{"id":27895,"date":"2023-04-25T09:00:53","date_gmt":"2023-04-25T09:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=27895"},"modified":"2023-04-20T17:28:21","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T17:28:21","slug":"wandering-son-volume-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2023\/04\/25\/wandering-son-volume-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Wandering Son volume one"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy Shimura Takako<\/strong>, <\/strong>translated by Matt Thorn<\/strong> (Fantagraphics Books International)
\nISBN: 978-1-60699-416-0 (HB)<\/p>\n

Huge fan though I am of the ubiquitous digest-sized monochrome format that makes up the greatest part of translated manga volumes, there\u2019s a subtle enhanced superiority to these hearty and satisfyingly substantial oversized hardback editions from Fantagraphics\u2019 manga line (see also Moto Hagio\u2019s A Drunken Dream and Other Stories<\/strong>) that just adds extra zest to any work of pictorial narrative.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just a shame the story still isn\u2019t accessible digitally or that the remaining volumes (as far as I know, we got to Book 8 before everything paused) still languish untranslated for us who don\u2019t speak Japanese\u2026.<\/p>\n

Especially effective and affecting, Wandering Son<\/strong> was this second intriguing offering from the good FBI, following two youngsters mutually experiencing the most difficult times of their lives\u2026<\/p>\n

Shuichi Nitori<\/em> is a boy freshly transferred into a new school. He\u2019s starting Fifth Grade and on the cusp of puberty. He\u2019s also in a bit of a quandary. Slim, androgynous and, to be frank, rather pretty, he is constantly thinking about wearing girls\u2019 clothes\u2026<\/p>\n

On his first day, he is befriended by Yoshino Takatsuki<\/em>; a tall, burly tomboy harbouring similar secret yearnings. Her instinctive friendliness towards Shuichi is shared by pretty Saori Chiba<\/em>, who is happy with her own gender but troubled in almost everything else. Always over-eager to please, she is a ball of inexplicable guilty feelings and – even at her young age – is considering converting to Christianity\u2026<\/p>\n

From the start, both girls encourage Shuichi to submit to his urges. Yoshino\u2019s clueless mother keeps buying dresses which the despairing daughter just gives to her confused new pal, whilst Saori, also acutely aware of the Nitori boy\u2019s underlying otherness, actively encourages him to cross-dress. She even buys him an extravagant frock for his birthday, almost killing their budding friendship stone-dead.<\/p>\n

It is Saori who successfully suggests the unsuspecting class perform The Rose of Versailles <\/em>as their end-of-term play, with all the girls playing the male roles and vice versa\u2026<\/p>\n

(The Rose of Versailles<\/strong> is a monumentally popular Shoujo manga tale – later, a movie and musical – by Riyoko Ikeda, telling the story of Lady Oscar<\/em>: a girl whose soldier father raises as a man. She\/He eventually becomes a dashing Palace Guard and the darling of Marie Antoinette<\/em>\u2019s Court.)<\/p>\n

Both Shuichi and Yoshino are hard-pressed to deny their overwhelming mutual need: boy wants to be girl and girl, boy. Inevitably, their need proves too great and both succumb. Yoshino has her hair cut and goes out in her brother\u2019s school uniform, only to be chatted up by an older woman in a burger bar. Shuichi\u2019s periodic capitulations are less public, but increasingly important to his happiness and wellbeing – and to be honest he does make an astonishingly pretty girl, more so even than Roger Taylor in that<\/strong><\/em> Queen Video – although utterly pure, innocent and raunch-free\u2026<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, no matter how much Shiuchi and Yoshino wish they could exchange gender, time and biology inexorably march on and the changes of puberty are causing their treacherous bodies to horrifyingly and inescapably betray them\u2026<\/p>\n

From any other culture this type of story would be crammed with angst and agony: gratuitously filled with cruel moments and shame-filled subtext, but instead Takao Shimura (Even Though We\u2019re Adults<\/strong>, Sweet Blue Flowers<\/strong>) crafts a genteel, winningly underplayed and enchantingly compulsive school saga that is filled with as much hope and positivity as drama.<\/p>\n

As Hōrō Musuko<\/strong><\/em> the tale began in Comic Beam<\/strong><\/em> monthly in December 2002, running until 2013 and eventually collected as 15 volumes. It is resplendent in its refined charm and exudes assured contentment, presenting a very personal linked history in an open-minded spirit of childlike inquiry and accepting optimism that make for a genuine feel-good experience.<\/p>\n

But of course there is more to come in the unavoidably difficult futures of Shuichi and Yoshino\u2026<\/p>\n

This moving, gently enticing tome also includes a helpful watercolour character chart, a pronunciation guide for Japanese speech and \u2018Snips and Snails, Sugar and Spice\u2019, <\/em>a fantastically useful guide to Japanese honorifics by translator Matt Thorn, explaining social, gender and age ranking\/positions so ingrained in the nation\u2019s being. Trust me, in as hide-bound and stratified a culture as Japan\u2019s, this background piece is an absolute necessity\u2026<\/p>\n

The comics portion of this volume is printed in the traditional back-to-front, right-to-left format.
\n\u00a9 2003 Takako Shimura. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Shimura Takako, translated by Matt Thorn (Fantagraphics Books International) ISBN: 978-1-60699-416-0 (HB) Huge fan though I am of the ubiquitous digest-sized monochrome format that makes up the greatest part of translated manga volumes, there\u2019s a subtle enhanced superiority to these hearty and satisfyingly substantial oversized hardback editions from Fantagraphics\u2019 manga line (see also Moto … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Wandering Son volume one”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[239,215,25,132,254],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drama","category-lgbtqia","category-japanese-comics","category-older-kids","category-young-adult"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7fV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27895"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27899,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27895\/revisions\/27899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}