Feu d'artifice

by Asumiko Nakamura

Tomori sort avec Inukai, le voyou du lycée qui harcèle et frappe Misato, un nouvel élève. Sourd aux sermons de ses amis et de Tomori, les brimades d'Inukai deviennent de plus en plus violentes et prennent des proportions alarmantes. Pourquoi Inukai se montre-t-il aussi violent envers Misato ? Une histoire où les fils des destins de ces trois personnages se mêlent…

***
La traduction correcte du titre « Hibana » est « étincelle ».

Genres: Manga, Romance, Yaoi, Boys Love, Comics, LGBT, Fiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published November 9, 2024

About the author

Asumiko NAKAMURA (中村明日美子) is a Japanese manga artist.
Born in 1979, she is one of Japan's hidden gems. The artist has penned a lot of titles since 2002 and has reached critical acclaim for her sensitive protrayals of romantic narratives featuring a wide range of characters - men and women, young and old. Nakamura has worked in a range of genres for an equally broad range of audinces winning recognition in every category.

Reviews

[Juliette Jahm]

Dessins très beaux et mention honorable à l’héroïne qui pour une fois sauve les takes amoureuses assez toxiques d’Asumiko Nakamura
Mais une histoire qui est hyper bâclée, on dirait vraiment qu’elle l’a écrit entre deux bus qu’elle avait à prendre, ce qui est très étrange vu les sagas de ouf faites par le passé

[kimia]

art was impeccable (as always), story was a rare miss

[Megan ✨]

read this for the stunning art tbh

[✧･ﾟ: *✧aj✧*:･ﾟ✧]

there’s always something problematic that’s either glazed over or straight up glorified in asumiko nakamura’s works
but her works truly feel like photographs to me. this book, as much as i don’t love how glazed over the domestic violence incident is and generally how shitty inukai treats misato and tomori, feels like a real depiction of this guys life who’s struggling with intense internalized homophobia and doesn’t know how to express that frustration. i wish more of that inner conflict could been expressed in the perspective, tomori is the least interesting of the three yet we’re stuck in her perspective. it wouldn’t change that inukai is a shitty guy but it would help contextualize his anger and his feels as a pose to getting a third parties interpretation

[Sparkling Lemonade]

Chinese title: 火花

This has 神率 of 69.9% on Chil-Chil.

3-3.5⭐️

女子BL, what is female character’s role in BL stories? Are they just being used and disposed by the male characters? Or are they more reliable and admirable than guys that readers would want to date the girl instead?

Reading this manga made me feel somewhat uncomfortable, I’m highly against domestic violence and sexual assault, the reason I didn’t like ダブルミンツ Double Mints and 薫りの継承 The Inheritance of Aroma.

火花
The title story was previously one chapter from 女子BL compilation’s booklet that got expanded into four chapters, as the three of them grow older, meet and part again in different stages of life.

Back in high school, the seme 犬飼耀司 was already dating a girl 戸森 but picked on the transferred uke 三郷宏. The seme was actually hiding his uncontrollable attraction to the uke by beating him up badly, the uke didn’t fight back and jumped off school roof top, the girl was just stuck in middle trying to maintain peace… The seme got suspended and dropped off school, the uke soon transferred away, the girl got dumped by seme, everyone parted their ways…

Uni life: The girl bumped into seme at a cafe he worked when she was a uni student, they hooked up again, it wasn’t serious from his point of view… She bumped into the uke as they were both preparing for company interviews, after she told the uke that she’s with seme again, the uke got devastated and foundモブ a older stranger from dating app who raped him and beat him up. The girl saw the bruise on uke’s face and asked him what happened, protected him from the stalker guy who tracked him down and brought the uke to seme’s home…

Working life: The seme and uke finally got together but due to the traumatic first sex experience uke had with the stranger, he couldn’t become intimate with the seme even after a year and got beaten up by him… The uke ran away from home and come to the girl for help, she provided him shelter until the seme came looking for him. The seme was furious and thought that uke and the girl hooked up and tried to hit her but uke blocked him. In the end she helped to cover up for uke’s past and told the seme to be gently the first time because uke’s inexperienced…

英雄と少年
The second is a very short one chapter about the seme アーノルド卿 who’s a well known hero but turned into rebel, and the uke a 16 year old boy who admired the seme. They were in a cave for one night, the boy was injured, the seme kissed the uke and apologized about war affecting his life, after which they will be fighting on opposite sides.

Years later, the uke walked by the market and saw the seme’s helmet being sold as a war relict, he also passed by a tall man that looked like the seme… It means they both survived the war and living peaceful lives with new identities…

[pareidolia]

Asumiko Nakamura is singularly talented at developing messy, complex relationships in a few short pages, providing a mere glimpse into the characters' lives, while still telling a satisfying story.

[Tachan]

Asumiko Nakamura est l’une des artistes que j’admire le plus. Il y a chez elle une virtuosité du trait et du cadrage, qui donne une narration virevoltante qui me subjugue. Alors même quand ses histoires sont un peu trop brèves à mon goût, je suis conquise !

Dans cette récente histoire en un seul volume datant de 2024, elle s’attaque au schéma des relations toxiques pour mieux en présenter les mécanismes et déconstruire notre attirance pour elles ou du moins nous donner le courage de nous prévenir. Elle met pour cela en scène le coup de foudre de deux adolescents que tout oppose : Inukai et Misato, pour lequel le premier n’a qu’une réaction épidermique en retour : la violence. Comment assumer son attirance quand on se croit hétéro ? Voilà le démarrage de cette histoire.

Celle-ci aurait pu être banale. Combien de boys loves a-t-on lu dans les mangas où l’un des personnages bien qu’attiré par l’autre le traitait mal ? Beaucoup. Mais ici, la riche et bonne idée de l’autrice est de faire porter la narration sur Tomori, la petite amie d’Inukai, qui sera, comme elle le dit en postface, non pas un obstacle mais un témoin et une aide pour les garçons. Comme dans la saga Heated Rivalry, qui est ultra populaire en ce moment, nous avons ici un prototype de personnage féminin fort, qui sera une alliée pour les garçons et c’est très réussi.

Alors non, l’histoire n’est pas facile. Elle est même dérangeante car elle pointe des choses dures et sombres dans la culture homosexuelle. D’abord il y a la difficulté à admettre ses attirances dans un monde hétéronormé, ce qui peut amener certains à vriller et à avoir des comportements non acceptable, comme Inukai qui frappe Misato sans raison quand ils sont lycéens. Il y a ensuite ses types plus âgés qui profitent de la naïveté et de la solitude des jeunes gays pour les agresser ou les mettre sous leur emprise. Misato connaît malheureusement cela pour sa première fois.

Heureusement, il y a le personnage lumineux de Tomori qui nous accompagne tout au long de cette lecture. Elle nous sauvera de toute cette noirceur. Consciente de leur coup de foudre, elle finira par tout faire pour les aider. Elle saura également trouver les mots pour les conduire sur le bon chemin : celui de la relation saine, sans violence, dans la communication. C’est un personnage moderne, très intéressant, auquel on a envie de s’identifier, car elle assume ses choix et ne se laisse pas entraîner pour certaines pensées ambiantes toxiques et dépassées (comme le fait que c’est aux femmes plus mûres de prendre sur elles quand leur copain ne les trompe »qu’une fois » !). Elle a cependant des failles et elle aussi se trompe parfois, notamment parce qu’elle aimerait recevoir tout cet amour que partage les deux garçons. Elle est donc forte mais extrêmement touchante. Un must pour une héroïne dans un Boys love à mes yeux, Asumiko Nakamura l’a très bien écrite.

Le seul défaut de l’oeuvre est sa brièveté. Je croyais naïvement qu’elle occuperait l’ensemble du volume, mais un chapitre, est consacré à la fin à une histoire de chevalier qui n’a rien à voir. Elle n’est pas inintéressante avec sa réflexion sur la mémoire et l’héroïsme, mais totalement déplacée ici et prenant la place d’un développement final qui manque face à ces derniers moments bien trop abruptes. Certes, on a un bref épilogue, mais je reste un peu frustrée.

Pour le reste entre compositions graphiques toujours aussi magiques à mes yeux tant elles représentent bien le mouvement de la valse de ces sentiments chaotiques, et une histoire poignante, déchirante, sur le milieu gay, racontée avec justesse et émotion par une narratrice, femme forte mais sensible par excellente, alliée de nos héros, c’est un nouveau coup de coeur pour une histoire de cette autrice !

Article complet : https://lesblablasdetachan.wordpress....

[Rachael]

I love Asumiko Nakamura’s work and have read several of her works, in addition to Classmates series, her most well known work.

Outside of “Classmates” she tends to write about the darker aspects of relationships so the lightness and tenderness of “Classmates” feels like the aberration.

I liked this one even though one of the characters Misato has a tough go of it (abuse, coercive sex). He gets to the other side and by the end is better and in a better relationship. But ooof I wanted to race to the end to make sure he was ok! She really packed it in in four chapters, a separate short story and a bonus. To make you feel all that in such a short book!

This one felt like an AU Classmates where Kusakabe and Rihito had tons of internalized homophobia (leading to violence, bad people) and their one good female friend that helps them get back to each other.

Nakamura is really good at what she does. She will poke you in the tender parts.

[larry johnson]

Me gusta la historia y entiendo que no tiene por qué mostrar una pareja estable (básicamente el rubio le pega al otro porque no quiere follar), pero no lo cierran bien, y al menos cuando el pelinegro quiere explicarse sobre por qué no quiere hacer eso (o sea, HABLAR DE SUS TRAUMAS) aparece la pelinegra esta que me caía bien hasta ese momento porque corta la conversación y se inventa otra cosa en vez de dejar que la pareja solucione las cosas a su manera, y después el abusador este (no el del pasado) le dice "perdón" un par de veces y ya? se supone que esa es la moraleja? al menos no sé, que pongan en algún lado que la relación es tóxica, pero lo quieren hacer pasar como si fuese normal y no me parece, asumiko nakamura me has llevado una decepción y eso que te quiero mucho

[Vanessa]

Avevo già avuto modo di apprezzare l'autrice con la sua opera più famosa Compagni di classe, quindi quando è uscito Hibana l'ho acquistato senza esitazioni e non mi ha deluso.
Questo volume unico è molto interessante perché narrato totalmente da un punto di vista femminile. Infatti, sarà pure un'opera catalogata come Boys Love, ma la protagonista indiscussa di questa storia è la giovane Tomori. Sono le azioni e la sensibilità di questa giovane ad arricchire e a dare risalto a una coppia che da sola sarebbe stata una delle tante già viste (e che mi avrebbe fatto molto innervosire visti i comportamenti messi in gioco).
Mi piacerebbe leggere un seguito dedicato a Tomori e alla ricerca della sua scintilla!

[Heather’s Reading Bubble]

The art is absolutely beautiful as to be expected of Nakamura. I found Tomori to be a likable and endearing character. That’s the only nice things I have to say hence the two stars. One star for art one star for Tomori.

Now onto what I didn’t like. This was extremely rushed. So much happened in this one volume. We have bullying, an abusive relationship and rape just to name a few. Inukai is completely unlikable. He’s a violent abusive bully. Misato is a constant victim that is literally in the story to be abused. He has zero personality other than to be a victim.

Save your time and your money. If you want to look into this mangaka I wouldn’t recommend reading this. Read Classmates(ignore the pedo teacher) or A White Rose in Bloom.

[suki ★]

3.5 / 4 ⭐

de nuevo con otro manga de la que puede ser mi autora favorita.

no sé si es porque justo estaba con ganas de una historia oscura y de moralidad dudosa, pero cómo se trata la violencia doméstica (el principal punto que hace que mucha gente aborrezca este manga) no me molestó.

principalmente porque, al igual que otras obras de nakamura, nos encontramos con personajes y experiencias que no pretenden ser ejemplos a seguir. no es una historia bonita, es complicada y amarga.

mi parte favorita, además de la complejidad de la relación entre los personajes, es sin duda el arte. cada capítulo me quedaba pasmada mirando los paneles, la composición y el dibujo de nakamura como siempre es precioso.

[meru]

Un triangulo amoroso DE VERDAD, donde las tres partes se encuentran, estan dementes y con el estilo de Asumiko Nakamura? Estoy dentrísimo.





Me encantan los encuentros en las obras de Nakamura, que no falte un time skip para destruir el corazón...





Estoy triste y devastado.




Estoy patatesco con ellos os lo juro



EDIT: Tomori es peRFECTA.

[Mariangel]

Asumiko Nakamura nunca decepciona. Un manga que desborda sentimientos y sensaciones contradictorias, donde el frenesí traspasa las páginas y hace que se te retuerce el estómago.

Una historia parcialmente simple, que logra que uno reflexione y agradezca cómo se van desarrollando los hechos. Personaje femenino que aporta un montón a la trama y que hace que vislumbremos cómo se van desarrollando los personajes.

Warnings: violencia

[Say]

Ok so why 3? 'Coz I am kinda in between with this one. The artwork was great, the story was messy and for a BL I liked the 3rd party (the girl) more. Girl, you were right and remove yourself from that toxic environment. Yes, you can be friends with them but you don't need all that drama in your life.

[Vanesa Rodríguez]

Siempre advierto que esta autora no es para todo el mundo, pero voy más allá este manga no era para mí. Una historia sobre una relación tóxica sobre una victima y su abusador. Una historia de violencias; abuso físico, emocional y codependencia.

[María González Gil]

Otra maravilla de la autora. Me declaro fan de Shôko, y este género de "BL femenino" me parece un acierto. Aunque toca temas de violencia física y maltrato dentro de la pareja, me gusta mucho la forma en la que se resuelve el conflicto. Esta autora es un must de la vida.

[Yunebooks]

¿Qué acabo de leer? 🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨
Es que le pongo una estrella por que es lo mínimo. La historia me parece tan plana. No conectas con ningún personaje, tampoco tiene un gran desarrollo. Uf. Es que lo poco que cuenta me ha dado tanta pereza.

[Kelli]

This is one of those stories that could’ve been better in the hands of another storyteller—but, in its current form, is not just disjointed and difficult to follow but also rather offensive. It perpetuates some pretty awful, abusive tropes in the genre. Not a fan~

[Mei-Amadis]

Le principe de base est original mais l'ensemble manque de réalisme. On lit cependant ce one shot d'une seule traite, happés par le style graphique envoûtant de la mangaka !

[Rebecca]

This is uniquely messy and toxic in ways that make it difficult to look away from.

CW: sexual assault, domestic violence

[July]

2.8
this was going to be a beautiful complex (kinda dark) story, but the hitting threw me off, so -1☆

[lily]

irritated that they stay together... tomori and misato have a really nice relationship and inukai just needs to die lowk

[J-Lynn]

Part of me knew that I wouldn’t like this story because I don’t care certain tropes in this story….. however, I am a sucker for the authors art style.

[Michelle]

a bizarre apology for physical and emotional abuse

[Karola]

This one was harsh, still I appreciate every work of the author

[Rachel]

A masterpiece. Beautiful, lyrical, I loved seeing this fucked up relationship from Tomori's perspective. I adored this.

[Izzy]

Such a beautiful artwork. I loved the main female lead. She was the backbone of this story for sure.

[Julie]

Asumiko Nakamura loves her toxic Yaoi. Can't really get behind the whole abusive relationship aspect, but I liked Tomori.

[justine]

C'était beau, et les sujets sont très bien traité !