Jan 10, 2021
Best josei title longer than 1 volume that I've ever read. published in 00's in France under the title Mlle Oishi
Each volume, as you can see, had a separate title: "Mlle Oishi, 28 years not married", "... 29 years old, not married", "... 32 years old, not married" and, finally, ". .32 years old, married. "
The end of the manga, as the title of the last volume hints, is a happy one. Hoever, the main character, Kon Oishi or Kon-chan, will come to it, not at all as you would think when you start reading the first volume. In the end, you will have to
...
live with her for more than four years, and before your very eyes she will grow from a girl with two pigtails in thefirst panel of the manga (she is 28 there, she and her friend are preparing the first exhibition of handmade teddy bears) to the mother of the family on the cover of the fourth volume.
All volumes are quite clearly divided according to the periods of Kon-chan's life, and for each a separate review can be written.
In the first volume, Kon-chan is going to marry her recently divorced colleague. He proposes to her and immediately says that she needs to quit her job in the office, because she "is not able to do anything herself, and he will take care of her." After that begins what a woman with any experience in married can only call a horror and a psychological thriller. There is everything: huge sums that her fiancé borrows from her family under pretence of the future wedding, the ever-growing debts which become biggerevery time whens Kon-chan thinks that they have already paid everything off, horse races, unemployment, and absolutely naive Kon-chan who did not expect this from "family life".
In the second volume, a new life begins: friendship with a colleague at a new workplace, simple joys such as lunch in a nearby cafe, new acquaintances. And at the same time, the main theme is: where does love lead and how to maintain inner harmony, is it possible? Three stories develop in parallel. Kon-chan meets a new lover, a kind and pleasant, but frivolous guy. Kon-chan's brother, who is gay, seeks his love but instead gets rejection after rejection and sinks into despair. And finally, Kon-chan's friend, Tetsu, who cannot help falling in love with any girl who paid attention to him, and as a result finds himself in a very unpleasant situation.
In the third volume, after a time skip, Kon-chan, who has long abandoned her thoughts about marriage and the "normal" life in general, plunges headlong into her own business - design and sewing of accessories. She has to finally grow up - to help out Tetsu, to get her brother out of depression, to cope with grief herself, and at the same time to work a lot.
And only in the fourth volume does she finally actually becomes ready for the status of a "married woman" and for everything else, and along with her the rest of the characters suddenly grow up.
The morale here is simple: self-improvement and hard work on what you love, whatever it may be, help not only to withstand the most nasty circumstances, but also to live in a completely different way. Throughout history, Kon-chan has energy to confronts life's difficulties thanks to her hobby, sewing and knitting.Having lost her job in the office, she starts to work for a sewing store and works really hard even if it seems to be a simple job - she begins to study different types of fabrics, uses the opportunity to buy fabrics at a discount to work more herself, and even learns English to better understand foreign trends. When she has free time she spends it doing what she loves, and not worrying about the hardships of her life.
In this manga, there is no shonen-like approach along the lines of "I will become the king of pirates", no confidence in the future like in peacefule slice-of-life stories, no shojo naivety, no decadent moods, which can be often found in josei. This is a very harmonious story, although the life is not easy for characters.
I hope it will be republished or at least scanlated one day and find its readers in different countries.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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