The man she is interested in is not a man at all Vol.1
cartoonist: Junko Arai
Translator: chief justice
Writer: Brandon Bovia
Publisher: Yen Press /$20
October 2024
She is a fashionable girl whose first secret is her love for 90s alternative music, and her second secret is her infatuation with a boy who works in an imported music store. he is Hu Magazine to her fruitA vision dressed in black denim, a black hoodie, and black nail polish, his secret was that he was the dignified girl she sat next to in class every day. The guy she’s interested in isn’t a man at alla complex, overwhelmed situation with heavy Viola/Cesario, her heartbeat beating to the tune of an old heavy rock song. Junko Arai Plug in the amplifier and turn it on.
I mean totally overwhelmed. This comic is about desire, longing for someone to sit next to you, but the distance is just out of reach. As long as I have her company, I feel extremely excited. It’s about insecurity, how small she suddenly becomes when she offers a part of herself. What do you think of that song? Have you actually seen them live? Arai lets you see the inner thoughts of these two girls, their shock and surprise when they find each other, and then lets them stumble through it in a way that only young love can.
As real as the intensity of a new relationship is, it’s also fun to watch someone trying to maintain love around their crush. Arai gives you a mad rush on your skull and takes you to the top of your mind, while body language must remain aloof, please let her think I’m cool. The desire not to appear weird leads to behaving weirdly, over-preparing to appear extra casual, The guy she’s interested in isn’t a man at all Nail it. A book about understanding vulnerability.
It’s also about indulging in fantasy, not just sweetly embarrassing silliness. The “Prince” is overcome by the intensity of their feelings, and sometimes before she realizes what she’s doing, she’ll do those genteel things you dream your crush would do for you. Sometimes it manifests itself as simply as lending your sweatshirt to a friend who got caught in the rain. Sometimes it’s magical, putting on a festive mask to keep your identity secret within the target range and hitting the jackpot bullseye. Love the anticipation of the nerdy girl being flipped, their silence looking cool, the popular kid being the one with the nervous breakdown. Love that the nerds are equally messed up in it.
It was the story of 1994 that brought the girls together BMG music catalog. Their secret connection is their love of “western” music – not cowboy hats (more like Chris Gaines), the return of Western music has all the other girls in the class hyped compared to the return of K-pop. base station Won’t move them like that Baker, Nirvanaand pearl jam. Flirting gave her new Spitfire CD. Completely broken, making playlist Vague on top of it.
I have to admit, this comic puts me in an interesting position as a reader: the 90s alternative craze started when I was a teenager. Arai exploits the atmosphere of a situation comedy by setting almost all scenes in schools or CD stores. This store is a bit of a place intervalthe collector made fun of himself. The cool uncle who owns the store and his friends who are regulars suddenly feel old, watching a pair of teenagers rehash the meaning of music from his youth. He sees a playlist of love letters she made and thinks some older man is making a move on his teenage niece. Take the music of my long-ago teenage years and then make someone my age the butt of a bunch of old man jokes: Yeah.
Music is not for old people. Arai’s manga talks about love, but it’s also busy crushing expectations. A century after alternative rock came and went, on the other side of the world, an emo kid would put a record in, hit play, and feel it. Like Mondaine Girl, fashion-forward retro rock. Music is just the beginning; these girls aren’t going to let anyone stop them from being themselves.
Arai has largely locked into a beautiful, expressive modern manga art style that’s a little more sketchy than solid, leaning toward magazines for older readers, away from home. beat style. Or you can find global indie styles at: ShortBox Comic Con Or a really cool one image Book. but! Arai also enjoys playing the complete Bugs Bunny Looney Tunes There is a reaction. Things can get ridiculously cartoony when a girl gets nervous (beads of sweat you won’t believe) or just overreacts to some news with her face completely displaced. Love the goofy reaction style, Arai’s is golden.
also The guy she’s interested in isn’t a man at all is green. Arai’s color work, printed in two-tone black and electric gray, is highly stylized, hyper-deliberate, and surprisingly understated. It makes the comic look like a food comic peo2 (I’m thinking Michael FowlerAmateur comics expert fucked up bark bark girl), or sublime Nobro Dumpster Fire Lesbian Romance Graphic Novel Lucy Bryan, thief. Likewise, the original format used by Arai before Yen Press Collecting and translating limits the length of each story to four pages, creating an unusual pacing for comics (that I’ve read), with fewer longer chapters made up of shorter segments. Arai presents small scenes in quick succession with a vivid rhythm. The situation comedy returns with two episodes per season.
Secret identity, secret love, spiderman behavior and what would you do. She didn’t know that the emotional girl hidden behind the mask liked her back. She didn’t know she already knew her. She didn’t even know she was her. It’s not unfounded that when the mask comes off, the girl underneath offsets the uncertainty of the infatuation. it’s complicated. They’re both complex and trying to discover each other’s magic.
Manga royalty has praised Arai as the creator of new comics NanaI can also see Yazawa Ai On the premise that opposites attract, rock music still transcends. Every girl has a side to the story, and you’ll hear it. Arai reminds me more of the embarrassment of being serious Skip and loafers or they will – they won’t – they taste More important than a slow-burning romantic longing Crossover games or transgressive low riverside. book now. Today there are comics for tomorrow.
Volume 1 The guy she’s interested in isn’t a man at all Available from Yen Press or wherever better comics, comics and books are sold.
