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Omoi no Kakera #1
Omoi no Kakera Vol.1
179 pages, Paperback
First published July 20, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 22, 2018
4.5 stars!
This was so good!
I've picked this manga because I was looking for lgbtqiap+ #ownvoices manga. I've found that Takemiya Jin is openly lesbian mangaka and she creates yuri/sapphic manga. Of course, I was immediately interested in her work, especially after hearing praise to the mangaka's work and in particular Omoi no Kakera (Fragments of Love).
and how I love with manga!
The story is very true to its title. It's fragmentary, with big cast of characters and shifting narration focus from chapter to chapter.
The lead is Maki, she's lesbian and we meet her when she's still in high school, then in college, so during the story she's about 17-20 years old. She's rather calm and she speaks her mind. She's not openly lesbian to her family, but she has sapphic friends and she's open to them and to some of her school friends. Maki is into older women.
I love how blunt the book is. Yes, Maki is lesbian, yes, she has sex with women, no, she's not really in love with them, yes, she's more or less fine with it. Nothing about her is objectified or sexualized. This is a story about lesbian Japanese girl and that's it.
I can never stress enough how important it is to give opportunities for queer creators to tell their stories. Omoi no Kakera feels so honest and realistic and nuanced and I credit it equally to immense talent of Takemiya Jin and to her being so close to the themes.
The cast of characters is rather big. There's a coffee owner, who's sapphic and she lives with her friend, who's a novelist and they might/might not be in a relationship. There's Maki's friend, who's gay. He has younger sister Mayu, who has started develop feelings to Maki and Mayu's best friend Itou is in love with her. There's a plot line about captain of female volleyball team, who's in love with shy girl and yet this girl is in love with the captain of male volleyball team.
I admit, this is a lot to take in, but it doesn't feel melodramatic or just drama-for-the-sake-of-drama. It's complex layered story with round characters.
I like how from chapter to chapter the idea of lesbian/gay falling in love with the person of their own gender is reinforced, it's not because it's "just happened", they do it because it's inevitable, they can't fall in love with the person of other gender. The author is killing "gay-for-you" trope and I'm living. What is even better, Takemiya Jin aknowledges bi people and say that yes, they can fall in love with people of multiple genders. I really wish the story would address trans people, because it feels rather cis-centric, but hopefully in later volumes.
The words lesbian, gay, bi are used in texts several times. The characters use them to identify themselves.
This is what you get from reading an ownvoices book by lesbian mangaka.
Not to mention the nuanced internalized homophbia struggles, the bonding of wlw and mlm and more and more.
I'm loving this manga so much and I'm jumping right into vol.2
This was so good!
I've picked this manga because I was looking for lgbtqiap+ #ownvoices manga. I've found that Takemiya Jin is openly lesbian mangaka and she creates yuri/sapphic manga. Of course, I was immediately interested in her work, especially after hearing praise to the mangaka's work and in particular Omoi no Kakera (Fragments of Love).
and how I love with manga!
The story is very true to its title. It's fragmentary, with big cast of characters and shifting narration focus from chapter to chapter.
The lead is Maki, she's lesbian and we meet her when she's still in high school, then in college, so during the story she's about 17-20 years old. She's rather calm and she speaks her mind. She's not openly lesbian to her family, but she has sapphic friends and she's open to them and to some of her school friends. Maki is into older women.
I love how blunt the book is. Yes, Maki is lesbian, yes, she has sex with women, no, she's not really in love with them, yes, she's more or less fine with it. Nothing about her is objectified or sexualized. This is a story about lesbian Japanese girl and that's it.
I can never stress enough how important it is to give opportunities for queer creators to tell their stories. Omoi no Kakera feels so honest and realistic and nuanced and I credit it equally to immense talent of Takemiya Jin and to her being so close to the themes.
The cast of characters is rather big. There's a coffee owner, who's sapphic and she lives with her friend, who's a novelist and they might/might not be in a relationship. There's Maki's friend, who's gay. He has younger sister Mayu, who has started develop feelings to Maki and Mayu's best friend Itou is in love with her. There's a plot line about captain of female volleyball team, who's in love with shy girl and yet this girl is in love with the captain of male volleyball team.
I admit, this is a lot to take in, but it doesn't feel melodramatic or just drama-for-the-sake-of-drama. It's complex layered story with round characters.
I like how from chapter to chapter the idea of lesbian/gay falling in love with the person of their own gender is reinforced, it's not because it's "just happened", they do it because it's inevitable, they can't fall in love with the person of other gender. The author is killing "gay-for-you" trope and I'm living. What is even better, Takemiya Jin aknowledges bi people and say that yes, they can fall in love with people of multiple genders. I really wish the story would address trans people, because it feels rather cis-centric, but hopefully in later volumes.
The words lesbian, gay, bi are used in texts several times. The characters use them to identify themselves.
This is what you get from reading an ownvoices book by lesbian mangaka.
Not to mention the nuanced internalized homophbia struggles, the bonding of wlw and mlm and more and more.
I'm loving this manga so much and I'm jumping right into vol.2
May 27, 2015
I read this manga after skip it a few times before, I can say that I regret that decision from the past because is AWESOME!!
Absolutely brilliant!! The real experiences that describe, the way of thinking of the characters that you can totally feel the resembles with yourself, they feelings and fears so like the life itself.
Of course I COMPLETELY RECOMMEND THIS AWESOME MANGA TO EVERYONE INCLUDING THOSE WHO DON'T LIKE YURI, AND SPECIALLY THOSE WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND HOMOSEXUAL PERSONS.
this manga speak for all those who make it difficult to put in word their own sexual orientation. Besides that serious matter, it's very entertaining and and fun. So the story and the character are enjoyable no matter what.
Absolutely brilliant!! The real experiences that describe, the way of thinking of the characters that you can totally feel the resembles with yourself, they feelings and fears so like the life itself.
Of course I COMPLETELY RECOMMEND THIS AWESOME MANGA TO EVERYONE INCLUDING THOSE WHO DON'T LIKE YURI, AND SPECIALLY THOSE WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND HOMOSEXUAL PERSONS.
this manga speak for all those who make it difficult to put in word their own sexual orientation. Besides that serious matter, it's very entertaining and and fun. So the story and the character are enjoyable no matter what.
May 4, 2021
It jumped around a lot and was hard to understand but what I got from it, it was cute
February 14, 2016
I decided to see if I could find more manga by Takemiya Jin, since I really love their art style and their stories.
This one was a bit confusing. Instead of following a timeline, it shows us pieces of our main character's (well, mostly our main character) life. One time she is 20, the next she is getting in High School, the other time she makes friends with someone from her High School who is also gay. At times I lost track of the story, but I quickly could find my way back.
The main character was a great character, I really like her and I hope that she is able to find love. I also hope she will be able to come out and let people know about her being lesbian. It was really interesting to see how she got where she is now. How she found out she was lesbian, and that her first experience with a woman wasn't the best one.
I only didn't like that they had to add the sister of our main character's friend in the mix. Chapter 4 and 5 are all about her and her problems ( The 4th chapter is still focussing on her brother (who had a big role in the previous chapter) and our main character and the 5th Chapter is more about the sister and about the main character, but still, when one is used to one character, and we suddenly get another one, it can get confusing). I didn't particularly like the sister until near the end of the 4th chapter, when we find out about stuff and how she truly feels. Most of my dislike towards her was because of her immediate jumping to conclusions and how she reacted to someone who is gay.
I do kind of get why they added her (probably due to the flashback at the beginning of this manga and the fact she is on the cover), but I still wish the author would have focussed on the main character.
But even with that, it was a pretty decent manga about being gay, acceptance and love.
The Love and Piece parts at the end of the volume were fun, I really enjoyed them.
The art is great, I really love the artstyle. At times the character look a bit weird, but I am getting more and more used to that with each manga I read of this mangaka.
I would recommend this manga to everyone.
Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/
This one was a bit confusing. Instead of following a timeline, it shows us pieces of our main character's (well, mostly our main character) life. One time she is 20, the next she is getting in High School, the other time she makes friends with someone from her High School who is also gay. At times I lost track of the story, but I quickly could find my way back.
The main character was a great character, I really like her and I hope that she is able to find love. I also hope she will be able to come out and let people know about her being lesbian. It was really interesting to see how she got where she is now. How she found out she was lesbian, and that her first experience with a woman wasn't the best one.
I only didn't like that they had to add the sister of our main character's friend in the mix. Chapter 4 and 5 are all about her and her problems ( The 4th chapter is still focussing on her brother (who had a big role in the previous chapter) and our main character and the 5th Chapter is more about the sister and about the main character, but still, when one is used to one character, and we suddenly get another one, it can get confusing). I didn't particularly like the sister until near the end of the 4th chapter, when we find out about stuff and how she truly feels. Most of my dislike towards her was because of her immediate jumping to conclusions and how she reacted to someone who is gay.
I do kind of get why they added her (probably due to the flashback at the beginning of this manga and the fact she is on the cover), but I still wish the author would have focussed on the main character.
But even with that, it was a pretty decent manga about being gay, acceptance and love.
The Love and Piece parts at the end of the volume were fun, I really enjoyed them.
The art is great, I really love the artstyle. At times the character look a bit weird, but I am getting more and more used to that with each manga I read of this mangaka.
I would recommend this manga to everyone.
Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews