This isn't even a problem with the writing, as much as it is a problem with Higashimura stretching herself too thin with multiple projects, as well as herself and her editorial team not planning the spacing of the last arc of the manga. There was definitely room for two more volumes in order to properly flesh out the climax of the story, as well tie up everybody's loose ends.
But enough of the negative already. What did 'Kuragehime' do to deserve a 9?
I started reading this manga when I was 17 years old (I'm 21 now) and it opened up a whole new world of manga to me. I expected a silly story, one ridden with tropes and shalloweness, but what I got was a story that takes so many shoujo-manga tropes and flips them on their heads. Or flips them off altogether. This manga is hilarious, it's sometimes even preposterous, but never at any one point do any of the characters seem like cartoons. Despite all of their eccentricities, the Amars and Kuranosuke are very much real people, with real problems, and beautiful personal growth.
'Kuragehime' is probably the manga that kick-started my disdain towards vanilla shoujo manga. After I became so deeply invested in the world of these characters, and the stories that they had to offer, I could no longer look upon most vanilla high-school shoujo the same way. Why? Well, because it was refreshing to see characters - especially so many characters who are women - be concerned with something other than a shallow, silly romance or looks.
Sure, there's romance in here (I'll get that onto that later), and Tsukimi does have a complex about her looks. OK, a lot of 'Kuragehime' IS about looks and fashion. But it isn't about going through a drastic makeover and then suddenly making friends and winning the guy. It's about expressing yourself through art - no matter what your interests are - being yourself, learning to love yourself on the inside and then letting that love show on the outside. One of the most beautiful things this manga does is turn Tsukimi from an insecure, shrinking violet, who doubts are artistic ability and loathes her lack of femininity and appearance, into a creative genius who is capable of making beautiful items of clothing for the people she loves. Whilst growing to love herself. Without even realising that she now loves herself. And it isn't conveyed in a change of wardrobe. Yes, from time-to-time she'll get dolled up, but her appearance changes because her confidence changes. She's no longer hunched over, or sweaty, or timid. She walks with an air of confidence, and she looks happy, all the while still wearing her braids and funny glasses.
As someone who has both an eating disorder and depression, the message this manga sent was truly beautiful. It embraced the diversity, eccentricity, and unconventional beauty of its characters and said: you are worth it. You deserve to be loved. You don't need to look like everybody else, or behave like everybody else, or conform, whatever you do is the right thing.
I think that's why it handles the concept of Kuranosuke's fluid gender identity very well. Their gender fluidity is never portrayed in a cheap manner. It's not used for laughs; Kuranosuke's not the butt of the joke - they're a hero. A beautiful hero in a dress and a wig. Kuranosuke may ID as a man, but he rejects the societal pressures and expectations placed upon him because of his gender and decides to be his own person. Dressing up in clothing that are traditionally seen as being "feminine" is just part of his way of expressing himself. I won't get into too much detail about the reasoning behind Kuranosuke's decision to start wearing "women's" clothing since it gets into spoiler-y territory, but it's definitely worth the read in order to find out.
Now, onto the romance. I love romance. A story is never usually complete to me if it doesn't have some sort of element of romance in it. However, I'm also incredibly jaded, and rather cynical, for someone who likes romance as much as I do. It's probably why I can no longer stand the horrible excuse for a "romance" story that we are so often presented with in crappy high-school shoujo manga. That shallow, superficial, love-at-first-sight-even-though-the-guy-is-an-asshole-and-we-have-nothing-in-common romance played out in the corridors of a school when the students should be more busy studying. I can't stand it. It infuriates me. It's so pathetic, and woefully unrealistic.
Do teenagers even talk like that? When I was a teenager, my peers were more concerned about getting hammered on the weekend and having lots of sex. Not writing love letters of Shakespearean proportion to the boy in the next class that they only laid eyes on one. But, I digress. My point is, 'Kuragehime' lets you think that it's going to fall down that superficial love-at-first-sight romantic route by giving us a romance based on exactly that. However, it unravels that trope, showing you just how shaky a relationship based on such superficial qualities is. How it that flame of 'love' dies as quickly as it sparked to life. And you know what else it does? It shows us that it's not a bad thing that our crush didn't work. It's not the end of the world like shoujo manga tells us. It's actually a really good thing, because it allows us to understand what exactly we want from our significant other, it allows us to realise what it means to really fall in love.
Though I do think it's completely unfair that Akiko Higashimura has created a completely unrealistic precedent for men in the form of Koibuchi Kuranosuke. I mean, where can I find a man like that?! He's a bit vain, but honestly, the pros greatly outweigh the cons. lol
It's quite sad that through all of that 'Kuragehime' didn't deliver on the ending -- not that the ending was bad. Actually, it gave us a lot of what I was already expecting through foreshadowing. However, it was just so rushed. It gave us glimpses to things that deserved chapters. To be honest, Higashimura did her characters a disservice by rushing the ending like a J-dorama. I don't entirely blame her, because she did have a lot on her plate at the time, and it had been announced a while ago that 'Kuragehime''s final volume was going to be its 17th. But she should have planned herself a lot better. If only she had shelved 'Tokyo Tarereba Girls' (also a must-read) until after 'Kuragehime's conclusion, we might not have had to go through such a messily executed ending.
Nevertheless, 'Kuragehime' is still most definitely worth the read. You will come out of it with a sense of joy, and with characters that stay close to your heart for a very long time.
