Tamaki & Amane Review
‘Family, romance, friendship—love takes many shapes. Across time, the bond between Tamaki and Amane shifts to take the form of husband and wife, childhood friends to enemies, and more, but through it all, their connection never breaks.’ (Yen Press blurb)
This is a sequence of short stories, each one set in a different time period yet portraying the relationship between two individuals called Tamaki and Amane, starting in contemporary Japan with Tamaki and Amane, a married couple with a teenaged daughter, Akari. One day, Tamaki catches sight of Akari kissing one of her female classmates, Norimoto-san – and when she tells her husband Amane, it causes him to remember that he once had a crush on one of his male classmates at about the same age. It’s time for some plain-speaking in the family and in the ensuing painful conversations between Akari and her parents, they realize that she’s no longer a little girl and lines of communication need to be rethought and restructured. But then she doesn’t come home after school…
The second story takes us to an exclusive girls’ school in the Meiji Period where Tamaki and Amane are close friends and classmates. This is a time of social upheaval when the old class system is being overturned and when Tamaki learns that she’s been promised in marriage to an older man, a wealthy widower, who’s not of the same social class but a self-made entrepreneur, she accepts dutifully like the good daughter she is but gradually loses touch with Amane. For some while the two exchange letters… until Amane stops replying…
Fast forward to the 1970s where Tamaki is a nurse who has just learned that she has a terminal illness. Leaving work, she determines to live out the last of her life the best way she can… which is when she encounters a little boy. He’s watching ants outside her apartment block and suddenly collapses, seemingly suffering from the heat. She takes him indoors to administer first-aid and offers him some pudding that she’s just made. She’s taken aback (but also amused) by his reaction: loud wailing, rolling around on the floor and insisting that pudding has to go ‘snap’! Intrigued, she investigates and discovers he’s referring to a pudding sold in the supermarket that makes a snap sound when you squeeze the plastic container to release it. They bond over pudding – and play games together – and she finds out that his name is Amane and he’s often on his own as his single mother goes out to work in the day, leaving him behind. But how will his mother react when she finds Tamaki has been looking after her son? This relationship has come to mean a lot to Tamaki – and to little Amane-kun too.
The next story goes back to the troubled period immediately after WWII and introduces discharged soldier Amane who’s been trying to find out what happened to his wife and daughter while he was away fighting. After his former sergeant Tamaki arrives just in time to stop him ending his life, Amane finds out that he’s making a living on the black market and starts to hang out with him. However, he’s unaware that cheery, outgoing Tamaki is keeping a secret from him…
The final story is set in the Edo Period and brings childhood friends back together when Amane seeks revenge after Tamaki has killed her husband. The motive, of course, is much more complicated than Amane at first assumed and the rigid societal conventions about the right to take revenge only further complicate matters as Amane and Tamaki begin – painfully – to talk about what really happened. Tamaki’s anguished question at the end resonates across the centuries as he cries out, “Amane… come back, over and over. No matter what form you take, I swear I’ll find you.”
The Epilogue brings us back to the present, showing us a conversation between Akari and her parents as a wedding invitation from a cousin makes her ask Amane and Tamaki, “How did you guys meet?”
Fumi Yoshinaga was probably my first favourite mangaka and I’ve loved her work from early titles like Antique Bakery through Flower of Life to slice-of-life ongoing What Did You Eat Yesterday? and her alternate history masterpiece Ôoku: The Inner Chambers. So I was really excited when I found out that Yen Press was bringing us her 2022 standalone title Tamaki & Amane and delighted to discover another wonderfully rich and readable gem to add to all the others. As we’re now very familiar with her very distinctive graphic style, it’s impossible not to catch occasional echoes of some of her many other characters in some of the facial expressions and gestures, but this isn’t in any way a criticism. It’s inspiring to see a mangaka of her talents at the height of her creative powers.
Yoshinaga-sensei’s skills in creating memorable characters are evident from the very first page. It’s impossible not to get involved with the people she’s depicting here and not to be moved by their plights (have the tissue box ready beside you as you read). Even though the stories are situation-specific on the surface, they speak also to the human condition on a more visceral level, dealing with characters who are far from perfect, who struggle with their feelings and inadequacies and who often make the wrong choices with unforeseen consequences. We’re reminded in the stories set in earlier times, how cheap life was – and how frequently people died of illnesses that are treatable today. The post-WWII story is especially vivid and poignant, showing people quietly struggling to keep going in the ruins of their homes, businesses and lives, being moved by the little things like the singing of a nostalgic song or the first scent and taste of brewing coffee made from real beans after such a long period of deprivation. But all the stories are moving in their own way as Fumi Yoshinaga has an exceptional gift for drawing the reader into the narrative – yet also exhibiting occasional touches of wry humour and detachment that ground the stories so they never become mawkish or sentimental.
The translation (which is excellent) for Yen Press is by Taylor Engel and is brought to life through Adnazeer Macalangcom’s lettering (also excellent). Taylor Engel’s detailed two pages of translation notes are a great addition and give many fascinating details of the period touches employed by the mangaka, including the songs. The only colour illustration is a fold-out poster at the front, reproducing the front-cover image.
It’s been a while since I’ve had the pleasure to read such an involving collection of linked short stories in manga; Tamaki & Amane is highly recommended!
Our review copy was provided by Yen Press.
