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Friday, September 3, 2010
Law, School
Moon and Ichigenme
Author's note: This week's column is based at least partly on my mistaken belief that 801 is an imprint of Digital Manga Publishing, like Juné. I don't know how this misconception lodged itself in my brain, since the reality is that 801 is an independent company. My sincerest apologies to all concerned.
There will come a day, and it will be unpleasant, when the reserve of manga from Fumi Yoshinaga has been licensed and published and readers will be forced to wait for one of her contemporary series to become available. Given the quantity of Yoshinaga releases either on the shelves or on the way, I worry that this unpleasant day will come soon. But that’s no reason not to enjoy the flurry while it lasts.
There will also come a day, probably much less surprising, when Digital Manga Publishing gives up any pretense of licensing anything but shônen-ai and yaoi. For fans of Worst and Bambi and Her Pink Gun, this day might as well have already come.
But in the grand, cosmic scheme of things, Digital Manga has given the English-reading world a whole lot of Yoshinaga, and that’s got to count for something. They introduced us to her with the award-winning Antique Bakery, a glorious look at life, love and cake and the handsome men who bake and sell it. Currently in release is The Flower of Life, high-school comedy presented in Yoshinaga’s inimitable style.
And then there’s Yoshinaga’s shônen-ai and yaoi work, represented in DMP’s more mainstream Juné line and in their spicier (and more expensive) 801 imprint. Having recently read The Moon and the Sandals (Juné) and Ichigenme… The First Class is Civil Law (801), I’m hard pressed to see what the dividing line is between the two classifications, as they seem equivalently smutty, but the series are sufficiently charming that DMP could call them as seinen harem action and I wouldn’t care.
Both works are from early in Yoshinaga’s professional career as a manga-ka. In fact, The Moon and the Sandals was her professional debut. There’s the unmistakable sense that Yoshinaga was on her best behavior here, refraining from the endearing narrative digressions and outrageously funny yammering that characterize her more recent comedies. But her richly drawn characters and knack for juxtaposing comedy with emotional depth are very much in evidence.
High-school second-year student Kobayashi is in love with his world history teacher, boyish, sensitive Ida. When he works up the nerve to confess his feelings, he’s happy to learn that Ida is in fact gay, and bummed to learn that his teacher already has a boyfriend. What follows is a sweet examination of relationships, adult and youthful, as Kobayashi finds a love of his own and Ida and Hashizume, his hunky chef lover, solidify their relationship.
Both couples face roadblocks. Ida and Hashizume have some communication issues, and part of the fun is watching Kobayashi’s frankness and self-confidence inadvertently push the grown-ups’ bond to new levels. But Kobayashi has his own problems. His new love isn’t a carbon copy of his diffident teacher. Narumi is egotistical and off-putting. Worse still, he’s the older brother of Kobayashi’s closest friend, who has a crush of her own on Kobayashi.
It all unfolds in the casual, conversational way that seems to be Yoshinaga’s forte, with the occasional gut punch of sensuality or sorrow that she deftly slides in. She wraps up the first volume with a twist that would leave only the truly heartless unmoved and eager to find out what happens next.
The beauty of Yoshinaga is that she never settles for character types. Everyone who populates her stories has layers – interests, passions, secrets, quirks, and flaws. The most profound pleasures in her work, even early ones like The Moon and the Sandals and Ichigenme, come from watching them interact and evolve.
Ichigenme is even more of a character study. It follows the law-school career of Tamiya, a middle-class striver stuck in a seminar full of privileged slackers. At an introductory party, classmate Tohdou plants a kiss on Tamiya, adding a layer of confusion to already unpromising seminar life. Tohdou’s gay and assumed (or hoped) that Tamiya was as well. Tamiya insists that he isn’t, but…
The seminar students function as a kind of adorably idiotic Greek chorus, foregoing studies for gossip and nightlife and riding on the bland assumption that everything will work out with enough money and charm. (Given their pedigrees in finance, politics, and entertainment, everything probably will, but that doesn’t make them any less likable.) Tamiya’s exasperation with the group is understandable (and pointedly funny), but the experience actually makes him a better scholar.
The same can’t be said for Tohdou, who considers attending even half of his lecture courses a high compliment to the instructor. But he’s not as much of a wastrel as the rest of the seminar group, and Yoshinaga gradually invests the pretty party boy with surprising depth.
The most noteworthy of Tohdou’s qualities is patience. Since Tamiya insists he can’t return Tohdou’s romantic feelings, Tohdou happily settles for friendship, though he certainly keeps his hopes up. The unlikely pair grows closer, seeing each other through a variety of academic and interpersonal crises.
And… that’s pretty much it. But since it’s Yoshinaga we’re talking about, it’s enough. Watching young people take steps towards confidence and independence is utterly familiar manga terrain, but it’s fresh, satisfying and sexy in Yoshinaga’s hands.
I’m still not entirely sure what makes Moon Juné and Ichigenme 801 (aside from an apparently arbitrary $3 price difference). The level of explicitness seems only marginally higher in Ichigenme. But both are undeniably Yoshinaga, and that’s good enough for me.
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April 22, 2008:
February 4, 2008:
November 20, 2006:
A Comic-Con without the Captain
