Yumeka Sumomo - The Day I Become a Butterfly (Eng. trans.)
Sat, May. 12th, 2007 06:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterCompletely unrelated PSA: Loretta Chase's new book is out!
I read the mangaka's Same Cell Organism yesterday, which was so gorgeous that I ended up reading this one and buying it. I need to go back and acquire Same Cell Organism as well.
Like Same Cell Organism, The Day I Become a Butterfly is also a collection of short stories; some are BL and some aren't, but they're all infused with the same wistful, quiet melancholy and joy. The titular story is on the dying Uka and somewhat psychic Mikami, who apparently can sense when people are about to die. Cue gorgeously understated and quiet angst! Others are on childhood friends and a girl who fears change (het); a girl trying to disentangle herself from affairs and draw; and two 16-year-old boys, one of whom purports to be an alien. The last one is sweet and funny and a nice look at being different; I didn't expect to like it, but it made me laugh with the ending:
And from the childhood friends one: "The lonely war. Hailing bullets of happiness. Yellow flowers. / And next to me -- you."
A small warning: some of Yumeka's boys look just like girls. Or, er, even more so than manga boys usually do. I stared at the het story and decided that since the character had long hair (not so telling) and was in a girl's school uniform with skirt, she was probably a she. Though really, even with the school uniform, you can never be sure in manga. (She was a she in that one though.)
I have clearly gone from simply enjoying these to wanting people to read them. This collection and Same Cell Organism are more BL than yaoi; this one also has non-romantic character studies as well. The art and paneling are gorgeous, spare and clean and evocative. The sensibility of the mangaka reminds me a little of the Nishi Keiko shorts that I've read.
Nothing really happens in any of the stories; it's the art and the minimal prose that I love.
I read the mangaka's Same Cell Organism yesterday, which was so gorgeous that I ended up reading this one and buying it. I need to go back and acquire Same Cell Organism as well.
Like Same Cell Organism, The Day I Become a Butterfly is also a collection of short stories; some are BL and some aren't, but they're all infused with the same wistful, quiet melancholy and joy. The titular story is on the dying Uka and somewhat psychic Mikami, who apparently can sense when people are about to die. Cue gorgeously understated and quiet angst! Others are on childhood friends and a girl who fears change (het); a girl trying to disentangle herself from affairs and draw; and two 16-year-old boys, one of whom purports to be an alien. The last one is sweet and funny and a nice look at being different; I didn't expect to like it, but it made me laugh with the ending:
Ulala Nakazawa (16), currently residing in Tokyo, is still, as always, an alien.
Yuzuru Yoshimoto (16), currently residing in Tokyo, this day transfers citizenship to a nation in space.
And from the childhood friends one: "The lonely war. Hailing bullets of happiness. Yellow flowers. / And next to me -- you."
A small warning: some of Yumeka's boys look just like girls. Or, er, even more so than manga boys usually do. I stared at the het story and decided that since the character had long hair (not so telling) and was in a girl's school uniform with skirt, she was probably a she. Though really, even with the school uniform, you can never be sure in manga. (She was a she in that one though.)
I have clearly gone from simply enjoying these to wanting people to read them. This collection and Same Cell Organism are more BL than yaoi; this one also has non-romantic character studies as well. The art and paneling are gorgeous, spare and clean and evocative. The sensibility of the mangaka reminds me a little of the Nishi Keiko shorts that I've read.
Nothing really happens in any of the stories; it's the art and the minimal prose that I love.