Scenes from Awajima continues its understated and melancholic—if subtly optimistic—stories of the young women who attended Awajima Revue School with three new tales in its third volume. As with the previous volumes, these are stories less concerned with grand drama (a surprise—considering the setting—but not a surprise, considering the author) than with the complicated emotions that shape relationships and identity. Each is moving in its own way, featuring characters who have surprising depth despite the limited time we spend with them, including some making their first appearances in the series.
One story follows Akiho, whose famous parents have created expectations for her that they ultimately dash, leaving her to navigate the complicated feelings that come with their disappointment. Her story eventually brings her into the orbit of the earnest Wakana as roommates, giving us another glimpse at the bonds that form among the students. Mangaka Takako Shimura, here as much in the other stories, excels at showing us how layered these relationships are; it’s not as simple as the deep Akiho finding healing with the unassuming Wakana, because the characters have thoughts and backgrounds as complicated as any real person’s.
Another of the tales further impresses these layered relationships by way of the complicated one between Saori and Mikako. Using the flashback structure common in this series, the two women are shown to have occupied shifting roles in each other’s lives as rivals, replacements, and friends. I appreciate how these chapters portray two determined women who are neither shown angelically nor as shrews at each other’s throats; their relationship, and much of the series generally, lies in a more realistic and evolving space.
And then there’s the story which most intertwines with what we do here. It focuses on Asami, previously introduced only tangentially, as she wrestles with her feelings about her parents and the “weird” religion they practice, something she desperately wants to leave behind. Because of the subject matter of Beneath the Tangles, I found this story particularly interesting. As far as I can tell (having watched the anime adaptation), it’s only in the manga that the religion is explicitly identified as Christianity. There are indications in the manga—though more particularly in the anime—that what Asami’s family is practicing is a cult-like religion rather than Christianity itself.
Of course, it could also be that “cult” is simply how Asami, who wants nothing to do with her family’s faith, understands it. Shimura leaves enough ambiguity here to make either interpretation possible. Either way, I appreciate the way Shimura-sensei portrays what it can be like for a teenager to encounter her family’s Christian faith when she doesn’t want to embrace it. Because we’re given insight into Asami’s inner thoughts, and because—as previously mentioned—Shimura-sensei is an expert at giving us a wider breadth to a character’s thinking than manga typically does, she’s not presented as simply a brat, despite some of her words and actions. This reminded me of similar scenes from her previous work, Wandering Son, where a different teenager (who can also be difficult) has some bumps in navigating the road between Japanese culture and Christian faith.
The artwork remains lovely, the girls portrayed with hairstyles somewhat indicating the time period the chapters are set in, and drawn with detailed eyes and soft features. The story itself is still forming at this point—what the ultimate theme of the series is and how or if the major characters will all encounter one another is yet to be seen. But I don’t need either of those to happen anytime soon—or perhaps ever. There’s meaning enough to read about these women growing up in their often broken, sometimes scary, and always meaningful worlds.
Scenes from Awajima is published by Yen Press.
READ Reviews of Scenes from Awajima: Vol. 1 // Vol. 2