Okan: Tsuutenkaku no Yuuhi

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Every so often I come across a short story like this which supposedly has a heart and presents a beautiful parable that inspires us to become better people. And more often than not it ends up being melodramatic to the detriment of its own message, hiding its shortcomings behind cheap emotional manipulation. Okan is, unfortunately, one of the latter. The poor family is bombarded with hardships, they cry in every second panel, and struggle, and sacrifice themselves, and endure, and prevail—all in a manner so blatantly overacted it borders on self-parody. Subtlety? What's that?...

Now, I don't mean to sound needlessly cold. I do very much ... empathize with the characters and their motivations. There were times when I had to live in near-poverty with my mother, and she died when I was still young. So, while I do understand the drama being depicted, I also have first-hand experience and understanding of how it can (and often does) unfold in real life. So I also can't help seeing how horribly contrived the story really is.

Here's the thing: the characters here actually have it good in their circumstances—way better than I've seen happen to real people like myself. They immediately choose to leave the alcoholic dad without giving it a second thought, and I know for a fact most families actually stumble over this step and never go further. He doesn't actively stop them nor pester them afterwards, which, again, isn't something that usually happens in abusive families. Mom and son remain reasonably healthy in both body and mind without succumbing to bad habits or medical conditions threatening to incapacitate them. They remain friendly and emotionally close to each other and don't form a toxic codependent relationship. Their income is small but stable to the point where they don't ever have to take loans. They don't fall for scams or otherwise get into the trouble that desperate people tend to fall victim to, aside from the shoplifting incident in the beginning that was resolved instantly and without consequences. The boy does well in school, actually manages to get what he wanted with his mother's help, and avoids bad company. He eventually lands a good job, builds a successful career, has a family with kids, yadda yadda. The point is, everything actually goes almost unbelievably smooth and works out for them in the end. The mother dies happy and without regrets. Maternal love: 1, reality: 0.

And that's not even the only problem—even if you consider that events, indeed, may develop this way in real life as well (and I don't doubt that *potentially* they can, even if they rarely do) and it's also equally important to show an uplifting resolution to a rather tragic premise. But therein comes something much more jarring: the characters are horribly shallow and completely fail to be relatable as a result. The mother is characterized by her love and self-sacrifice towards her son which give her strength. The son is characterized by his love and self-sacrifice towards his mother which give him strength. They have the same core trait, and zero personality beyond that. Absolutely none! We have virtually no idea what kind of people they would be outside the context of their familial relationship. This is disappointing: having characters in a character-driven drama being cardboard cut-outs undermines the entire concept of strong bonds that help a family prevail over their circumstances. It is degrading for the characters and readers alike as it turns what could have been a poignant story into a caricature on itself.

Honestly, I don't know what to think of this. On the one hand, Okan isn't horrible, and I don't want to bash the author for their storytelling choices that happen to rub me the wrong way despite a solid premise and worthy subject matter. On the other, the characterization is nonexistent, there is little effort made making struggles seem compelling, and I feel like despite this manga being very short and to-the-point, it's decidedly mediocre and ultimately a waste of time. Unless you really, really enjoy every bit of sappy melodrama you can get your hands on, no matter how poorly written it is.