One-Shot of the Week: Kon no Ki Konoha

This week's One-Shot of the Week was a toss-up between two brilliant manga by the same mangaka that I had a bit of conflict over. One of them was taken from a volume of manga that consisted of a series of one-shots, and the other is the tragically romantic piece I present to you today. Although the other one is also tragically romantic, I thought I'd save it for another week where I felt it more. I'd already started writing the review for it, but then I just happened to come across Kon no Ki Konoha, and it captured me completely and I knew no one could resist having a change of heart – it practically stole mine. But don't worry! You'll be seeing that one-shot in the coming few weeks, I promise you that.

Although at first the title seemed like a tongue-twister to me, it presents itself to mean Konoha of the Deep Blue Tree. Reading the summary for this one-shot made me doubt it for a bit. I thought, it's not my style, I don't generally go for the romance-slash-tragedy-slash-slightly supernatural, but why not give it a go? Believe me, I'm glad I did. “Beautiful” is the only word that fits this manga perfectly, and I'll probably be using it lots in this review!

As a young girl, Akino's father takes her up into the mountain where she finds a tree that is dappled in deep blue. Roots, trunk, branches, leaves – all of it. She can't believe it's real and, well, she smacks the tree to make sure it is (which I found adorable, by the way). From within the branches of this tree a boy with deep blue hair appears, telling her that it hurts when she does that. He's a spirit that lives in the tree, and his name is Konoha. He protects her from another aged tree spirit and they soon become friends. Apparently, his spirit can only come out when it's autumn, when the leaves start to fall. So every year, every autumn, Akino goes into the mountain and spends some time with Konoha.

I like Konoha as a male lead, mostly because he's got a personality without having to boast that he's got one. It's like if you were truly feeling happy: you don't boast about it or blurt it out or announce it, you're just sitting quietly one day and you feel it – you truly experience it (didn't I warn you guys that Mho-Shoujo has a penchant for weird or random metaphors that rarely make sense?). I think throughout the manga, while you're sitting there reading it, Konoha's gentle, protective and silently passionate nature just serenely breezes in. And suddenly, you don't know why, but you feel very calm and very content. I don't know if it would get across to you as much as it did to me, but you'd know what he's like without the leading lady's inner monologue having to explain every little thing to you, like “Oh, he just protected me. He did all this for me? He must love me so much.” At the same time, Konoha's not a man of many words, but when he does speak it expresses unimaginable quantities than if he were making big speeches or rambling on and on about true love. I think he it's great that he expresses lots in such few words.

Here's where our problem is. Our lovely man here lives in a tree. And I don't mean in a cute tree-house kind of way. He lives inside the tree. Him being a spirit or somewhat of a ghost means that Akino can't touch Konoha, her hands slip right through him. But if she touches the deep blue tree, it's transmitted through so that he feels it. This brought on a lovely side of the manga where Akino smacks the tree to wake him up or even tickles the tree to tease him. I think it's good that Yumeka has put in scenes from Akino's childhood other than explaining how she met Konoha. It adds that childish innocence and a pure adoration to their mutual interest in each other, showing that it isn't just a magical transformation into a purely romantic relationship. This is something that developed and grew. It's not “Oh hey! I haven't seen you in years! My how you've grown, I think I've fallen in love with you now!”. No, no, no. It's “We've grown together and spent time together. I know you and you know me, and I adore you deeply and yearn for our time together.” That kind of pure relationship is something I love to see, rather than the glorified idea of love at first sight that sometimes manga tends to have.

I also love how the yearning for physical contact is portrayed in this one-shot. Akino hugs the tree so Konoha can feel her at one point. The desire to express through physical closeness is not one of erotic or lustful nature, but a sincere passion coupled with a tender longing for a deeper sort of intimacy. The kind of intimacy where you want to hold the person and never let go, not the kind where you want to rip each other's clothes off and do things that are ecchi rated. Don't get me wrong, there's a time and manga for that, but this – this is pure and simple and sweet. To top it off, Yumeka doesn't seem to want to let go of your heartstrings. The physical contact isn't just illustrated through Akino's contact with Konoha, but through her contact with other people as well. Attention being paid to her by other people doesn't seem to satisfy her, and the colours and sounds and smells of other seasons don't seem to be enough for her either. It almost seems like she's quietly adapted to autumn and what it means to her, and who autumn is to her.

Up to this point, and beyond, the manga is absolutely irresistible. The artwork is pristine. The lines are sometimes wispy, giving it a soft, flowing feel, and I love that the mangake doesn't draw traditionally larger-than-life manga eyes. The way the leaves are drawn, as well as hair, movement and expressions gives this manga an almost liquid feel. I love it. Love it! I can't get over how beautiful it is. And positively heartbreaking, in the most gorgeous way possible.

The ending... wow, I don't even want to talk about it, other than saying that it is probably on my top 3 endings to a manga – ever. It's beautiful, painful, glorious and passionate. I don't know how to describe it, and I don't want to ruin it for you kidlets, but I've never seen emotion drawn so beautifully. I recommend this one-shot over anything else, as it quickly became one of my favourites – if not my favourite one-shots so far. Get your hands on this gem, you won't regret it!

Stay sharp!

MizzFWA

One-Shot of the Week: Kanjou Spectrum

Brought to you by the same beautifully yaoi mind that gave us Don't Stay Gold (a previous One-Shot review), Kanjou Spectrum is another delicious one-shot. First off, I'll have to say, I wish all men look the way Yoneda draws them. Honestly, lean bodies, strong arms, cool faces – come on, shouldn't they all look like that? Their attitudes help as well. The whole “chill on the outside but passionate on the inside” kind of guy. The clean lines, relaxed poses and beautiful, lazy expressions make this art perfect. This has to be my favourite of all yaoi drawing styles, and perhaps my favourite of drawing styles for men. And have you seen the way kisses and physical contact are depicted in all Yoneda's manga? It's perfect! Aaah, there's nothing like yaoi perfection to go along with your afternoon tea. In the spirit of that, I just might make myself a cup.

Now that I'm settled, let's look at the story of this manga. Well, actually, before that I'd like to point out how everyone in Yoneda's manga is completely open to being gay, or bisexual at the very least. No one seems surprised by it and it's not unusual for a guy who's previously dated girls to suddenly decide that some random guy is his soul mate. Don't get it twisted, it's a yaoi universe and there's nothing wrong with that at all. Everyone is almost required to be bisexual, and there's no homophobia. Ever. I've read most of Yoneda's manga, and I don't know why it was this one to make me realize the yaoi universe that's been created. Hey! I'm not complaining.

Alright, I'll really talk about the story now. Kugou and Nakaya are best friends in high school. Kugou is our narrator for this manga, He's the observant, cool type – the kind of guy who's always got it together and doesn't overreact or loose his nerve. Nakaya is typically naïve, hopeless and, well... dumb – but adorably so. The kind of idiot that, as Kugou says, is “refreshing”. Basically, he's popular with both guys and girls because he's that fun-loving idiot that just so happens to be hot as a bonus. So fun-loving and idiotic and hot that he catches the attention of Usui. Or so it seems.

Kugou, being the sharp little cookie that he is, has picked up on Usui's staring. Now, I don't know whether it's a stab at Yoneda's beautiful yaoi universe or that he notices the admiration, but in the beginning of the manga, Kugou drops the line “Types like him are unexpectedly close, their eyes usually give them away”. Despite that, I love that line. It gives the start to this story an awesome bite that just paves the way to what you know is going to be a sweet, sweet one-shot. It almost makes you wonder who's observing who. Usui might be the admirer here, but with the way Kugou scrutinizes him and constantly wonders about him gives you a strong sense of unconscious attraction that seems to cling to him throughout the manga.

Anyway, Kugou approaches Usui and offers his help to hook the two up. At first, Usui refuses. Then he changes his mind. Then he starts to ask a lot about Nakaya. Then he decides that maybe it was a bad idea to agree to Kugou's help. Then he thinks he's being a burden. Then he starts spending time with Nakaya. Basically, he's all over the place. During all this, Kugou takes a lot of notice of the quiet, bashful (cute, even) way that Usui conducts himself. Come on, you must have seen that coming at some point. It's almost predictable. But at the same time, I feel stupid that I didn't predict the other half to this story. I might have already given it away inadvertently (or blatantly), or it might be obvious when you start reading this manga, but it's a turn that I loved the story had taken.

The other thing I loved was Kugou's jealousy. It's not the type where he advises Usui against going to Nakaya. But he suddenly gains the wonderful following thought process: “What's so special about him? He's idiotic after all. His gullible idiocy and clueless charm really just pisses me off now”. It's an unconscious kind of jealousy that I find absolutely adorable, and the kind of oblivious attraction I had mentioned earlier on. The kiss in this (and there is not one, but two!) is wonderful. An intense, hot, grip-the-back-of-your-shirt, let-me-interrupt-your-conversation kind of a kiss. Aaah! Yoneda steals my heart with things like these and manages to draw the kind of physical intimacy that could only work with two men. If I picture one of them to be a girl instead of a guy, it doesn't work! It wouldn't be as effective. And I think that's what makes Yoneda the yaoi winner. Oh yes. I dropped the w word :D

And before I finish this off, let me take a quick moment to admire the last page of this manga. An almost full-page spread of cuteness broken by a small panel at the bottom for comic relief. The last lines are both bashful and passionate, and are backed by the imagery that fits it perfectly. One hidden face confessing a hidden attraction, and one blushing one that I can guess is only too happy to be in those arms. I approve, Yoneda, I approve. (Hey, doesn't it seem like this is more a love note to Yoneda than a manga review?)

In the end, this one-shot has elements of the classic 'high school crush' scenario, but because of the charming Yoneda Yaoi Universe (don't you love the way that just rolls off your tongue?), it doesn't have to be about being gay. The nervousness, the insecurities and the intensity doesn't come from the thought of, “I'm so scared he'll reject me because I'm gay and I'll freak the whole world out” – it stems from that blushing, exciting feeling of your teenage years. And you know what? It's completely normal. And like it said in the opening, “teenage love has no reason”. So kidlets, pick this up and I guarantee you'll understand!

MizzFWA

All images (c) YONEDA Kou. None of these images belong to me.

One-Shot of the Week: Soshite Hibi Koishiteku

Another short and sweet manga. This made me smile to no end! It’s a confused, bashful, sweet love that’s captured in a mere 6 pages. Now, you guys shouldn’t accuse me of becoming lazy (the past couple of one-shots that I’ve reviewed have been quite short in comparison to your average story) because it’s much harder to unpick a great story in such a short space. In fact, I think it’s even more difficult to tell a great story in such a short space, which is why I’m more than glad to be able to commend these one-shots with One-Shot of the Week.

Lovely story we have going here. Actually, it’s not even a story. It’s a situation. I think part of the charm of this is the fact that this may be a situation that just about anyone can relate to. It’s more about conveying an image or a feeling than telling a story. Here, it’s about taking that leap, I suppose.

The title translates to mean, Love for Days to Come. Our hero, Fujimoto is quite a distant guy (as he describes himself) and he’s just been confessed to by another guy (This is more Shounen Ai than Yaoi) and he’s not exactly sure what’s going on. Remember how I said that these kinds of one-shots are situations that people could relate to? It’s pretty cute that you’re getting the side that not many people consider. Normally, people would be on the other end of the stick, wondering what they should say or whether or not they should ‘confess’ (I love how manga culture uses that word! It makes it sounds SO dramatic <3). Now, has anyone watched Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist? That one quote about the Beatle's song "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" - how love is about that simple little desire - wanting to hold someone's hand. Has anyone seen this movie? If not, go watch it! Right now! Stop reading this review and watch that movie!

…

Why are you still here? Have you watched the movie yet?

For you good girls and boys out there who’ve had the excellent taste and sense to have already done so before reading this, I’ll continue with the review :D Nagaru asks to hold Fujimoto’s hand, even if it’s just for the day. See? The movie was right! It’s the simplicity of just that one act of closeness. There’s a little bit of insight where Nagaru explains why he likes Fujimoto (I’m not going to ruin the ENTIRE 6 pages of this manga for you) which I thought was pretty sweet. He continues to blush about it (how could anyone resisit? *swoon*) and Fujimoto continues to get flustered – which is cute in its own sense. He has absolutely no clue what he’s doing and once he goes along with it he finds that it’s something entirely unexpected, but not unpleasant :)

Pick this sweetheart up! No regrets, trust me. And remember, you heard about it here first, right on Mho-Shoujo ;)

MizzFWA

(Images © YUMEKA Sumomo. None of these images belong to me)

One-Shot of the Week: I Am A Piano

What a gentle, simple, beautiful manga. All of seven pages, it was more than enough to push this to one of my favourite mangas, and to One-Shot of the Week. Drawn in clean lines, touches of plain block colours and a simple expressiveness, it’s a very sincere style for a very warm one-shot.

Now, scepticism always argues the telling of a story in 7 pages. Like, where’s the depth? Development? Structure? Well, normally, I’d agree, but this is the first time that I’d say that if this was longer, it would’ve ruined the manga for me. This manga is deep enough, sensitive enough, and is touching without being long.

It’s about a piano (thank you Captain Obvious) depicted as a young woman. See, initially I would’ve said a young girl, but you consider the age and experiences of the piano, and you’d say she’s a young woman rather than a girl. The first page is lovely, her introduction is quite simple. Her narration is interesting, because it really gives you a feel that she’s not human, in the sense of showing emotion. However, her emotion is revealed through the artwork. The lovely juxtaposition of the emotion in her expression and the lack thereof in her words gives you an insight to her as an object. She’s not exactly human to feel emotion, really, but she does feel towards things because she’s aware as an object of where she is and who is around her.

Her story is simple. She simply explains where she has been and who she’s met. But like I mentioned before, if you want to fully absorb it, you should observe the art more. The full appreciation of this manga came from appreciation of the drawing. Notice the things around her, who’s ‘playing’ her, and the environment she’s in. I thought this was transformed beautifully considering she’s in human form. At the piano school she’s pulled around by the children, and once they’ve grown the hold her hands gently, because they understand her better. I think that was one of the times I thought; she’s a woman, not a girl. The way she watches the kids grow up – you understand that she’s older than she seems. At the time of the war, you see her side of the bar atmosphere. She talks simply, but the pictures give you a bigger picture.

Now, the slight pseudo-shoujo in this is simply when she is in a concert hall. She is approached by a young boy who plays a specific song. I thought this was sweet. Although it’s not referred to specifically in the text, you feel it. Actually, forget anything being referred to specifically in the text. Here, what she says in the narration is simply a small foundation – the rest? Leave it up to the drawing. There’s so much more there that is not literally spelt out. Here, there was a certain shyness about the boy, and a nervousness. Like young love! Like touching a lover for the first time. He seems unsure, shy and hesitant. But they dance :)

The ending is sweet. I loved her expression once she meets him again. She puts it so simply that he was a better piano player – but reading her expression and his… It made me sigh! Like the thought that she is old, worn out, but she is appreciated and also found her resting place – as a piano.

This is not a journey you want to miss, I assure you. It’ll take a short time to read, of course, but once you’ve read it once I suggest you go back page by page and go through it again. Just drink it all in. Ignore the text, even. Just observe her expressions, her reactions to people. I’m quite in love with this one-shot :) So please take a little time to fall in love with it as well.

MizzFWA

(Image © NAKAMURA Asumiko. None of these images belong to me)

One-Shot of the Week: Okubyou Na Kimi No Te

Everyone likes a good bit of trauma. Not like head trauma, but personal trauma that slowly eats up your insides and consumes your soul. Okay, I didn’t mean for it to come out like that (or maybe I did :D), but you shoujo readers should know what I’m talking about. There’s that one incident that sticks with you forever, affects everything you do, changes your attitude towards people, alters your behaviour, character, reactions and interactions, makes you feel terrible, worthless, angry, confused, frustrated or just plain scared… don’t you just LOVE manga? I know I do. And I know I love this manga too, which is why it’s our One-Shot of the week.

This 40-page wonder starts out really gently, I feel. Shino and her man-thing, Takeomi are talking about Valentine’s day, he teases her a bit, and then says some really sweet things. Not the smooth operator sort of sweet things. He’s the kind of guy that all you girls would want to cuddle and offer him a cookie. On a more serious note, he’s a really sweet, decent guy. He’s really considerate and says some odd things about wearing gloves and holding hands. This is explained by the fact that Shino doesn’t want to be touched by a guy (not even holding hands) until after she’s married – or so she says. Takeomi is the guy that genuinely cares about her, so even though she tells him this when he confesses to her, he says it doesn’t matter. I don’t know about you, girls, but that makes me want to rip my heart out of my chest, slap it onto a silver platter and offer it to him. How many guys have you met like that recently? xP

Moving on! We find out that Shino’s abstinence isn’t because of some vow of celibacy, but because of the aforementioned soul-consuming, inside-eating personal trauma. She’s given up her body once before to some sucker with a sick smile and since then, she can’t stand being touched by any guy. Well… That blows. I think I can understand her feelings. I mean, if your first time was forced, uncomfortable and with a guy that fancies himself a smooth operator, you’d be distrusting too. Through one way or another, Takeomi finds out and Shino’s forced to face her inner demons, and that past demon turns up again. Kudos to Takeomi, I love the way he dealt with this guy. But anyway, I’m not going say any more than that. The manga is short, as it is, so unless I’m going to sit here and tell you the story, I’m going to cover other areas of the manga now.

Shino’s character was nice because it wasn’t too overdone by the mangaka. She isn’t tragically dramatic about her trauma, but she’s obviously affected by it, so it’s a great balance. The love is there, so it’s not the catastrophic heroine obsessing about herself and how hard she’s had it. She honestly tries for the sake of moving forward for herself and for Takeomi.

Takeomi’s this cuddly guy with ‘love me’ written all over his face. However, when he’s serious – he’s serious. He’s considerate, gentle and wonderfully patient and understanding. The two make a good pair, if you think about it.

The artwork is gentle. I just realized I’ve used that word a lot. Well, if there’s anything that describes this manga, it’s ‘gentle’. It happens in the wintertime and you really feel it. It’s quiet and still. The artwork is beautifully done and detailed just enough to draw you in. I think the flashbacks were cool because they were literally flashes. You don’t get the whole “this is exactly what happened so I’m going to spell it out for you”. Sometimes we shouldn’t be so spoon-fed :P Other than that, I’d have to say there are some pretty amazing angles in this. Sometimes when you have every frame clear and obvious, it gets monotonous. Here, you have a lot of close-ups, shifts of focus (the manga starts with a view of their feet) and also blank frames where it’s just text. This doesn’t make it ambiguous, which I like, but it adds to that winter feeling. Quiet, still and gives more insight to the character’s state rather than their actions. But when it comes to action, there’s a brilliant moment towards the end where Takeomi snatches Shino away, and I felt the rush of his movement wonderfully.

So it goes without saying (although I wrote this to say it) this one-shot is definitely something you’d want to read. So pick this up sometime and enjoy! And you might want to get that trauma looked at. Cheers!

MizzFWA

(Image © TOUDA Yoshimi. None of these images belong to me)

One-Shot of the Week: Indigo Blue

This manga took my breath away. This is by YAMAJI Ebine, and my experience with her manga, and especially her yuri ones, is that they’re about literature and self-discovery. Well, technically so. In ‘Love My Life’ the heroine studies English while her father is a translator for novels, and in ‘Sweet Lovin’ Baby’ the protagonists meet in a bookstore. ‘Free Soul’ has the jazz/music aspect of things which brings in the idea of some sort of art, or culture. I like it that they’re not just random women, but there’s a culture aspect to them, giving everything a softer feel. And not every character is entirely sure or confident of what she’s doing or wants to do – and the story is of how she confirms it. In Indigo Blue, our protagonist is a novelist who hides her confused feelings about her sexuality in her writing.

Now, when I started reading this manga, I didn’t expect what I found. Normally, I’m not so much of a yuri reader, but I try not to be sceptical and decided to give it a go. When I read manga (any manga), I look it up first, just to read a review about what it’s about – you know, one of those single paragraph quickies. Here, the quickie was way too quick. So quick I didn’t even really absorb anything. But I just held my breath and went for it anyway – I’ve got nothing to lose.

The artwork opens up like a sandwich. A sandwich that you unwrap and expect this stuffed deli-type thing with cold cuts and lettuce spilling out. And when you see it you kinda go “hmm” because it looks a bit… under-stuffed. But then you take a bite out of it and you do that face where you raise your eyebrows and the “hmm” turns into a “hmm!” and you realize it’s not so bad.

What I’m trying to say is, it’s simple – VERY simple. A lot of people, I noticed, are put off by Yamaji’s artwork. Personally, I couldn’t disagree more. The simplicity of it – once you get used to it – makes you realize it’s not about talent, complexity, detail or some intricate or life-like style of drawing. The feelings and progression in the characters are as blatantly obvious as the blank spaces on the page. Her stories are heart-felt and quite touching, and she didn’t need stylistic drawings to convey them. So even if the artwork isn’t your cup of tea, the story will more than make up for it. Personally, I think the fact that in not crowding her drawings she didn’t crowd the story.

OKAY. Enough about art. The story, the characters – the rest of the sandwich! The main character, Rutsu is a novelist who’s always had a certain curiosity or uncertainty about her feelings and sexuality. To let it out, she puts all her thoughts and experiences in her novels, using the ambiguous ‘Y’ to be vague about the gender of her character. She has a boyfriend, but one day she meets an artist Tamaki, who makes a comment about Y being a woman. This sparks Rutsu’s interest and curiosity, and she asks to see Tamaki again. Tamaki, however, refuses her, and asks to simply stay a reader of her work.

Thus begins the Rutsu’s struggle between confronting her suppressed feelings, dealing with her boyfriend and opening up to a lesbian relationship. It’s a lovely story about coming out and having the confidence to discover yourself. Rutsu tries to comprehend her discomfort in a heterosexual relationship and her yearning to be with a woman. It’s smartly written and you notice certain things that make you do a double-take. For example, when Rutsu is dealing with Ryuuji, her boyfriend, you notice that she is quite cold and distant, yet she opens up freely when she is with Tamaki. It is wonderful contrast and quietly hints at where her comforts lie. Matter of fact, you never really have any insight on Rutsu’s character until she’s talking to Tamaki – even her narration is subdued. When Rutsu is around Ryuuji, I honestly thought she was heartless and cold. Her character – at times it’s hard to sympathize with her. At times it’s because you feel like you hardly see the emotional side of her (not till the very end, at least) and at times because you want to smack her in the back of the head and go, “Woman! What the HELL are you doing?” She might be confused, but whether you think that it’s a good enough excuse, that’s up to you.

Despite that, I got a lot of emotion from this manga. It’s a one-shot of about 200 pages and in fact, it’s more Josei than Shoujo, which suits its more adult theme and more mature approach. It’s not adult to the point of ecchi – there is sex but it’s more about the situation than actual “this is a sex scene!” and no, there are no penises present. If you read this be sure to read Yamaji’s afterword once you’re done. It’s a nice finishing touch and further clarifies the story for you. As a one-shot, this told a lovely story so simply and beautifully. It’s quick and light to read (really easy to get through), so if you’ve got an hour to spare, be sure to pick this up!

MizzFWA

(Image © YAMAJI Ebine. None of these images belong to me)