月夜のフロマージュ１
I got this manga last December. It’s called 「月夜のフロマージュ」 which translates to “Moonlit night’s Fromage”. It’s about a boy who plays alot of bishoujo games getting transformed into one of the girls in the games by a “dream eater” girl, who also transports him to her world by accident in the process. A beautiful table of contents:
I really love the style this is done in. The characters are like fragile dolls, so perfect that one is almost afraid to touch. The Japanese in this is really easy, reading it gives me an incredible ego boost. There are just enough words I don’t know in it to pleasantly note down for future learning without killing the pace or getting too bogged down with a dictionary.
As this is the first manga in this series, much of the stories involve the main character getting used to the new world he lives in…and dealing with the complex emotions from getting transformed into a beautiful girl. Basically the girl, called Meari, who brought him to this new world survives by eating the pleasant dreams of humans. The main character (Miu) was dreaming about a girl from a game he was playing. When Meari ate his dream, something went wrong and he melded with the girl from the game in his dream and got sucked into Meari’s world. Meari is trying to find a way to send him back, but also tells him that for the time being she will take responsibility for ensuring he becomes an “Exquisite lady”. So she gives out to him for walking like a guy and buys him clothes that are so cute as to make him horribly embarrassed to go outside.
While the plot may sound a bit off the wall, there was actually some wisdom etched in this manga. In this scene, Miu complains about Meari insisting that he wear fashionable cute clothes. But she bursts out, basically along the lines of “A flower’s life is only short! If you’re not going to wear fashionable things now, when will you!?” People only really have until their early thirties to really shine out full blast, and I found myself feeling very thankful that Japanese people take their appearance so seriously and give us such wonderful eye candy in public. One should not squander opportunities when young, or a life of slow decay and regret will follow…
Anyway on to the obligatory swimsuit scene:
In this scan Meari and her friend Fiyu (who Miu has falled head over heels for, much to the chagrin of Meari) are both trying on swimsuits to help Miu decide which one to buy, though in reality he doesn’t want to go to the beach at all as it’s mortifying.
Here Fiu and Miu are talking about Meari. パンツ！This drawing style really is just beautiful, though no doubt there’d be moral hysteria if something like this was released in the West owing to the depiction of “underage” people in a “sexualised” manner. Oh the outrage, oh the irrational panic! I can see the lynch mob nailing me to a cross. Anyway, the failure of the west aside, back to beautiful things:
和ロリキターーー！！Here is an example of how the Japanese continually cycle out new embodiments of their own culture (often also infused with their own interpretation of aspects of foreign culture) in a timeless and continuous manner. This girl is wearing a garment that is a sort of fusion between a Yukata, a dress and maid clothes. This traditional Japanese inspired goth-loli infused fashion is known as wa-loli, with wa meaning “Japan”. I love this stuff. Such elegant harmony.
As for the girl herself, she is another type of non-human, but her kind hunts Meari’s kind and claims to be protecting humans from the dream eaters. She attacks Meari but then gets a fever from being out in the rain, so they take care of her for awhile. After this she calls Miu “Master” and decides she wants to stay with them.
More bonus points here for the girl on “girl” borderline behavior. This first volume closes on this happy note, though the author kindly leaves us more fan service with these two pullout illustrations:
The second volume was released last February I believe. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on it. Asides from being entertaining, the level of Japanese is just right to assist in study.