Behind the idea of an erotic-perverse fan-service that is often rumored to associate with Yaoi, there are many works with powerful and complex themes. From the Victorian fantasy to the slice-of-life, the genre is full of stories to satisfy everyone's tastes. Some authors no longer hesitate to put their feet in the dish by offering harsh stories where love and hate intertwine or even collide. This is the case of Ogeretsu Tanaka, judiciously spotted a few years ago now by Taifu editions. The Yaoi Minute offers you today a look at its bittersweet triptych, Escape Journey.
The story
Taichi and Naoto loved each other back in high school. However, passion soon gave way to violent arguments. Until the breaking point… The two boys then separated, each with their hearts in tatters and full of regret. But now their paths cross again at university! Naoto, still scalded by this tumultuous relationship, has trouble taking stock of his feelings. Taichi, on the other hand, seems to have changed. Would this be an opportunity for them to start again, together, on a new basis? At a time when societal and social pressure is stronger than ever on students, will the present make it possible to make a clean sweep of the past?
Escape Journey: romance in three acts
Escape Journey immediately attracts with its brightly colored covers, on which Naoto and Taichi interact. Moreover, each of them gives an overview of the evolution of their relationship: hesitant reunion, doubts, confidence in the future … Ogeretsu Tanaka catches us directly into his story, making the fundamental traits of his characters distinct from the start. The latter are particularly well written, both the main and the secondary. Thus, throughout the three volumes that make up this work, the mangaka offers us to read a tormented romance. Behind his sunny smile, Naoto hides a deep wound of self-love. By trying to save appearances, the young man seems to lie to himself, concerning his feelings but also what he aspires to. Taichi, meanwhile, seems to oscillate between maladjustment and naivety. He, too, is carrying heavy luggage that he will have to get rid of. Escape Journey describes over the pages the slow reconstruction of the two young men, whose passion is rekindled as one blows on embers. If the introduction seems basic, Ogeretsu Tanaka makes a major change by entangling the questions of Naoto, who takes the place of main narrator. Looking like nothing, the mangaka instills a tense atmosphere even as social pressure increases around these young adults. Finding a job, getting married, having a child… How can we achieve this when our desires do not match the expectations of others? The weight of the family inheritance is also brought with great delicacy and psychology. More than love, it is a story of independence that this young couple and their entourage tell us.
Ogeretsu Tanaka, committed mangaka
The career of this Osaka native took off in 2014 with the hard-hitting Love whispers, even in the rusted night. In this one-shot, she raises a rare but necessary theme, that of battered men. We already find his trademark there. His characters hide their wounds as best they can, waiting to finally wake up to a frank and genuine relationship. Alternating between hard themes and zany slices of life (we think of the unclassifiable Yarichin Bitch Club), Ogeretsu Tanaka offers us since its beginnings global, powerful and complex works, whose beauty is able to radiate beyond the borders of the genre. Added to this is the quality of his drawing. The joyful moments literally become bright, while the worries and violence shine through in the tension of bodies and faces. The mangaka takes special care of the latter, of course for her main characters, but also for all those who gravitate around them. Thus, even the secondary characters incarnate and come to life under his pen. Avoiding any deviation as well as any voyeurism, Ogeretsu Tanaka gives the reader the opportunity to question his own feelings. It is indeed with disconcerting ease that we attach ourselves or even identify with the characters, male or female. In his work, there is also no question of good or evil. In Escape Journey in particular, the boundaries are blurred, violence can rumble beneath the surface, behind words or gestures, reflecting unspeakable suffering. As well as a poorly managed love, confronted with the pangs of a past too heavy. But the mangaka always gives her protagonists a chance to redeem themselves and evolve, like Nishina. If the journey is more important than the destination, Escape Journey may well be the story of humanity. Concluded in three volumes, Escape Journey is one of those works that we would like to see continue longer, simply to observe, with tenderness, the evolution of characters more touching than each other. With Ogeretsu Tanaka, Taifu Editions offered us much more than just a romance… but a window on the human soul.
