Hey all, Sakaki here with a new manga review! It's been a while, I know, but this time around we're branching out from Weekly Shonen Sunday (and by extension, Viz) for a series that runs in Big Comic Spirits and is licensed/published in English by Yen Press! Let's dig into "Adults Picture Book: New Edition" by Kei Itoi.
The Artist
Kei Itoi
I wasn't able to find much in regard to Itoi-sensei's background, but as for manga they've done two omnibus collections with Hakusensha, a publisher mostly known for their shojo/josei/seinen manga. One is entitled Anata to wa Nemuranai or I can't sleep with you and the other is Hana to hoo or Flower and Cheek.
Cover for Anata to wa Nemurnai
Cover for Hana to hoo
The former contains 8 oneshots that includes a trilogy entitled "Yuki no Morui" which is about a popular character from Hana to Hoo, and their youth. It's described by the book site as a "Book that leaves a quiet aftertaste long after reading." These pieces seem more moody than both Adult's picture book and Hana to Hoo. On the other hand, Hana to Hoo is a summer story about a high school boy and girl and their families. The story is one and done in a volume and is about the future beyond where the past and present intertwine in a boy meets girl story. This work is a little close to what Adults' Picture Book: New Edition is in tone and feel. Especially the overall narrative of a girl who likes a boy who doesn't have any interest in her. It sounds simple enough, but Itoi's meticulous pacing and unique artwork lends itself to create a piece that gives off a quiet vibe that's not wholly hopeful, but not oppressive either. It helps that Itoi-sensei's artwork has a very soft look with unobtrusive, straightforward paneling that's easy on the eyes.
The Serial
Adults' Picture Book: New Edition.
Starting in Big Comic Spirits combined issues 4/5 in 2022 (out December 27) the blurb reads: Kudo is entrusted with the responsibility of raising his male friend Haruki's child Kiki. Kudo wants to be a family with her, so he makes a proposal to Fusako, a woman who looks like Haruki in order to be a real family with Kiki. This is a story about strangers living together that asks....what is it to be an adult?
The Review
The raunchy sounding title aside, this first entry of the series continues Itoi-sensei's slow burn storytelling in which a lot happens without a lot happening. Readers are dropped in to Kudo's life with Kiki and the gaps are filled afterward as the story proceeds forth. Kudo is a mangaka of the adult manga persuasion (hence the title) and his friend Haruki has passed away recently, leaving his daughter to Kudo. Except Haruki does this in the way you or I might ask someone to watch our stuff while we run off to the bathroom for a second. Haruki just assumes Kudo's good for it, and that's that. Stranger still, Kudo just rolls with it and raises Kiki without really questioning it. It's absurd on it's face, and that's all before Kudo heads to the bank to get things set up for his new family when he asks the teller there --Fusako to be his wife, and Kiki's mom. At first, she turns him down, but after some thought she takes him up on the offer and the strangers go forth and build a family throughout the rest of the volume.
Kudo's feelings toward Haruki are front and center --Kudo states it more than once that he likes Haruki. Though even that is an understatement --it's not easy to qualify his feelings in that mere word. He likes just Haruki. Is it love? Admiration? Or something in between? There's something about Haruki that he wants to be around, and I have to wonder how much of that is him still being deep in mourning of Haruki's sudden passing, and still trying to sort out the idea that he's no longer here (as Kudo doesn't really mourn much in this volume) and how much of it is that he like-likes him. Kudo makes it clear that it's not that he's into men, or isn't into women, it's just he likes Haruki. Which is why he's able to quickly ask Fusako to be in his life based on how similar she is to Haruki's physical appearance.
Fusako accepts just as quickly as she just takes a look at Kudo and his solemn expression. What starts out seemingly as pity turns into a genuine wish to be with Kiki and Kudo. She's described in the book as someone who worries about not having worries, and yet has a bold enough personality that she agrees to be Kudo's wife after meeting him once. To be clear, throughout the volume Kudo doesn't mince words and says what's on his mind --he's in this to give Kiki a family not so much because he's in love with her, and yet there is a sense of intrigue that she'd just drop everything to be with him.
A lot of the volume is just figuring things out, and making the transition over to being strangers to a family. In that sense it is very much a Shogakukan manga --the mundane isn't skipped over to get straight to the drama, there are conversations about where to sleep, where to live, who's last name they'll take, etc. Though it's through these conversations that the characters identities become clear to us --Kudo is solemn and perhaps what we'd most associate with "adulthood" in that he has a clear sense of responsibility, but as Fusako says, he seems lost --wandering through the motions like a ship without an anchor. Meanwhile, Fusako immediately gets plans together, is the one who spearheads the idea of them getting a place, right down to her mentioning her lease is up soon, and making it clear to young Kiki that she's not really her mom, though she does want to be a family with them. It's as if together they make one full adult. Though really, the sentiment is both said and unsaid --what makes an adult anyway? Is it having your life together? Chasing your dreams? Having a family? None of these things are clear-cut, and even the best of us are sometimes left adrift without the help of others.
I'd be remiss not to mention Kiki in this review as well. For the most part she is a precocious little gal, who more or less goes with the flow --much like her Dad did when he was alive. Her mom is mentioned but even then she doesn't seem too torn up with the idea of starting a family with Kudo and Fusako. While I'm sure she gets a lot of this from her dad who's seen in flashbacks to be as Kudo puts it "Willful, capricious, abrupt and absurd." I do wonder just how much of her personality is formed by being with him --albeit only for a brief period. Either way, her antics bring just the right amount of levity to what could have been a very heavy and dramatic story.
The series ended in Japan last year with 3 volumes total, making for an easy read. At this writing, only volume one is out, but I'd recommend this series. Adults' Picture Book (New Edition) doesn't shy away from the absurdities in its premise, which makes for a stronger narrative hook. What is an adult without a family, and at least at first isn't a family just a bunch of strangers living together? Rather than trying to answer these questions, the first volume of the series presents instead a possibility, a potential between three strangers who are working their way through this situation they find themselves in. Emotions, love, relationships and family can be complex and even with support there may be no real answer. Though, as they say, maybe it's the journey that matters more than the destination.
Translation by Stephen Paul
Lettering by Alexis Eckerman
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