With more people reading manga and webtoons (aka vertical scroll comics) than ever before, Beat’s Bizarre Adventure gives three writers an opportunity each week to recommend some of their favorite books and series from Japan, Korea, and elsewhere. While long-time BBA writer D. Morris has departed the column for greener pastures, we have Lisa De La Cruz (The Wonder of Anime) to pick up the slack. This week we have a mosaic of everyday moments, a psychedelic ghost romance, and, of course, stained glass.
A Long & Short Love Story
Writer/Artist: Kei Ichikawa
Translator: Katelyn Smith
Lettering: Aila Nagamine
Editor: Rebecca Lang, Carl Li
Design: Wendy Chan
Publisher: Yen Press
Ibuki and Kippei have been friends and neighbors for as long as they can remember. They know each other like the back of their hands and their classmates can’t go a day without mentioning how close they are.
One rainy day, however, Ibuki makes a decision that catches Kippei off guard: he acts on his romantic feelings and kisses his long-time friend. Now that they have crossed the threshold, the two have no choice but to face the inevitable change in their relationship head-on.
Kei Ichikawa is her best when conveying the passage of time. In Blue Sky Complex, her longest and most popular ongoing series, she digs into every nook and cranny of its protagonists’ individual and romantic lives together, including the side characters. A Long & Short Love Story, by contrast, is a mosaic built out of mundane bits and pieces of life. Finding out that musician you both like just released a new song; discussing which bun filling is the best; seeing the Christmas tree at the shopping center together. While the premise is your classic childhood friend Boys’ Love Series, the narrative form makes all the difference.
Another surprise is that every chapter is four to five pages at most. Each has a full-color illustration as a chapter cover. Ichikawa also chooses to render little details that matter to Ibuki, Kippei, and their relationship in color as well. An occasional fall of orange autumn leaves, the first flower that Ibuki gifts to Kippei, a bright blue sky that adorns their graduation day, and a house key with a cute keychain.
Kei Ichikawa’s character design style has changed drastically over the years. As someone who enjoys her early 2010’s style as much as the current one, it was fun to see details that remind me of it, especially Ibuki’s design. I might argue that Ichikawa could shave off even more dialogue, as her panels and expressions themselves already convey enough. Still, even though everyone who is in a romantic relationship in this series takes more or less similar steps as Ibuki and Kippei, it doesn’t change the fact that they each carry their own meaning, significance and beauty.
Ichikawa is a household name for the BL genre, and seeing one of her most endearing and important works in print is exciting. I can only hope for more! A big thank you to Yen Press for bringing this series to English with care and sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review
Psychedelia
Writer/Artist: Hidebu Takahashi
Translation: Gigi W., Amimaru K.K.
Lettering: Kristine Dela Cruz, Amimaru K.K.
Publisher: futekiya
Psychedelia is aptly named because the experience of reading this manga feels akin to a trip. The changing of lights and textures blur the lines between reality and fantasy, and you get the sense that the experience is fleeting.
The story centers on Mizo, a junior detective with a massive crush on his fellow detective Hino. One day when they are partnered during an investigation, Hino is shot and rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Soon he slips into a coma. Consumed by guilt, Mizo goes home planning to end it all, only to come face to face with Hino. Except Hino’s body is at the hospital, so how is his spirit here?
Ever since I read this story on futekiya’s digital platform (RIP to a real one), I was hooked. There’s something so sultry, and for lack of a better word, trippy, about Hidebu Takahashi’s art, which ties perfectly into the story. The black and white swirls, the clouds, the bubbles, and use of contrast, all play a role making the reader guess if the experience is real or a figment of Mizo’s imagination. Spirit Hino is tender and sweet, but he’s also covered in blood, adding another eerie layer to it all.
The words on the page tell a more grounded story. Mizo is struggling with his feelings for Hino and with his guilt over the shooting. Now with Hino’s spirit in the apartment, saying the things he’d love for Hino to say, Mizo is almost certain this is a dream. It’s hard to not feel like you’re on a rollercoaster along with Mizo, rooting for the potential couple, but terrified that what you are seeing is not real.
What I appreciate aboutPsychedelia is how I’m taken on a journey without a destination in sight. The story feels less about the conclusion and more about the ways in which we reach it. Real or fake, psychosis caused by trauma and unresolved feelings or an actual once in a lifetime spiritual experience, what transpires in that apartment leaves a lasting impression on Mizo and on me. It makes me imagine what I’d do in a moment of desperation, in a last chance effort to communicate with the one I love. — Lisa De La Cruz
Akari
Writer/Artist: Marco Kohinata
Translation: Jan Mitsuko Cash
Lettering: Kyla Aiko
Proofreading: Sean Hundt
Publisher: Glacier Bay Books
Kagari is a stained glass artist suffering after the death of his wife. Convinced that his time has come, he refuses offers of work and even tries to shut down the class he teaches. But then he encounters a young woman named Akari on the street. Thinking that she is his granddaughter, who he last saw many years ago, he invites her inside and offers her a room to stay in. Before long, the two are happily making art together. There’s just one problem–this Akari isn’t Kagari’s granddaughter at all. Can she resolve this miscommunication without burning bridges with Kagari completely?
Marco Kohinata is a multi-talented artist, having previously practiced illustration and animation as well as manga creation. That expertise can be seen in every page of Akari. While most of the book is in greyscale, Kohinata makes use of every part of that scale, evoking color on the page through suggestion without actually deploying it–save for a luminous spread at the very end. It’s an approach that makes perfect sense for a book about stained glass, and makes for a memorable reading experience even though the panelling and character art is more traditional.
Aside from Akari’s sense of texture, I was particularly impressed by Kohinata’s characters. Kagari is a kind, thoughtful man whose gentle stained glass works fit his personality. Yet he’s also stubborn and inflexible, so much so that his son has cut ties with him and his students have learned to plan around his whims. Akari meanwhile is traumatized by housing insecurity as well as the loss of her parents; by avoiding the difficult reality of her life, she inevitably hurts those closest to her.
Akari grapples with difficult topics despite its fundamental gentleness. When does firm, disciplined parenting tip into abuse? Can you retain your dignity after becoming homeless? Is it such a bad thing to grow up without a family? Kohinata doesn’t provide firm answers to these questions. But by depicting well-rounded, sympathetic characters coming to their own conclusions, she shines a light on realities that most manga artists avoid.
This year Akari was nominated for Best One-Shot alongside Machiko Kyo’s cocoon at the American Manga Awards. While I love cocoon with all my heart and consider Kyo to be a genius, I would have been just as satisfied had Akari taken the award instead. Consider that my highest recommendation
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