Ogawa Yayoi - Tramps Like Us, vol. 04-08 (Eng. trans.)
Reading five volumes in a row may have been a mistake, as nothing much happens and the interaction does get a little repetitive at times. On the other hand, I still love the Momo-Sumire relationship so much.
I'm also sad that this can't be my Rocking Feminist Manga, given the gender-role-reversal with Momo and Sumire and given that the series really looks at Sumire in the workplace and how she has to deal with being a Harvard and Tokyo University grad who is smart and competent and obviously threatening to both the men and the women at work. I wish Ogawa had a more nuanced portrayal of the women Sumire works with; instead, almost all of them seem to be jealous of Sumire because of her boyfriend, her intelligence, her school pedigree, and her competence.
I'm not saying that they shouldn't be, but it would be nice if there were a larger range of reactions and an exploration of why some of them might feel this way and the societal values and gender role expectations that feed into this. Instead, almost all the women in the series, with the exception of Sumire's housewife friend Yuri, are portrayed as jealous of Sumire, while the men tend to play off as understanding (Hasumi and Momo) or as complete horndogs (everyone else). I wouldn't be arguing as much about the gender portrayal, since pretty much everyone except Sumire, Yuri, Hasumi and Momo seems pretty evil, but the series spends much more time on the Momo-Sumire and Hasumi-Sumire relationship, and aside from a few chapters, the Sumire-Yuri relationship isn't given nearly as much weight.
Still, I am embarrassingly happy to have this anyway, just because at least there is some acknowledgement of the difficulties of breaking out of gender roles, even though the difficulty is positioned more as an individual problem, rather than a societal one.
Also, while I feel like I should have more a problem with the passivity of Sumire in her romantic relationships and how both Hasumi and Momo are more aggressive sexually, I think at least Ogawa somewhat examines it and looks at it critically, unlike most manga I've read. It's not set in the context of gender roles, which would make it much more interesting, but at least it's a "this is a personal problem for Sumire that she is attempting to overcome and something that really influences her relationships."
And I hope I'm not putting readers off the series by saying it's anti-feminist. I don't think it is anti-feminist per se, but it's also not feminist. But then, it still examines gender roles and expectations and how they play into relationships much more than most manga series I've read, and I suppose it could be read as a very accurate portrayal of what happens to people who break out of their traditional gender roles when they aren't doing it on purpose and don't have the tools to deal.
Spoilers start here
I keep wanting to not like Hasumi because I am a sad, OTP-striken person, but I do like him. I like that he is patient with Sumire when she probably would have driven me crazy a long time ago, and I like the feeling that if she ever let her quirks show through, he would be fairly accepting of them.
And I get his frustration and his confusion, given that they're still using their last names and that Sumire never, ever lets her walls down. Also, when she yelled at him and he was glad to finally see more of her, I wanted to hug him.
I am particularly irked by the portrayal of Hasumi's Hong Kong ex; there is absolutely no reasons storywise to make her lie to Sumire except to engender more angst, and I am getting really sick of all the women being jealous of Sumire.
On the other hand, I'm glad there was that chapter devoted specifically to Sumire and Yuri and the relationship between the two; I don't find Yuri's jealousy of Sumire or Sumire's jealous of Yuri as frustrating because the two of them actually talk about it and work through it. It also feels real -- I've definitely seen that among people, and I've felt that as well. It was also a nice way to emphaisize how both of them are stuck in their respective roles and how they want to break out.
I sympathized with Yuri trying to diet after her husband had an affair, but I do wish Ogawa would paint that desire as more problematic than it's shown to be (Yuri loses weight successfully and is happy).
And Momo! Sometimes I just want to slap him, despite the romantic desire for Sumire hitting most of my buttons. Ok, mostly I wanted to slap him when he grabbed her wrists and forcibly tried to kiss her, and when he dressed her up in the cat outfit. Momo! You dork! That's precisely what Sumire doesn't need, argh! At least he stopped in the cat outfit incident.
It was good to get more of Momo's POV; I especially liked the chapter on the old lady and her dog. And Momo is just as screwed up as Sumire is, but the way they're both screwed up fits together so well that it pushes all my buttons.
Hasumi is amazingly not screwed up and very healthy, which makes me want to hug him.
But storywise, I still like reading about Momo and Sumire together more, because their assorted dysfunctions push all my buttons, as mentioned several times, and because their relationship is so interesting!
I'm also sad that this can't be my Rocking Feminist Manga, given the gender-role-reversal with Momo and Sumire and given that the series really looks at Sumire in the workplace and how she has to deal with being a Harvard and Tokyo University grad who is smart and competent and obviously threatening to both the men and the women at work. I wish Ogawa had a more nuanced portrayal of the women Sumire works with; instead, almost all of them seem to be jealous of Sumire because of her boyfriend, her intelligence, her school pedigree, and her competence.
I'm not saying that they shouldn't be, but it would be nice if there were a larger range of reactions and an exploration of why some of them might feel this way and the societal values and gender role expectations that feed into this. Instead, almost all the women in the series, with the exception of Sumire's housewife friend Yuri, are portrayed as jealous of Sumire, while the men tend to play off as understanding (Hasumi and Momo) or as complete horndogs (everyone else). I wouldn't be arguing as much about the gender portrayal, since pretty much everyone except Sumire, Yuri, Hasumi and Momo seems pretty evil, but the series spends much more time on the Momo-Sumire and Hasumi-Sumire relationship, and aside from a few chapters, the Sumire-Yuri relationship isn't given nearly as much weight.
Still, I am embarrassingly happy to have this anyway, just because at least there is some acknowledgement of the difficulties of breaking out of gender roles, even though the difficulty is positioned more as an individual problem, rather than a societal one.
Also, while I feel like I should have more a problem with the passivity of Sumire in her romantic relationships and how both Hasumi and Momo are more aggressive sexually, I think at least Ogawa somewhat examines it and looks at it critically, unlike most manga I've read. It's not set in the context of gender roles, which would make it much more interesting, but at least it's a "this is a personal problem for Sumire that she is attempting to overcome and something that really influences her relationships."
And I hope I'm not putting readers off the series by saying it's anti-feminist. I don't think it is anti-feminist per se, but it's also not feminist. But then, it still examines gender roles and expectations and how they play into relationships much more than most manga series I've read, and I suppose it could be read as a very accurate portrayal of what happens to people who break out of their traditional gender roles when they aren't doing it on purpose and don't have the tools to deal.
Spoilers start here
I keep wanting to not like Hasumi because I am a sad, OTP-striken person, but I do like him. I like that he is patient with Sumire when she probably would have driven me crazy a long time ago, and I like the feeling that if she ever let her quirks show through, he would be fairly accepting of them.
And I get his frustration and his confusion, given that they're still using their last names and that Sumire never, ever lets her walls down. Also, when she yelled at him and he was glad to finally see more of her, I wanted to hug him.
I am particularly irked by the portrayal of Hasumi's Hong Kong ex; there is absolutely no reasons storywise to make her lie to Sumire except to engender more angst, and I am getting really sick of all the women being jealous of Sumire.
On the other hand, I'm glad there was that chapter devoted specifically to Sumire and Yuri and the relationship between the two; I don't find Yuri's jealousy of Sumire or Sumire's jealous of Yuri as frustrating because the two of them actually talk about it and work through it. It also feels real -- I've definitely seen that among people, and I've felt that as well. It was also a nice way to emphaisize how both of them are stuck in their respective roles and how they want to break out.
I sympathized with Yuri trying to diet after her husband had an affair, but I do wish Ogawa would paint that desire as more problematic than it's shown to be (Yuri loses weight successfully and is happy).
And Momo! Sometimes I just want to slap him, despite the romantic desire for Sumire hitting most of my buttons. Ok, mostly I wanted to slap him when he grabbed her wrists and forcibly tried to kiss her, and when he dressed her up in the cat outfit. Momo! You dork! That's precisely what Sumire doesn't need, argh! At least he stopped in the cat outfit incident.
It was good to get more of Momo's POV; I especially liked the chapter on the old lady and her dog. And Momo is just as screwed up as Sumire is, but the way they're both screwed up fits together so well that it pushes all my buttons.
Hasumi is amazingly not screwed up and very healthy, which makes me want to hug him.
But storywise, I still like reading about Momo and Sumire together more, because their assorted dysfunctions push all my buttons, as mentioned several times, and because their relationship is so interesting!