The manga this week
Metamorphose no Engawa
By Kaori Tsurutani (Kadokawa)
While the very first volume of this week's manga in book form only came out last month, the work has already been picked up in magazine articles and on the internet. I've read it and am convinced that the recent surge in its reputation is based on solid ground.
Protagonist Yuki Ichinoi has lived alone since her husband died two years ago. One day at a bookstore, she finds and buys a manga whose cover illustration looks beautiful. She hasn't read a newly published manga for some time, although she was enthralled by "The Rose of Versailles" and "Aim for the Ace!" when she was young.
Back home, she starts reading, sees two boys kissing each other at the end of the volume and finds herself blushing. Nevertheless, she wants to read the next volume, and visits the bookstore again.
This is how 75-year-old Yuki first encounters BL (boys' love) manga, which focuses on relationships between men. At the bookstore, she meets Urara Sayama, a 17-year-old high school girl who loves BL, but has yet to tell anyone this. They become friends, despite their age difference, and enjoy discussing the manga they love.
That's all there is to the simple storyline, but I found myself at the brink of tears many times when reading this work.
"For a long time, I've wanted to talk to someone about manga," says Yuki. "Me, too," answers Urara in her mind. Urara knows how "extreme" BL manga are due to their erotic expressions, so she hesitates at first to recommend her favorite to Yuki. Timidly, she advises, "If you don't like this, please stop reading." Yuki responds with a smile, "Understood."
These delicate exchanges are brilliant and pleasing. Something you like may not be someone else's cup of tea. But if you can find someone who shares your love of something, then it is paradise for both of you.
This manga seems to be Kaori Tsurutani's professional debut, but the artist superbly depicts Yuki's character. Yuki keeps a girl-like sensitivity at heart, but in reality, she is an older woman who has lived a full life. There are more and more manga works nowadays with attractive elderly protagonists, such as "Sanju Mariko," but this manga is really special. Urara, who is much younger, appears to be weary of living and behaves more like an old woman than Yuki does, which adds an amusing twist to the story.
Yuki, 75 now, must have been about 30 when she was engrossed in "The Rose" and "Aim for the Ace." Yuki's heart flutters when she reads BL because they are definitely an evolved form of girls' manga. The combination of an old lady and BL sounds odd at first, but something along the same lines is definitely possible.
In the days when Amazon.com did not exist and I had only a little bit of own money, I frequently visited the bookstore in front of the station near my home to buy new volumes of my favorite manga.
This week's manga reminds me of such olden times, and will certainly strike a chord in the hearts of all manga lovers.
Ishida is a Yomiuri Shimbun senior writer whose areas of expertise include manga and anime.
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