Indigo Blue

by Ebine Yamaji, Zuzanna Sobkowicz (Translator)

Rutsu Nakagawa to dwudziestoośmioletnia pisarka, która choć odnosi sukcesy w życiu zawodowym i od lat jest w stabilnym związku, nie czuje się w pełni szczęśliwa… Pewnego dnia poznaje Tamaki Yano, redaktorkę, która dokonuje ciekawej interpretacji jej opowiadania. Sugeruje ona, że autorka celowo zataja płeć jednej z postaci, aby ukryć, że historia opowiada o miłości między dwiema kobietami. Rutsu, wstrząśnięta faktem, że ktoś odkrył prawdziwe źródło jej inspiracji, nie może zaznać spokoju. Od tego czasu jej myśli obsesyjnie krążą wokół Tamaki…

Genres: Manga, LGBT, Graphic Novels, Romance, Yuri, Comics, Fiction

198 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2002

About the author

Ebine YAMAJI (やまじえびね) is a Japanese manga artist who has created several works with a lesbian theme. These include Indigo Blue, the story of a young author discovering her sexuality, Free Soul, and Love My Life. Several of her works were serialized in the josei magazines Feel Young (published by Shodensha) and the now defunct Young You.

Reviews

[spillingthematcha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Moja pierwsza manga, jaką przeczytałam i niestety dość spory zawód, ze względu na treść. Sama kreska jest surowa, minimalistyczna - co mnie przekonało do zakupu. Przede wszystkim odczułam mocno sam fakt, że bohaterki nie mają rozbudowanych charakterów, podkreślana jest za to aż za bardzo ich orientacja, co wydaje się w pewnym momencie jedyną rzeczą, jaka je definiuje. Dużo w tej historii tematu seksualności, co nie zawsze wybrzmiewało dobrze, a na pewno niekiedy aż szkodliwie. Relacja bohaterek również ogromnie spłaszczona i moim zdaniem toksyczna.

[Tomasz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Piękna kreska i ciekawa tematyka, jednak odniosłem wrażenie, że została przedstawiona dość płytko. Chętnie przeczytałbym coś innego tej samej autorki, bo czuję potencjał na coś naprawdę porządnego. 3,5

[wczytanaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fajne, niestety nie podoba mi się kreska co jednak jest dużą częścią mang/powieści graficznych ale mimo to spoko się bawiłam

[Ｆｒａｎｋｈ · Rating 4 out of 5]

After I finished reading this 200-paged girl-love manga written once again by Ebine Yamaji (whose Free Soul I also reviewed last month), I was also able to read her Afterword of the work. She revealed that her editor wanted her to write a lesbian story where men still have a role to play in the dynamic, and Yamaji found this a challenge she was eager to write about. The result is Indigo Blue which definitely involved a male perspective into a manga that is also still about two women being in love, and I have to say that Yamaji had done it justice.

Indigo Blue is about a writer named Rutsu Nakagawa who is in the process of publishing a novel after her debut anthology. Her editor is also her lover named Ryuji, a man she had great admiration for since they were in a creative writing seminar years before and she always thought he should have also been a novelist. Through the artist of her upcoming novel, she was introduced to another editor from a magazine named Tamaki Yano. Their meeting left an impression all because Tamaki asserted that in one of Rutsu's short stories entitled A Brief Moment, the character named Y had never been given gender-specific pronouns, leading her to theorize that Y could have been another woman whom the protagonist had sexual relations with. Rutsu was intrigued by Tamaki and tried to form a friendlier acquaintance. Tamaki was hesitant at first but she gave in and revealed to Rutsu that she had been attracted to her since that first meeting, and the fact that Rutsu was also her favorite author was a happy coincidence. The two women gradually enter into a passionate relationship.



[CLICK TO VIEW LARGER IMAGES]

Rutsu began to question her sexuality and its awakening is the premise of Indigo Blue. The consequences and fall-outs of her newfound identity are the integral elements of the manga. Rutsu's dishonesty about her situation is given more weight with the fact that she was cheating on her boyfriend-editor, and never disclosing to Tamaki about her relationship with a man in the first place. Afraid of actually rejecting Ryuji, this caused said man to believe that their relationship can now be taken to the next step which is marriage. Ryuji was devoted to her not just as her boyfriend but also as her editor who believed in her talent, and was hoping that by getting intimately acquainted with her literature, he would also be privy to her girlfriend's inner life and private thoughts. Rutsu had always been distant towars Ryuji, but he perceived this as something that he can work on if he made her feel loved enough by him. Meanwhile, after Tamaki became aware of Rutsu cheating on her and the boyfriend, she immediately ends the affair with a rather efficient and sensible explanation that made her character so dignified and secure in her own identity as a lesbian woman.





What was notable about this manga was that it was infused with Yamaji's thoughtful retrospection as well as rhetoric about lesbian sexuality, which was also present in her other work Free Soul. Comparably, I much enjoyed and approved of the romance found in this manga rather than the latter, but Free Soul had a more definitive conclusion while Indigo Blue sort of meandered by the ending, unable to give the readers a satisfying ending to all the characters. Going back to Yamaji's literary approach to lesbianism, this manga had insightful discussions about it that I agreed with. Rutsu's own confusion about her feelings for both Tamaki and Ryuji was also heftily explored where both relationships are valid dimensions of her personal growth. As Yamaji disclosed in her Afterword, her own editor wanted men to play some importance in this manga, and it showed with the way she examined how Ryuji had to deal with Rutsu's alienating treatment as his girlfriend, and the subsequent reality where he was spurned when he realized that she never wanted him as a person at all because he was a man and she essentially led him on over the course of their involvement.



Another thing worth pointing out was the artist-friend that Rutsu had conversations with all throughout the manga. He was a father in his mid-thirties with a daughter, and he became Rutsu's confidant while she struggled about her infidelity with Rutsu and finally coming to terms that she wanted to be with women after all, especially with Tamaki. This artist-friend expressed that he has sympath for what Rutsu was going through but also asked her to consider Ryuji's feelings as a man for being rejected by her. In Free Soul, the protagonist had the same conversation with her father who blamed himself for her becoming gay. Said protagonist made sure he understood that her lesbianism is no one's fault, and that it's simply who she is. Yamaji provided the same conversation but under a different context, and I appreciated her for touching upon what a male lover might feel if ever found out that the woman he loved turned out to not only be cheating with him but also devoid of any kind of romantic and sexual desire towards him. It's understandably damaging.





Tamaki Yano is the real star of this manga even if she was simply Rutsu's lesbian love interest. Her confidence about her identity and uncompromising ways were admirable, and I especially loved her after she never diminished Rutsu's feelings for Ryuji. She claimed that a part of her did love that man; but those feelings are just different from what Ryuji had for her. It was a touching moment, marked by Yamaji's understanding that even homosexuality has gray areas, leading me to personally believe that perhaps Rutsu may be more homoflexible or even bisexual. The downside is that we will never learn which because Yamaji never resolved it. I would have loved to learn more about Ryuji's life after it, and how Rutsu and Tamaki's relationship progressed after the cheating.



That being said, Indigo Blue was yet another great installment from Ebine Yamaji-sensei. Its take on a male perspective regarding a lesbian relationship was respectable for both parties involved. I'll definitely read her other two works after this.



RECOMMENDED: 8/10

[Holden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've re-read this a couple of times, and something always really strikes me about this book. The art style is realistic, but stylized, and seems to create a world that you can connect to. The characters feel real, the situations feel real, and it's so easy to put yourself into their shoes, regardless of gender.

The basic story is about a writer in a relationship with her editor, who happens to fall in love with another woman. Objectively, you could take it as a basic romantic triangle situation, but I can't say enough how gripping the emotions are, because of the complete neutrality of the characters. You never feel like there is a true villain, and the empathy for each of the characters is rife in Yamaji-san's style.

I highly recommend this to anyone, and hope that it will one day be officially published in English.

[Sanpaku · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10.
It reeks of lesbian love.
Really loved the penmanship, minimalistic as per genre, but still very elegant. The deus ex machina was too evident, too drastic, too forced.

[Lev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this is definitely a cut above all the shonen and shojo ai I used to read as a kid. I very much enjoyed the minimalist art style and page layout and it overall was a very pared-down, poignant, compelling story...with a couple of caveats.

I'm...not one of those people who see red at the sign of any and all cheating in fiction, but I will say that the way it was handled here made me kind of uncomfortable. I don't mind cheating being a plot device, but the main character gets off a little easy in the end. I probably honestly would have preferred if she had ended up single, but learned her lesson for her next relationship and was finally ready to date women and do a better job of it this time.

I also didn't really appreciate that bisexuality didn't seem to be available as a term of identification, especially as the story talked freely about different concepts of being a lesbian, but then again I realize this is an older book and everything was a little different back in 2002. Not that everything's amazing now, but bisexuality seems like something to be taken more seriously. Also, obviously, things might be yet different in Japan, this is just to say that a similar portrayal wouldn't have surprised me in a Western book of that time either.

[Ema · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a lovely story, the way it was written certainly made it possible to connect to it on a more profound level and yet, I cannot help but feel a teeny tiny bit unsatisfied. For the purpose of the story I suppose a "happy end" between Yano Tamaki and Nakagawa Rutsu was a must, yet the way Rutsu treated both Tamaki and Ryuuji makes me feel a bit uneasy, and made it difficult for me to read on at one point because I didn't want those two to experience the heartbreak that was bound to happen. The story makes it seem too easy for Rutsu (at least at the end) because she was taken back by Tamaki despite the fact that her heart was broken. Then again, maybe it only seems that way because I'm an awful critic who is putting too many personal feelings into this reading. I'm certainly not above admitting that maybe this happy end was just what those two/three characters needed; for Rutsu to finally be honest with herself and see herself for who she really is, for Tamaki to find a woman whom she loves and who loves her back, and even for Ryuuji to let go and hopefully find someone else.

Either way, it was definitely lovely.

[adi · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was mostly bad (flat and judgey characters, a main character who's a cheater, some soft lesbophobia, men who think they know everything, etc) but I liked the main character's growth (I mean, she changed a bit and realised what she was doing was bad, kudos to her!!). It's worth noting that the French translation was bad and it seemed like no one proofread the book. Maybe I would have liked this book more in English.

[verbava · Rating 4 out of 5]

я купила цю книжку, по-перше, через редакторську репрезентацію, а по-друге, за розкішну синю обкладинку. потім виявилося, що в сюжеті є навіть не одна редакторка, а цілих двоє, та й під суперкою обкладинка теж прегарна, то за цими пунктами в нас суцільна перемога.

(із чотирьох книжок із центральними героїнями-редакторками, які я досі читала, дві — японські; цікаво, звідкіля така увага).

це історія про початок стосунків письменниці і редакторки, які, на щастя, на той час не працюють разом, бо то додатково ускладнювало б життя; а знаємо ми про складнощі вінегрету з роботи й почуттів бодай тому, що письменниця спить зі своїм поточним редактором (і ніяк не наважується сказати йому, що закохалася в іншу, поки не закінчить книжку). той редактор, щоправда, не сильно ретельний, бо навіть не помітив, що в останній збірці письменниці в одному з оповідань (та ще й еротичному) була дійова особа без жодної вказівки на стать — він просто вирішив, що це чоловік; і тільки редакторка — у статусі звичайної читачки — зрозуміла, що є варіанти. а коли тебе так уважно читають, то й справді можна закохатися.

загалом у книжці не дуже багато відбувається: письменниця з тих людей, яким тяжко даються будь-які зміни (relatable), але любов збиває її, як вантажівка, і те, що раніше було цілком норм, поступово стає дедалі більше не норм, то просто доводиться щось робити, — і це приблизно весь сюжет. ну й достатньо.

[Cavak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Morose everyday drama. I wouldn't want to be in this situation personally (affairs suck), but I appreciate that the author is writing from her own experiences about discovering her own sexuality into a fictional premise. Japanese readers hold this in a higher regard because of its thoughtful dialogue and dryness.

I like the maturity that came with the conversations about romance, loving the same sex, and life aspirations for oneself. Not terribly expressive with the art or characters, yet it fits with the intended josei tone. I like how the sex and nudity are shown, but it never delves into being explicit or exploitative; it's there to primarily establish relationships between the three main characters. Especially Rutsu's thoughts on what sex means to her.

I didn't like Rutsu and her actions, but I empathize with her indecisiveness and her gumption to escape difficulty by throwing herself into her work. It's frighteningly realistic. The ending also made me feel like that her lovers both deserved better than Rutsu. Given the original time of its publication, it's understandable how bisexuality is not addressed with the same seriousness. "You just like one or the other, right?" Understandable given how Japan still carries that public clout towards sexuality and genders, yet still a loss for me.

[gogo chloé · Rating 4 out of 5]

je suis contente d’avoir commencé à chercher des GL plus vieux,
Voir comment est perçu le lesbianisme dans les années 2000 à travers les yeux d’une autrice japonaise,
c’est carrément un non-lieu pour les autres,
Le fait que Le personnage principale soit écrivaine est vraiment important, son art l’a aidé à traverser cette « transition » comprendre qui elle est, qui elle aime, même si c’est hyper subtil, et dans le brouillard mais je trouve ça Ok et fais le charme de l’histoire
Le fait qu’elle reste avec son copain et sa nouvelle copine en même temps m’a agacé un tout petit peu, mais j’ai interprété ça comme une pression énorme, et c’est dommage qu’elle n’aie pas directement dit à sa nouvelle copine, qu’elle aussi na jamais voulu d’enfant, se marier, comme elle l’avait déjà dit à son copain
La communication aurait été plus clair, et le moment des révélations des mensonges, Ca aurait été un peu mieux compris par sa copine
J’ai trouvé ça très doux à lire même si c’était des sujets compliqué, mais que maintenant en 2025 on connait bien, que dont jai bcp lu, regardé: et vis :)

[Deina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ebine Yamaji se ha ganado mi respeto con la forma en la que ha dado vida a Tamaki. Conocer a un personaje como ella fue algo que no he podido experimentar (y seguramente no llegue a hacerlo) con ningún otro manga lésbico hasta la fecha.
No es una historia con una trama muy destacable; aún así no creo que esto sea del todo una desventaja y tampoco que haya sido la intención de la autora hacerla de esta manera. Fue como mantener una charla y ver cómo la otra persona poco a poco ata los cabos que le permiten conocerse y entenderse así misma de formas en las que antes no era capaz.

[Giovanna Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il titolo della Yamaji che preferisco fra quelli letti finora. Descrive in modo realistico i dubbi che tormentano la protagonista nell'indagine della propria sessualità: la scoperta di un'attrazione inattesa, la negazione inconscia, la ricerca della normalità, la sperimentazione di un rapporto a due sia etero che omosessuale, mantenendo un delicato equilibrio tra la ricerca di identità di Retsu ed il vissuto delle persone che ama..
Il tratto è sempre minimalista e pulito come al solito ma nonostante tutto molto espressivo ed intimista.

[Maria ☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great manga about a woman, Rutsu, who is hiding the fact that she is a lesbian and falls in love with a woman. I really loved how it portrayed the repercussions of Rutsu's lying to both her boyfriend, Ryuuji, and to Tamaki; the storytelling felt quite mature and realistic. I also really liked that it was told in such a way that you can easily put yourself in the shoes of any of the 3 main characters and understand things from their perspectives.

[Nausicaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un livre vraiment intéressant, portant sur la thématique du questionnement de soi et de ses relations. Ce qu'on aime, qui on aime, le regard des autres mais surtout, ce que veut son cœur. Une histoire touchante d'une jeune femme qui ouvre les yeux sur ses envies, et qui devient enfin la personne qu'elle veut être, sans aucune limite.

[Michalina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its very cute book about discovering your identity, true self, about bravery to be yourself. Rutsu is not morally Perfect character, but we can relate to her on some level. I dont read that much manga and comics, but I really love the drawings, they are pretty, delicate, soft, they add this sensivity to characters. I enjoyed it.

[Keli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me encanto! #lgbt
Me recuerda a "La Habitación de Giovanni" by James Baldwin, la diferencia es que aquí el personaje principal se salva a si mismo.

Lo disfrute, me agradaron los personajes, y como en pocas palabras logran ser profundamente maduros.

[Franchesca Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was ok! I saw the vision... But I don't think the vision was executed outstandingly. I think the execution was a bit mediocre, and it didn't really have a lasting effect on me. More like it tried to, but it fell a little flat.

[Jayce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Real life and angst right here. No rose-colored glasses and flowers and butterflies kind of perspective. R.E.A.L.

[Alba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Très délicat.

[petit · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,3

[Piecz · Rating 4 out of 5]

bardzo ladne i przejrzyste tak jak lubie
czyste i szybkie ale za razem wolne

[Fiza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really really loved this

[pb · Rating 4 out of 5]

so wonderfully real and complex

[Bulent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eşcinsel aşk mangalarda çok sık rastlanan bir konu aslında. Üstelik neredeyse bu temanın tek hakim konu olduğu gençlik mangaları da Japonya'da oldukça popüler.

Lezbiyen aşk teması, deyim yerindeyse Young-Adault tarzı bir anlatı ile Indigo Blue hikayesinin sadeliği kadar, hatta belki ondan çok daha fazla, çizimindei yalınlık ile dikkat çekiyor.

Karelemelerdeki rahatlık, kadın ve erkek bedenin yalınlığı, zeminin ve arka plandaki şehrin çizimindeki incelik, sakin hatta durağan hikayeyi daha çok okunur kılıyor.

Manga-ka Yamaji-San 196 sayfada bir bunalımı, cinsel bir gerilimi, ne yapacağını bilememe halini anlattığı kadar, aldatan, faydalanmaya çalışan, sevdiğini söylediği iki insandan birden vazgeçmeyen bir genç kadının ruh halini de çok başarılı bir şekilde tasvir etmiş.

[Pink · Rating 3 out of 5]

La traduction n'aidera certainement pas à élever la note. C'était une lecture laborieuse où j'ai eu l'impression qu'il n'y a eu aucune relecture.

À part la traduction, je n'ai pas détesté. Le personnage principal découvre son lesbianisme en parallèle à ses livres qui ne sont pas des autobiographies (mais dans son histoire personnelle se dilue dans ses histoires).
La fin pourrait grave faire sens s'il n'y avait pas eu ce besoin de caresser le personnage masculin dans le sens du poil sur ses prouesses sexuelles par le biais du personnage principal. Ça ne sonnait pas naturel, on aurait dit qu'on a forcé l'autrice à le faire.

[Nada · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I'll have to read this in a few years.

[Ficie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dei tre volumi che ho letto dell'autrice, quello che mi é piaciuto di piú. La protagonista é, fra tutti, il personaggio meno amabile, e forse per questo anche il piú realistico.

[deda mika · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed my life.