps to show how to get there and also wrote the side notes of what to expect when you get there, what you should order and how much you’ll expect to pay. With this winning idea, Yoshinaga then begins to spin her web about the characters as they make their way through the menu in front of them and in life. The food on display really is delicious looking. From Korean barbecue, Italian starters, ice cream to New York Chocolate bread, it’s all mouth watering stuff. I want to eat everything they eat! Every meal is described in loving detail and Yoshinaga shows that she sampled every single thing because the way she draws the food and has the characters give their reactions couldn’t have been found in a book.

The characters themselves are as packed together as the food has ingredients. Y-Naga is probably, and I say probably with reserve, the author in real life. But she’s (Y-Naga) a little extreme to be the real girl. Also the way Yoshinaga depicts her is as crazy. Y-Naga goes from being frumpy to wanton to chic in 200 odd pages. She can’t do anything for herself that doesn’t revolve around food. She need help with her work, her life and her friends. She misses that one of her friends is gay. But still she cares for her friends and tries her best to understand them. And we love her for trying. Usually in the mornings, she’s drawn with a headband on, bedhead hair and Henry Kissinger glasses. S-Hara at times, just the same as Y-Naga, is depicted as being an attractive man and then being nondescript. The rest of the cast doesn’t get the same kind of on/off treatment so I can’t comment on the authors thoughts about the other characters.

I’m not going to lie to you. Not Love… is never going to be on many top ten lists in most manga fans books. But the fact that it’s published in English and that it exists is more than enough for me to like it. The fact that it’s quirky characters and amazing concept drew me in as well as it did, speaks to the strengths of the author. It’s a great introduction to Yoshinaga and I recommend it to people unfamiliar to her works.

Psst: (Shameless promotion) If you want to buy this from Amazon, click on the image of the book and I’ll get a cut ;-D

Visiting the dealers room at Otakon, I found myself looking for these titles as I would have to special order them back home. Picking them up, I decided to read them on the plane journey home. Was I glad to have read and now review them? Between the two of them, Not Love… is more easy going and out and out funny. But AMDD, to shorten the title, was a different rhythm and therefore had a different impact on me.

Yukiko, a thirty something woman, lives with her mother Mari. One day she comes home to find her mother has started dating and moved in a young man, Ken, who she met at a host club. Of course, Yukiko thinks that Ken is trying to con Mari out money or God knows what else. However a revelation Yukiko discovers about herself forces her to move out into the big world for the first time. From what I saw of Ken, he seems like a nice guy who can see through Yukiko’s anger and knows that there’s more going on than her just being angry at he and Mari. And so she moves out to stay with friends. Now any other kind of manga would have the story be about Mari and Ken’s relationship developing and Yukiko coming to terms with it. But Yoshinaga doesn’t dwell on it, instead focusing on Yukiko and the people she lives with and hangs out with and their lives. From Mr. Izumi, whose student wants to give, um, “gratification” but not be in a relationship with him to Wakabayashi who tries to find a husband despite not having it in her to be discriminatory.

The stories are varied and Yoshinaga does a good job making me care about people I have literally just met. There’s something about how the casts good and bad points are laid bare and there’s nowhere to go. In Izumi’s case, his relationship with his student starts off sleazy (I don’t know how to say that she started it without it seeming like she’s at fault) and he’s not comfortable with it at all but by the end of their relationship he feels that the girl is on a better path without him. I love the story of Saeki, one of Yukiko’s childhood friends. To put a long story short, when she, Yukiko and fellow friend Yuko were all in school, they all had dreams and hopes for the future. And, well, for some life turns out as they wanted and for others, not so much. Saeki’s story could be yours and mine and it made all the more poignant by the fact that she and Yukiko don’t interact with each other during the story except for one postcard. I found myself *blinking* a lot during her story. Finally the last story deals with Yukiko as we end our journey with her. There’s a fine sense of resolution with her and I am so impressed that Yoshinaga managed to end the story with a great sense of connection between Yukiko, Mari and Mari’s Yukiko’s Grandmother.

Artwise, Yoshinaga treads a fine line between very watercoloury pencil lines for her characters to more absurdist artwork that is more frequent in Not Love… The pace of the story means that I can appreciate her artwork more as I leaf back through the book. There’s a stillness to some of the pages that makes you feel every sigh, sob and laugh. The cover and cover inlays of the book are in colour and I would love to see more of Yoshinaga’s work in colour. There’s a kind of vintage vibrancy to her colour work that I feel like.

Ultimately, the book is less about the trials of Yukiko, Mari and the others than it is about the mirror being put against our own lives as we struggle to make it in the world. You will see something of your own life in these pages and it’s nice to let it out for air once in a while. Ms. Yoshinaga’s All My Darling Daughters helps you do just that.

Psst: (Shameless promotion) If you want to buy this from Amazon, click on the image of the book and I’ll get a cut ;-D

WARNING: CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS!

I always strive to find new things in anime and manga. Sometimes, they hit you like a bolt out of the blue. I’ll wouldn’t be the first person to say that growing up in Ireland, you realise as you discover the internet and people from other countries, their experiences and how they live their lives, just how much you were sheltered. I will not go into the societal structure of Ireland in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, suffice to say that we really were socially unprepared for the onslaught of the concept of the “different lifestyle”, that is to say anything the Catholic Church did not view as morally wholesome. You would surprised the things that you’d never consider if you didn’t know they existed. There was, of course, homosexuality in Ireland way before I was born. But consenting intercourse between two males was illegal and a criminal offense until 1993! Imagine being Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender (as people identify themselves now) in Ireland? God, I can’t begin to grasp how, well, dangerous it was. You could actually be arrested for trying to show your affection for someone you were attracted to! Thankfully some other countries are further down the road in how they observe, treat, interact with and get along with other people who don’t fit into the society “norms”. In Japan, from what I can ascertain, LGBT people have an easier time in society. Mark you I said easier, as everyone has problems in the society they live in. But I’d never paid any attention to the mechanics of actually being in that group until very recently, as I said at the beginning. So with that in mind, I began searching out for manga or anime that addressed this demographic (can you call it a demographic group?) group. I’ve found some I think fit the bill. But I came across an upcoming manga alert and in it, there was one that I was immediately drawn too. Mostly because I was waiting to watch the anime version of it. So, the focus for today’s review is on the idea of wrapping your head around the fact that you are different. Different from everyone else (every adolescent believes that they are going through tough times on their own) and different enough to not know what to do.

Wandering Son by Shimura Takako is a heartfelt story of two people who I desperately feel for and for their families and friends. Shuichi Nitori is a nice lad who has a loving family and somewhat bossy sister. Yoshino Takatsuki is a girl with a similar, if slightly larger, family situation. But there’s one thing else that the two children share commonality on: they both want to be the opposite sex. Shuichi wants to be a girl and Yoshino wants to be a boy. And they are painfully making their way through the steps of both of them discovering their idenities, sexual or otherwise.

The main thing that drew me to this book was the fact that unlike a lot of western media that plays off the fact that a transgender teenager would have to deal with their friends and peers ostracising or bullying them for being different, Wandering Son goes straight for the heart, tackling the more important idea of how the person in the story feels. Reading the first volume, I can feel their awkwardness at them coming to the decision that they are different from other people and that they need to do something about it.

For me Takako is a great storyteller as she’s imbues her characters with a sense of self. Shuichi keeps having these nightmares, that’s all you can call them right now as they give only scary insights, where he’s interacting with Yoshino and suddenly he’ll be attacked by a loved one and wake up. This is something that informs his character, in what way I can’t say, yet I know these dreams are not just for show. If there is a trigger for Shuichi, it’s a dress that through a mixture of Takatsuki and a girl called Saori Chiba, a girl who goes to class with him. Yoshino gives a dress to Shuichi, making an off-hand remark that Shuichi would look good in it, and then offers it to Shuichi’s sister who gladly accepts. But seeing the dress hanging in the sibling’s bedroom triggers something in Shichi and one day when no one’s around, he tries it on. He answers the door to a stranger and they mistake him for a girl. Then he answers the door to Saori. And she doesn’t even blink. For Yoshino, it’s the fact that she can’t stop biologically being a girl despite how much she wants to be a boy. And when the boys tease her about needing sanitary napkins, she batters them. Just like a boy. I’m not one for violence but there was something satisfying about seeing them slightly bloodied. The leads feel alive, full of doubts and hopes. I feel for them every time they seem close to busting out and suddenly retreat. I can’t figure out though, how much is specific to be a transgender person and how much is run of the mill adolescence. I must admit that some of the trials the children face, I can identify with having been there myself. No, I’m not gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender but I’ve been five inches tall in my classroom hoping that I find some way of not suffocating surrounded by people who couldn’t grasp what I was feeling. I know what it’s like being this close to your family and being unable to talk with them about your problems but that when you finally do, it’s like the nicest wave to crash over you and cocoon you, ever. I want to tell Shuichi and Yoshino that these trials they face, like all things in life, will pass. That the greatest strength lies in their ability to look beyond the mountain in front of them.

I can’t figure out some of the characters, though. Shichi’s sister, Maho is coming across in a kind of duality. On one hand, she’s treating her brother as any sibling would (bickering and so on) but on the other, she’s seen in dreams as a more hateful figure. Maybe I’m reading too much in this here. Also, Saori. Saori is a likable, if a little weird, girl. She’s completely accepting of Shuichi and all. She helps Shu by suggesting that the class put on a play for their group project where the boys dress as girls and the girls dress as boys. She hopes that this will allow Shu some breathing room.But when she buys him a dress, Shu seizes up and can’t accept it from her. She, in turn, burns the dress in front of Shu and Yoshino. She then is seen praying to God for forgiveness. Now, I’ve skipped over the parts in between this behaviour but you get my drift. I can’t tell if Saori will be a good or bad influence on the two lead characters. Only time will tell.

The two children, Shu and Yoshino, have an interesting relationship. On the surface, Yoshino seems the stronger of the two with her daring attitude and pushing and teasing Shu to go out in a dress. And she has the courage to travel away from her home to dress as a boy. She wants to be a boy more than anything. But under stress, Yoshino sometimes cracks and Shu finds in himself strong support that in the initial pages is not immediately evident. The book ends with Shu making the observation that the “other” him is something that he knows can’t be bought. All the money in the world can’t buy the feeling being the other him gives to him.

The artwork is done in a kind of pastel, almost children’s drawing book kind of way. Takako is to be commended for such a deceptive look to the work. The artwork looks rough as if the author was rushed but it’s all a smoke screen and at times feels like it’s half done. It plays out in such a childlike way that you don’t notice that she’s wrapped you up in a blanket from which there is no escape.

And I don’t want to escape from this story. I want to be alongside these characters as they discover who and how they are. I want to see them triumph in ways that many of us never get to. Most of all, I want to be there at the end even if it ends in failure. My heart breaks when I see people suffer for no good reason except they only want to be themselves. All the “there, there’s” in the world can’t make up for a person who feels they are not and will never reach their full potential.

Matt Thorn must receive a pat on the back for the translation work he’s done here. Some translations askew the need for Japanese honorifics but here Matt explains the need to use it in Wandering Son. If you’re in the mood for more of his work then I suggest you pick up a copy of A Drunken Dream and Other Stories by Moto Hagio also by Fantagraphics. Plus Fantagraphics get high marks for such an excellent job, in particular the design work by Alexa Koenings. Such a stellar job, I hope Fantagraphics continue with their manga endeavours.

Finally, I must stress that any missteps I made in regards to LBGT persons in my review, I do so apologise. I try in my reviews to be as inoffensive as possible and as I prefaced at the beginning, my worldview is slightly rustier than most as it hasn’t had time to develop fully. Give me some time, I’m getting there.

Let me leave you with this thought, dear readers: My online dictionary defines potential as:

1. possible, as opposed to actual

2. capable of being or becoming

3. a latent excellence or ability that may or may not be developed.

With that in mind, let me further posit this amazing idea. This is not the story of two children with the potential of becoming fully grown transgender people. It’s the story of two children with the potential of becoming fully grown people, full stop. I submit to you that’s all we as human beings can only be convicted of if we truly honest with ourselves.

As always you know how and where to contact me. If you would like to follow Shimura Takako and you can read Japanese, here’s her twitter page and likewise for Mister Thorn. If you want to help my website out and get a copy of Wandering Son for yourself for the not unreasonable price of $12.69, click on the cover for Wandering Son at the top of the page.

P.S. Want to have a look inside the book? Check out this video Fantagraphics posted on their website: