Shoujo Manga

Sand Chronicles Vol. 6 (Hinako Ashihara, Betsucomi)

One of the oddest things that many shoujo manga heroines share is the fact that their mother has passed away prior to the beginning of their respective series. The two most famous examples are Sakura from Card Captor Sakura and Tohru from Fruits Basket. Anyone who has read the first volume knows that it took a slightly different approach: having the heroine’s mother pass away after the series begins and forcing the reader and characters to confront it directly. Rather than using the tragic event as an easy way of gaining reader sympathy, Sand Chronicles takes a more realistic look at its impact and perhaps unsurprisingly reveals how it continues to influence Ann and the narrative several years later and she does not seem to realize it.

Volume 5 didn’t conclude in a strong way for me. It came across as being overly optimistic about moving on, leaving the past with happy memories, and being hopeful for the future in a way I couldn’t fully accept. I kind of feel bad for thinking that way after seeing how well this volume undermined that attitude. We had seen Fuji struggle needlessly over misconceptions of the past so I should have known to take that ending with a grain of salt. Ann has started dating Fuji but her new world is challenged when she hears that Daigo is seeing her former love rival. Ann’s positive attitude towards moving on has been turned against her. Daigo has also moved on and forgotten the past and as such, he’s been able to forgive someone who caused Ann a lot of suffering. Similarly, Ann’s pleasant memories of their intimacy become a trap. She can’t help but envisions the two of them together in that way. Daigo is really in the same position but he’s getting better results. I found it strangely encouraging that Daigo’s inability to move on completely was given credence when his girlfriend says that she finds it to be an appealing side of him. 

Ann’s journey to rediscover her feelings for Daigo is an interesting one. One of this series’ most distinctive aspects is the almost shameless use of visual metaphors. In this volume it’s implied that Ann’s hour glass represents her feelings for Daigo. It may represent something else or nothing at all. What’s important is that Ann thinks it represents her feelings for Daigo. When she throws it away, it’s less a metaphorical representation of her moving on but more of a reflection of her desire to move on. Ann wishes that her feelings could be commoditized and simply tossed away when they’re no longer convenient. I think there’s more to this than just adding a dark edge to the comedic shopping scenes. It’s interesting that when she has sex, she’s overwhelmed with thoughts of Daigo because sex is another commoditization of feelings. For Ann the act also represents her feelings for Daigo. However, there’s no easy way to “toss away” sex and thus she has no choice but to accept her past feelings. Whether this is for the best or not isn’t clear. It comes across as being regressive and progressive simultaneously.

Just when we think that Ann’s emotional instability is due to her inability to get over Daigo, he admits that it’s her mother that she’s trying to replace. This isn’t a new idea. I think it’s generally been the case that shoujo heroines come across as weak and/or eager to get into a relationship because of their strained or nonexistent relationship with their mother. It just hasn’t been stated as openly or explored as well before. For instance, Shika is in the opposite situation of Ann. She moves to Canada because she’s been overprotected by her mother to such an extent that she feels trapped. Also, Ann’s relationship with Daigo continues to have a positive impact. She approves her father’s decision to remarry. The woman considered Ann’s father to be her first love, who she never got over. Ann approves because she knows how precious first loves are and how difficult it is to get over them.    

Unlike the forced happy and hopeful conclusion of volume 5, volume 6 reaches a similar conclusion but in a much more natural way. As a result of Ann’s conversing with her stepmother and her grandmother, new visual metaphors begin appearing. Primarily, there’s the three way connection between city lights, stars, and people. It’s as if the visual grammar of the series is expanding, deepening, and is deriving from nature instead of products. Of particular importance is the first star of the evening. After Ann hears about its importance to her mother, it comes to represents both hope and loneliness, and signifies a duality between the two. Most importantly, it reflects the present state of her life.

We Were There Vol. 3 (Yuki Obata, Betsucomi)

On a superficial level you could say this volume has two episodes about things that aren’t uncommon to relationship manga. The first is the Christmas gift exchange between Nanami and Yano. The second is about Yano trying to get Nanami to have sex with him. I think if you really wanted, you could go into this excepting a typical cute and funny relationship manga and walk away happy but it would require some effort to ignore some aspects of it. You know the stuff that makes it terrific. What’s happening is that the mangaka is constantly challenging Nanami and the reader’s feelings towards the central relationship.  

By now there’s no question that Yano is a controlling guy. He’s trying to limit Nanami’s perspective because he wants her to be with him forever. But this consists of a wide range of things, not all of which are necessarily bad. For instance lying about his feelings to make her feel better or borrowing money to buy her a fancy gift, all to create the illusion of a superior relationship. However, it seems that he’s also limiting his own perspective. He hasn’t visited Nana’s grave and he’s refusing to let himself mourn. While her death may be the cause of his current attitude, he does have a deeper appreciation for life that helps him look past the minor, stupid fights between him and Nanami.  

Like in the second volume, the narrative isn’t entirely straightforward. Every once in a while suggestive flashbacks crop up as the seemingly typical episodes play out. What these flashbacks hint at is a slow forming bond between Yano and Nana’s younger sister Yamamoto, in the wake of Nana’s death. Meanwhile, Nanami’s biggest concern is picking out the right hat for Yano’s gift but hey, at least she picks up some good relationship advice along the way. That is until the relationship hinted at in flashbacks begins displaying itself in reality, which of course troubles Nanami. She gets the perfect chance to confront Yano when they’re together in the nurse’s room but Yano asks her to make out. Nanami has the choice of blissfully giving into the warmth of their relationship or questioning it.

Nanami initially resists being suspicious of Yano but then she investigates his past. I liked how this course of action tied into the second episode. In most mature relationship manga the lead couple usually ends up having sex after the female character gets over her uneasiness. Usually getting over that uneasiness is just something that comes with time. Here there’s a more elaborate chain of thoughts that Nanami follows that undermines her decision to investigate Yano: She finds herself surprisingly threatened by his past because she doesn’t think she can live up to Nana. Of course Yano reassures her that they should focus on the present. Unfortunately the only way to improve the present that Nanami knows of is to follow in Nana’s footsteps and agree to have sex with him.

What is happiness?

Papillion Vol. 2-3 (Miwa Ueda, Betsufure)

This series doesn’t have the best reputation but I still like it a lot. My understanding is that people don’t like the guidance counselor, Ichijiku because he’s older than our protagonist, Ageha, which implies he has questionable motivations behind his interest in being her life coach. And also, some of the methods he employs to help her grow seem dubious. I actually agree with this but for me Ichijiku is the main the draw to this series because in theory he’s the perfect guy but not actually. However, despite his problems he still provides insight and produces results that benefit Ageha in a positive way. For instance, he explains to her why her feelings towards another guy, Ryusei, are insincere using her own self-defeatist actions. And yeah, he stages a fake event but it helps bring Ageha and her parents closer together.

As a result of Ageha’s renewed and secure relationship with her parents, she becomes confident enough to admit she no longer cares about Ryusei and for her to admit her feelings for Ichijiku, which he begrudgingly returns. Much of the rest of volume 3 charters the ups and downs that their relationship goes through as a result of Ageha’s twin sister Hana and her meddling. It’s revealing how easily Hana is able to fool and get under the skin of our leads. Their relationship really is completely superficial. Ageha spends most of her time smiling at herself and reveling in warm, fuzzy feelings of love. As soon as her comfort zone is disrupted, she starts feeling insecure, does something immature, and the cycle repeats.

The fact of the matter is that Ageha isn’t confident or mature enough to be dating a guy like Ichijiku. He’s just out of her league from an emotional growth standpoint and their intimate relationship is causing her more harm than good. It’s really a case where the relationship should have remained professional. Comically, another guidance counselor is brought into the story to help Ageha deal with her issues. He preaches about accepting oneself and others and letting love take its natural course without worrying about whether it works out or not. While Ageha does need to hear this warm message of acceptance, it’s hard to swallow because of Hana. I mean we can’t accept someone who is inexplicitly deceitful and cruel but can we accept Ageha knowing that she may be Hana in disguise?

But at the end of the day the lead couple has to resolve their differences and Ichijiku, using his attune sense of emotional understanding and ability to sweet talk, restores comfort to the relationship. While I’m sure this made casual shoujo fans swoon I’m pretty sure nothing has changed and our leads are back where they started. Ageha will continue to struggle with herself as she tries to hold onto the perfect guy. Another round of misery is around the corner and I can’t wait to see it play out.

We Were There Vol. 2 (Yuki Obata, Betsucomi)

Summer break has begun but Nanami’s days are surprisingly boring. All she does is lay around waiting for rehearsal days because on those days she gets to see Yano, or at least she assumes. It’s the slow moments like these that set this series apart from the rest, the moments in between the dramatic and romantic bits. It makes all the difference when Yano is nearby and Nanami’s inner feelings awake. True she’s conflicted by his different faces but ultimately it makes him more human and frankly, more mysterious. After they get together, Nanami becomes overwhelmed with emotions. Not just when Yano is near her but all the time. She can’t even sleep the night after he confesses. Life for Nanami is no longer dull, it is emotionally charged. Yano truly is the cure for boring summer days.

It may shock you to know that Yano has his own method of dealing with reality: sleep. We’re shown a fragmented dream sequence that reveals bits of Yano’s past like how he met and befriended Nana and some of the memorable moments they shared. Perhaps unsurprisingly, these include sexual, heroic, and even vaguely philosophical moments but there’s also the tragedy at the end of it. That is the constant reminder that these dreams are regressive because at the end of them, he is still alone. But now he has Nanami to greet him upon awakening. And hey, together they too can discuss what happiness means. Nanami even offers a new perspective: it’s something that warms your heart.

Samurai Manga

Shigurui Vol. 1-2 (Takayuki Yamaguchi, Champion Red)

I haven’t read many samurai manga but that didn’t stop me from quickly realizing that Shigurui is a very distinct entry into the genre. I’m tempted to call it realistic but not in a historically accurate way. It’s more like a realistic portrayal of super samurai that are really manga archetypes. The series is about a swordsman named Irako Seigen who enters the Kogan School of Fencing. He quickly becomes one of the school’s top pupils and one of the two candidates to marry Kogan’s daughter Mie and become the next leader. While Irako does desire this position, things are complicated by his sudden relationship with Kogan’s concubine, lady Iku.

The story and characters haven’t been what’s made this a great read for me so far. Irako and his rival Fujiki are barely distinguishable. What I really like about it are the visuals, the narrative structure, and the attention to cultural details. The customs, food, (superhuman) exercises, folklore, sexual escapades, and other everyday details are covered thoroughly. Comparably, individual characters tend to only stand out after they become disfigured or get sexually aroused, both of which are results of combat.

I actually suspect this series is really about exploring the consequences of various cultural nuances. For instance let’s consider folklore. The people of the time believe in spirits and other supernatural entities. The common villagers also believe that lady Iku is cursed and avoid her like the plague. Everyone that gets close to her “turns red”. Irako is capable of seeing through the rumors and understanding that Kogan is responsible for the murders that started the tall tales. It’s hard to describe why Irako is capable of this but I think it’s because his lifestyle is so intensely physical, driven primarily by lust, bloodlust, and power. He can’t comprehend spiritual entities being able to inflict great physical harm.

Fortunately Irako is portrayed in a complicated way. When he’s told by a fellow pupil not to pursue lady Iku any further, he suddenly imagines cutting his classmate up. After leaving the meeting, he beheads a cat to release his pent up frustration. As nasty as Irako comes across here, it’s hard not to admit he has come a long way after the narrative delves into his back story. Before becoming a samurai he lived like a violent beast. As a samurai he has become a refined swordsman with incredible technique. It’s not like the school members ever come across too well. In the scene where Mie is presented to her future husband, she’s the only one who can see that they’re the puppets of a madman.

I won’t go into how the mangaka uses another female character to briefly explore a (still bleak) alternative to Mie’s predicament but it’s definitely worth thinking about. Instead I want to talk about the structure. There are a lot of versatile thrills to be found in these volumes, between the sex and violence, and they generally aren’t undermined directly. Rather, the story unfolds in a very literary way that’s simply beyond much of the material. As I’ve suggested throughout this write up, the narrative will often drop everything and go into some aside, which wouldn’t be uncommon in a novel. In fact most of the story so far has been one flashback, but within that flashback there have been additional flashbacks. The result is the uneasy feeling that the characters are invariably drifting further back into the past.

Samurai Shodown (Yuki Miyoshi, Shonen Sunday)

You know you’ve finished reading something special when the last line is “To be continued on your NeoGeo”. Yes, this is a video game prequel manga or something though I think the business term is advertisement. Ok so obviously realism wasn’t the intent of this manga but it’s almost worth reading to just see the muscular samurai superhero portrayed in such unquestioning and heck, admiring light. Haohmaru is a dopey but enthusiastic swordsman who is always on the lookout for strong brave challengers. He teams up with princess Nakoruru to destroy the evil of the dark kingdom. Haohmaru is motivated solely by the fact that he’ll get to fight strong opponents.

The manga is largely uninteresting. There’s one scene where the good guys end up on a pirate ship but nothing happens, they just team up and go after the bad guys. When a story presents a chance to have samurai and pirates do battle, they should. There’s one unpleasant subplot about a woman who becomes a ninja and subsequently a tool of darkness. It all could have been avoided if she had followed her father’s dream of becoming a free woman like a blooming flower. Yeah I’m not going to touch on that any further. The best moments are when characters surpass their set types, like when some of the bad guys turn out to be nicer than expected.