Kagome Kagome portrays the daily life of women inside a nunnery, supposedly in France even though nothing is mentioned of the time or place. Inside of it are mainly orphans or women that lost everything after unfortunate circumstances and had no choice but to join it if they wanted to survive. Amongst them is Amilah, an energetic and resolute child trying her best to help around and become like a second hands to the sisters and especially to Marwena that she considers like her mother. Marwena, unlike Amilah, is more solitary and seems filled with regret and nostalgia. All throughout will it slowly reveal her true feelings and why this nunnery seems more to her like a prison than a sanctuary.
As mentioned above, the story focuses mainly on daily life and mundane tasks that these women accomplishes, be it cleaning, making food or simply praying. Its originality lays mainly in its format : originally published in a bigger size than your standard manga and fully drawn in watercolour, Aoi Ikebe is a talented artist that knows how to make the most of her medium and provide an unique and soothing experience. Her color management is especially impressive to render the different feelings of the different protagonists as well as to contrast the different locations. Everything is so well arranged that not one element seems like it doesn’t contribute to one element or another, and that way of presenting the narrative easily makes up for its lack of dialogues, telling visually what it could lazily states. Its poetic and melancholic aspect is even reinforced by some minute details like by how the different panels are surrounded by what looks like frames of a painting.
If you’re looking to escape, even for a brief moment, let yourself be nursed by the rhythm of this peaceful tale.
