The Yaoi Minute returns after a long break with a title that stands out in the catalog of Hana Books. Here, no romance between high school students, but a meeting between two skinned alive in the heart of one of the crucial periods in the history of Japan, the Edo period.
The story
Edo period. Ichi is a young man who works in a freakshow, a monster fair. Charged with haranguing the barge, he is himself considered a "deviant", looked down on and mistreated. Soon, a new boarder makes his entrance: Bena, a young boy with flamboyant hair. At first suspicious, Ichi gradually takes a liking to him. Until the day he decides to help her escape to find her parents. But appearances can be deceiving… And they could turn everything upside down.
Endearing and attached characters…
Kofude offers us with this first volume of Bena a bittersweet and impactful story from the first pages. Behind the draperies and the smiles of façade, the characters bend under the weight of pretense.Ichi, in particular, marks us with his tense face in perpetual pain, which he tries to mask with a distant and cold attitude. But his anger erupts when Bena arrives. The young boy seems to remind him of memories he would have liked to make disappear… But it is also thanks to this aspect that the two young men get closer. Ichi slowly takes affection and pity for Bena, who remains attached and gagged all day long. Just like Ichi gags his own feelings. Despite the revelation of Bena's true nature, Ichi can't help but find himself inside him. The young man then begins a long reconstruction, which will allow him to make peace with the ghosts that haunt him.
… At the heart of a contrasting era
Bena takes place in the heart of the Edo period. This period of Japanese history, following the terrible clan wars that led to the famous Battle of Sekigahara (1600), remains marked by a strong contrast. On the one hand, the shogunate maintained order with an iron fist. The country closes in on itself and isolates itself (sakoku). On the other hand, cultural life is exploding. It is the rise of fine arts and entertainment such as kabuki theater, ukiyo-e prints and the poetry of Matsuo Bashô. Bena and Ichi thus struggle in troubled times, where relations between individuals are still marked by class contempt. At the same time, superstitions persist and lead to many injustices. In a few boxes, cleverly scattered throughout the volume, Kofude shows us how difficult it is to live for those ostracized by society. Solidarity then becomes the key word between these sometimes colorful characters, and the affection they have for each other warms the heart. With her delicate and expressive line, the mangaka brings to the forefront a story more social than it seems.
Beyond Love
Reminiscent of the beautiful Momo & Manji, by Sakura Sawa, Bena offers us more than a love story. Indeed, the characters are complex, whether they are main or not (we think of Danzô, who stands out at the end of the volume). The issue of grief and trauma is highlighted. How to allow oneself to love and especially to be loved after having lost everything? Is moving forward renouncing the past or finally making it your own? These questions unfold in filigree, between hesitations and rapprochements. Under the delicate and powerful features of Kofude, Bena and Ichi appear in all their humanity, confronting their past and preparing for the future. Like the great masters of ukiyo-e, this first volume of Bena gives us in a few delicate brushstrokes, a tender and painful love story between two skinned alive. Questioning humanity and the place that each one takes in the world, Kofude comes to hit the reader, posing sincere love as a remedy for the harshest traumas. And if your heart still has room after reading this volume, take a leap into the present with Escape Journey, a modern but equally subtle romance!
