30Days: Nemureru Mori no Binan | Akisato Wakuni
Title: Nemureru Mori no Binan
Artist: Akisato Wakuni
Warnings: nonexplicit sexual content, sad intrusion of real life :(
Status: complete, scanlated by HotCakes, prequel to Tomoi
Description: In 1982, Tomoi Hisatsugu arrives at New York to begin his medical career, much to the dismay of his family. Having spent his life around men and more comfortable in the company of other men, Tomoi is glad to get away from his noisy sisters, mother, and father. But he may have bitten off more than he can chew when he begins to seek the company of a leading surgeon by the name of Richard Stein.
Reason for recommendation: Nemureru Mori no Binan has more in common with Hollinghurst than it does with, say, Hoshino Lilly, or even more typical bl mangaka, like Honami Yukine. It's from the era of Banana Fish and Partners and New York New York, where every Japanese expat ends up in Manhattan, and every relationship eventually wanders into the dilemma of "how do you hide your homosexuality away from the rest of society?", and every twist and turn seems to, inevitably, end up in the hands of a richer, older man. It's an ascetic, almost Grecian world, where older men have relationships with more beautiful younger men, out of a mixture of love and sexual desire and the intent on creating a copy of themselves. Like having a kind of romantic offspring. Like leaving behind a legacy you can also have sex with. It's the ultimate form of narcissism, in a way. And maybe that's what Nemureru Mori no Binan is actually about.
If I painted in broad strokes the romance between Richard and Tomoi, it wouldn't seem out of place in the hands of Minami Haruka or even Yamane Aya. Richard is a confident, eccentric older man, whom you discover has lovers that aren't Tomoi. He woos Tomoi in the most conventional way possible(dinner, alcohol, kissing before sex), and Tomoi takes easily to being the jealous, slightly obsessive object of affection who yearns both to be with Richard and to be Richard.
And here's where the deviation from the normal path begins. There is so much to Richard and Tomoi's relationship that is about how much they are alike. They are both clumsy, they are both absent-minded, they even share some of the same mannerisms and gestures. Richard as much as says, "When I look at you, I come under the illusion that I'm looking at myself." It's a constant strain throughout the story. You begin to realize that what you're reading is not a romantic story; rather, it is Tomoi's bildungsroman. It is a story about why Tomoi is the way Tomoi will be, when he is older and no longer in NYC and sporting a smart little mustache just like Richard. It is preparing you for the rest of the story, in Tomoi. It's like the little cutaway in a novel where a character is explained.
While that sounds like a weakness, it's really what makes Nemureru Mori no Binan so excellent, because it then absolutely wallows in its low-key atmosphere. You get the feeling that Tomoi is just being tossed from place to place without understanding any of the context, and that's because he is. Even the manga's style backs this up. There are wonderful, wonderful sequences (the end of chapter two, for instsance) where the characters don't talk to each other, and everything is wonderfully opaque, and you want, desperately, for a monologue, but there isn't one, because Tomoi's just not equipped to give one. Later, when he's older and Richard's age, he'll look back on this period of his life and truly understand what was going on. But for the moment, he's just being smacked in the head by a fist he can't see. He's blindsided by Richard, by his own homosexuality, by what it means to be a gay man. And maybe that's what makes the airport scene in chapter 5 so charming. It's the one time where Tomoi is able to manipulate the circumstances to his own favor.
Of course, it is too little, and too late. But that's what the sequel is for.
Artist: Akisato Wakuni
Warnings: nonexplicit sexual content, sad intrusion of real life :(
Status: complete, scanlated by HotCakes, prequel to Tomoi
Description: In 1982, Tomoi Hisatsugu arrives at New York to begin his medical career, much to the dismay of his family. Having spent his life around men and more comfortable in the company of other men, Tomoi is glad to get away from his noisy sisters, mother, and father. But he may have bitten off more than he can chew when he begins to seek the company of a leading surgeon by the name of Richard Stein.
Reason for recommendation: Nemureru Mori no Binan has more in common with Hollinghurst than it does with, say, Hoshino Lilly, or even more typical bl mangaka, like Honami Yukine. It's from the era of Banana Fish and Partners and New York New York, where every Japanese expat ends up in Manhattan, and every relationship eventually wanders into the dilemma of "how do you hide your homosexuality away from the rest of society?", and every twist and turn seems to, inevitably, end up in the hands of a richer, older man. It's an ascetic, almost Grecian world, where older men have relationships with more beautiful younger men, out of a mixture of love and sexual desire and the intent on creating a copy of themselves. Like having a kind of romantic offspring. Like leaving behind a legacy you can also have sex with. It's the ultimate form of narcissism, in a way. And maybe that's what Nemureru Mori no Binan is actually about.
If I painted in broad strokes the romance between Richard and Tomoi, it wouldn't seem out of place in the hands of Minami Haruka or even Yamane Aya. Richard is a confident, eccentric older man, whom you discover has lovers that aren't Tomoi. He woos Tomoi in the most conventional way possible(dinner, alcohol, kissing before sex), and Tomoi takes easily to being the jealous, slightly obsessive object of affection who yearns both to be with Richard and to be Richard.
And here's where the deviation from the normal path begins. There is so much to Richard and Tomoi's relationship that is about how much they are alike. They are both clumsy, they are both absent-minded, they even share some of the same mannerisms and gestures. Richard as much as says, "When I look at you, I come under the illusion that I'm looking at myself." It's a constant strain throughout the story. You begin to realize that what you're reading is not a romantic story; rather, it is Tomoi's bildungsroman. It is a story about why Tomoi is the way Tomoi will be, when he is older and no longer in NYC and sporting a smart little mustache just like Richard. It is preparing you for the rest of the story, in Tomoi. It's like the little cutaway in a novel where a character is explained.
While that sounds like a weakness, it's really what makes Nemureru Mori no Binan so excellent, because it then absolutely wallows in its low-key atmosphere. You get the feeling that Tomoi is just being tossed from place to place without understanding any of the context, and that's because he is. Even the manga's style backs this up. There are wonderful, wonderful sequences (the end of chapter two, for instsance) where the characters don't talk to each other, and everything is wonderfully opaque, and you want, desperately, for a monologue, but there isn't one, because Tomoi's just not equipped to give one. Later, when he's older and Richard's age, he'll look back on this period of his life and truly understand what was going on. But for the moment, he's just being smacked in the head by a fist he can't see. He's blindsided by Richard, by his own homosexuality, by what it means to be a gay man. And maybe that's what makes the airport scene in chapter 5 so charming. It's the one time where Tomoi is able to manipulate the circumstances to his own favor.
Of course, it is too little, and too late. But that's what the sequel is for.