The manga this week
Nagi no Oitoma (Nagi's Long Vacation)
By Misato Konari (Akita Shoten)
This week's manga is pitched as a "danshari" love comedy. Danshari has been a trendy practice since around 2009. I thought it was just a method of tidying up that involves throwing out all of your unnecessary things, but according to proponent Hideko Yamashita, it's actually based on yoga teachings and mainly revolves around ridding yourself of your obsessions.
Nagi, the protagonist of "Nagi no Oitoma," is a 28-year-old woman who's decided to adopt the danshari way of life. She's extremely considerate of the feelings and wishes of others, a propensity that leads to her being exploited at work. Her only shred of happiness comes from her boyfriend Shinji, a colleague at work, until she overhears him saying heartless things about her, causing her to hyperventilate and collapse.
She leaves her job determined never to see him again and begins to "take a break from life," which turns out to be pursuing a desperately frugal existence in a rundown old apartment with almost no possessions.
The drawings are "otomechikku" (girly, romantic and sweet), and at first reminded me of A-ko Mutsu's popular 1970s manga. Due to this feature, "Nagi no Oitoma" begins like a heartwarming manga about thrifty living, but gradually turns menacing. Nagi thinks her relationship with Shinji is over, but he visits her with a renewed sense of infatuation.
Also, a new friend who is a jobseeker like Nagi recommends she buy dubious "lucky power stones" from her. Gon, who lives next door, becomes Nagi's new boyfriend, but she gradually feels unstable due to his excessively gentle, free-spirited behavior.
Nagi thinks that by getting rid of everything, she has become free, but she's trapped and cornered by the very freedom she seeks. That gives me a chill. In addition, both Nagi and Shinji have problems with their parents. It's said that if you can't get rid of things easily, you likely inherited this tendency from your parents. This seems to mean that the ultimate danshari is the rebuilding of a new parent-child relationship.
This manga won first prize in the eighth an· an Manga Taisho competition sponsored by an· an women's magazine at the end of last year. One of its judging criteria is that you feel happy after reading it. I can't really agree that this manga fits that criteria, but maybe this is because I'm from Nagi's parents' generation. This manga has definitely won the sympathy and support of many young women, which means that many of them are facing similar difficulties in life and uncertainty about their future. My heart aches to acknowledge this.
The world in the 2010s described in this seemingly otomechikku work is not so sweet. But please don't be misled. The manga is quite entertaining -- I read the already published first three volumes in one go. I'm a typical hoarder, so I may be tossed out by my family someday, the victim of a fit of danshari. Before this happens, I do want to say to Nagi: "Stay alive, no matter what."
Ishida is a Yomiuri Shimbun senior writer whose areas of expertise include manga and anime.
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