In the vein of Game – Entre nos corps, Akata editions offered us to discover during this month of May Aromantic (love) story. A new shojo, a little more mature compared to the usual titles!
Aromantic (love) story
Original title : 桐生先生は恋愛がわからない – Kiryuu-sensei wa Renai ga Wakaranai
Alternate title : Aromantic (love) story
Author : Haruka ONO
Editor French: Akata
Japanese publisher : Shugakukan
Release date : 03/05/2018
Number of volumes : 1 volume in France, 5 in Japan
Status : Series completed in Japan
Price : 6,99 €
Synopsis :
Futaba Kiryû, 32, is a manga author. What she loves above all is to draw social shônen! The problem is that this genre doesn't work at all… So, to try to really launch his career, his publisher offers him (imposes?) to try another genre of shônen: the harem manga! Big problem: she hates it, and above all… She is not interested in love at all. Despite herself and annoyed by the social injunction that requires women to be necessarily in love, she begins writing a romantic shônen manga. Against all odds, the success is immediate, and here she is condemned to continue drawing a series to which, herself, she does not understand anything… To make matters worse, she quickly finds herself caught between two fires: on the one hand, the touching veneration of an assistant twelve years her junior, on the other, the flamboyant seduction of a forty-year-old anime writer. A nightmare situation for this hardened bachelor… (Source: Akata)
Mangaka and single…
In her thirties, Futaba Kiryu is not a woman like any other. A mangaka by profession, she has never felt any attraction to a woman or a man. Not found the right person? No one knows, not even her. However, to her dismay, she now breaks into the field of the romantic shonen harem, a style she disapproves of. While her manga is about to be adapted into anime, she receives the declaration of two men at least 10 years apart from her, the writer of the anime and one of his assistants. Is this an opportunity for her to better understand the romantic relationships she was shunning until now?
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Impactful social themes
Aromantic (love) Story is a very interesting work since it addresses several social themes that affect, sometimes Japan, sometimes the world in general. Through her heroine Futaba Kiryû, mangaka Haruka ONO begins by denouncing a part of the Japanese publishing system. A part that shows that authors are often pushed to write on themes that do not attract them, in order to sell. In this work, Futaba is an author attached to social shōnen, in which she tries to convey messages. However, the non-success of his last series pushed his publisher to orient him towards the shōnen harem. Here, even if we do not put the knife to the throat of our protagonist and we take her at fault in his pride, we suspect that other artists can be regularly pushed towards themes whose economic success is safer than the projects that are close to their hearts.
But that's not all, because Aromantic (love) Story offers a great development on the love life of our heroine. Indeed, because of his inexperience, Futaba questions his sexual identity. Asexual? Aromantic? Unlucky? Both men and women have not been able to spark an interest in her. Even if the opposite is not true, since in this story, our protagonist will receive two statements that she will not be too much how to face. Apart from Futaba which is described by his actions and conversations, the other characters, although for the moment less worked, are described through the prism of our heroine.
A touch of humor, without excess glitter
There is also a lot of humor in Aromantic (love) Story , especially from the two men who are attracted to Kiryu Sensei. The interest it can arouse among the male sex passes completely above it, which multiplies the misunderstandings. As for the drawings, they are not characteristic of the usual shōjō ! Quite simple in the representation of characters or landscapes, there is a very limited presence of frills, splinters or atmosphere with rose water.
Moreover on rereading, I find it funny that finally Haruka ONO treats the two styles that are in opposition in his work. Indeed, Futaba Kiryû hates the romantic shōnen harem and prefers to draw social titles. Two completely opposite styles, while Haruka ONO highlights these two themes in his work.
For me Aromantic (love) Story is a good pick directed by Akata, which deals in this title with important social themes within a romantic comedy. It remains to be seen if the dosage will remain as interesting in the volumes to come so as not to sabotage itself!
Manga credits: KIRYU SENSEI WA RENAI GA WAKARANAI. © 2016 Haruka ONO / SHOGAKUKAN
