Jan 6, 2025
hibari no asa (hibari's morning) is so deeply real to me. i read this all in one sitting and i can't help but think that there isn't something that isn't true for all of us. i too, was like hibari. when i first read this manga i felt like it was going to be an average psychosexual type lolita narrative, after all it set itself up like that. looking back on this, it is purposeful - it's a deconstruction. when hibari's cousin mentioned she had a crush on him, i took it at face value; after all, that stuff isnt unknown to these kinds of
...
stories. maybe i'm just pessimistic tho from how much romanticized incest i see tho lol.
there's something deeply foreboding about the beginning of this manga though: the unsettling shadow of a man on the first page of the story, her cousin's mantra: “i always overlook the important stuff,” and the end of chapter 2 where we see a glimpse into "shy, sensual" hibari's personality. things only get darker from there.
there's an exploration on how the adults around hibari see her, and the parts they play in her victimization. the women in her life perceive her as "the other woman," an object of jealousy, competition, and contempt. complimenting this notion, the men see her as the quintessential “slutty schoolgirl”, an object of desire and temptation for them. she is an object to be consumed by them.
i expected hibari's morning to just rely on schoolgirl sexuality for psychological titillation, like so much other media. rather, it is a chillingly realistic depiction of institutionalized misogyny and rape culture and how it affects young girls.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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