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Choubi
Hirase est écrivain de romans. Lorsqu'il apprend que son responsable éditorial, dont il est amoureux, va bientôt se marier, il trouve du réconfort dans les bras de Choubi, qui ressemble à l'homme qu'il aime. Hirase arrivera-t-il à finalement oublier son éditeur pour répondre aux sentiments de Choubi ? Un recueil de petites histoires pleines de délicatesse et d'humour, par Hajime Tojitsuki.
178 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published November 6, 2015
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 11, 2022
[review originally written in french for the website Manga Sanctuary]
Anthology of four short stories, « Choubi » is named after the first one of them. To be honest, it's definitely the worst possible first contact with the book because NOTHING makes sense in this story. Really, you won't understand ANYTHING before the very end and, eventually, re-reading the whole thing « knowing », but it won't make the storytelling better than horrible. Even the sex scene (the only one in the book) is just bad. An incredible fail that can only make fear the worse for what comes next.
But. It would really be a shame to stop here.
The second story, « Rosaire », shows the evolution, span on ten years, of the relationship between two childhood friends, one son of a priest, the other coming from a far less privilegied environment. You'll guess the next steps : quitting school, separating ways... With religion in the background, and mutual feelings more suggested than shown, « Rosaire » surprises with its bittersweet, but great atmosphere.
The same atmosphere found in « Atelier », where this time art and mourning bring closer two characters with apparently nothing in common. Apparently. A story where romance is even more discreet than in the previous one, however, it doesn't means the characters' growth is badly done. In fact, it's totally the opposite !
Finally, comes « The day was not fine », covering almost half of the book. The paths of Toeda, who just discovers his homosexuality very naturally, and Sasuke, the local king of hids-and-seek he has a crush on, keep crossing. Yeah, you read right. And here, hide-and-seek is serious business. Everything is here : character development (including the sub characters !), the school setting, the sport theme (because there's skateboarding too !), suspense, the feel-good, crazy atmosphere. This cute story just gives SMILES.
Who could have guessed, reading « Choubi » the short story, that Hajime Tojitsuki's best skill is storytelling ? Definitely not me, yet story after story the truth is here : each of them is better and more complex than the previous one.
Visually, it's nice. The melancholic characters aren't the most expressive ones, but in « The day was not fine », we discovers emotions and an incredible momentum in the author's pen.
In the end, « Choubi » (the anthology) is a real goos surprise. Alright, the first story is very confuse and, let's be honest, just bad. But the three others ? Very good, in not excellent !
Anthology of four short stories, « Choubi » is named after the first one of them. To be honest, it's definitely the worst possible first contact with the book because NOTHING makes sense in this story. Really, you won't understand ANYTHING before the very end and, eventually, re-reading the whole thing « knowing », but it won't make the storytelling better than horrible. Even the sex scene (the only one in the book) is just bad. An incredible fail that can only make fear the worse for what comes next.
But. It would really be a shame to stop here.
The second story, « Rosaire », shows the evolution, span on ten years, of the relationship between two childhood friends, one son of a priest, the other coming from a far less privilegied environment. You'll guess the next steps : quitting school, separating ways... With religion in the background, and mutual feelings more suggested than shown, « Rosaire » surprises with its bittersweet, but great atmosphere.
The same atmosphere found in « Atelier », where this time art and mourning bring closer two characters with apparently nothing in common. Apparently. A story where romance is even more discreet than in the previous one, however, it doesn't means the characters' growth is badly done. In fact, it's totally the opposite !
Finally, comes « The day was not fine », covering almost half of the book. The paths of Toeda, who just discovers his homosexuality very naturally, and Sasuke, the local king of hids-and-seek he has a crush on, keep crossing. Yeah, you read right. And here, hide-and-seek is serious business. Everything is here : character development (including the sub characters !), the school setting, the sport theme (because there's skateboarding too !), suspense, the feel-good, crazy atmosphere. This cute story just gives SMILES.
Who could have guessed, reading « Choubi » the short story, that Hajime Tojitsuki's best skill is storytelling ? Definitely not me, yet story after story the truth is here : each of them is better and more complex than the previous one.
Visually, it's nice. The melancholic characters aren't the most expressive ones, but in « The day was not fine », we discovers emotions and an incredible momentum in the author's pen.
In the end, « Choubi » (the anthology) is a real goos surprise. Alright, the first story is very confuse and, let's be honest, just bad. But the three others ? Very good, in not excellent !
Displaying 1 of 1 review