In Japanese Ibara Hime no Oyatsu
I only finished this last week, but I’ve already forgotten the main characters’ names, so you’ll have to forgive me. I’ve read a number of stories where the extras or side stories were better than that main story, but this is the first one where the difference has been so overwhelming.
The first three chapters of this volume, about the titular thorn princess, are okay, but rather bland. The main character Yukihiro lives next to these two sisters, and one of these is really short and immature (i.e. loli), and in the same class as him in high school. In spite of that she’s already gotten herself a reputation for sleeping with any guy who will ask her out. Meanwhile she seems to have some affection for the main character, who has had a longstanding crush on her older sister.
And there’s some ups, and there’s some downs, and the whole thing ends with the loli leaving for Tokyo to become a model, while the older sister gets pregnant by her married boyfriend. It’s very tedious stuff and I was glad to be through with it.
The really good stuff is the 6 or so short stories that follow all that angst. They’re still angsty, but they deal with interesting topics from modern society. One of them deals with a boy’s feelings of abandonment and betrayal when his dad divorces his mother and remarries. Another deals with a young girl (also immature and loli) who withdraws from society after getting mixed up in a homeless man’s suicide. It’s about how she learns to trust again and put it behind her with the help of her aunt who is dealing with all sorts of conflicts of her own.
The last story (the author’s moralist tract), is the first manga short story I’ve ever read that deals with abortion, specifically abortion by a middle school student. It was very interesting reading. The Japanese have had an image for a while about being cavalier about abortion and using it as birth control. This manga speaks against that (“You’re not a monkey, use some protection!”) while also talking about having some self-respect, and not looking for validation or meaning from relationships but rather finding it within yourself. Words for any middle-schooler to live by.
I hadn’t read anything by Ishida Atsuko prior to this, but I liked her sketchy, clean art and simple, impactful stories, so I’ll be picking up more works by her in the future.
