After years of avoiding it, I finally sat down and read Suzuki Tanaka's, Aitsu Daihonmei. The reason for my avoidance stemmed from reading the original release in Libre's Pheonix anthology. The topic given to the creators participating in the issue was basically ugly guys and the hawt guys that love 'em. In my opinion, no one actually stayed true to the topic (except for Saika Kunieda) because none of the ugly guys were ugly. One of the characters looked like he might've been a teenaged version of Timmy Turner from Fairly Odd Parents, but that's not ugly, just a little odd and kinda funny. What I didn't like about Tanaka's story is it seemed her version of ugly required having almond shaped eyes.
Almond shaped eyes?! Is that what got you all riled up, you oversensitive girl?! Well, yeah. It seemed illogical to me to have a trait that so many Asians shared labeled as ugly. It's like the pot calling the kettle black. Maybe it is a bit oversensitive to completely avoid a title because I don't agree with the premise, especially when I take pride in exposing myself to a variety of things so I can become more knowledgeable. I guess one of my problems with Aitsu is I was thinking too much like an American who has wide knowledge of American racism. Mind you, I am not saying that I found Aitsu racist, but my history with racism made me sensitive to the content. But Aitsu is created for the Japanese by a Japanese author and their rules of prejudice and racism are different from our own. So I concluded that it would be best for me to read the rest of Aitsu before passing judgment. And that I did. The whole almond eyes = ugliness is still something I want to explore but I have to admit that the story swept me away. Maybe because, I don't know, it had a hint of familiarity.
Hmmm...Two high school boys, one that's unattractive and the other is very attractive hook up. Attractive guy has jealousy issues and is always ready to jump the bones of his lover, although his lover isn't too receptive to his advances. Sounds kinda like...
Menkui! One of the big differences between Menkui and Aitsu is the prior one took place at an all boys school. In Aitsu, the main character, Yoshida is constantly being picked on by girls because their idol, Satou, lavishes him with attention. It makes me wonder if Kotori would have received the same treatment if their school had been co-ed. If anything the characters in Aitsu seem to be extreme versions of Kotori and Aikawa. I'd even go as far to say Aitsu is a parody of those high school romances Tanaka is so good at writing. Other than the extremities of the characters there's the fact that Tanaka doesn't really draw any backgrounds, which seems to compound the fact that this could quite possibly be a parody. Everything tends to be stark white. When she pans out on the school it's never a well detailed building, it looks like something your little brother might have scribbled on his math homework. And the building is very reminiscent of the thousand school buildings you've probably seen in manga and anime. Tanaka seems to be relying on her audience to fill in the blanks and parodies are always completely reliant upon the knowledge of the audience. And it is kind of weird seeing a Tanaka title without any sci-fi touches. So I am most definitely leaning in the direction that this is a parody.
I don't know. I can't help but see Aitsu as Menkui sans the whole sci-fi twist. It's just pure and utter high school romance fluff. Which, if that's your thing, you'll fall in love with this title. I still want to put on my sociologist cap and analyze it to death, but for now I'll just enjoy the syrupy sweet goodness of Satou/Yoshida. And, boy, is it good.
No comments:
Post a Comment