All My Darling Daughters

by Fumi Yoshinaga (Story & Art)

Yukiko, a salary woman in her thirties, still lives with her mother Mari. But their relationship suffers a sudden change when Mari announces that she's getting married—to an ex-host and aspiring actor who's younger than Yukiko. Yukiko, convinced he's out to fleece her mom, can't stand to stay in the house and decides to move in with her boyfriend.

Fumi Yoshinaga weaves together the lives of Yukiko, a thirty something salary woman, and her friends in five short stories, exploring the various relationships women have with all the skill and elegance she is known for.

Genres: Manga, Graphic Novels, Comics, Josei, Romance, Japan, Slice Of Life

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Japanese: よしなが ふみ

Fumi Yoshinaga (よしなが ふみ Yoshinaga Fumi, born 1971) is a Japanese manga artist known for her shōjo and shōnen-ai works.

Fumi Yoshinaga was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1971. She attended the prestigious Keio University in Tokyo.

In an interview, she said that "I want to show the people who didn't win, whose dreams didn't come true. It is not possible for everybody to get first prize. I want my readers to understand the happiness that people can get from trying hard, going through the process, and getting frustrated."

Little is known about her personal life. She mentions that her favourite operas are those by Mozart in the author's note of Solfege.

She debuted in 1994 with The Moon and the Sandals, serialized in Hanaoto magazine, but was previously a participant in comic markets.

Of Yoshinaga's many works, several have been licensed internationally. She was also selected and exhibited as one of the "Twenty Major Manga artist Who Contributed to the World of Shōjo Manga (World War II to Present)" for Professor Masami Toku's exhibition, "Shōjo Manga: Girl Power!" at CSU-Chico.

Outside of her work with Japanese publishers, she also self-publishes original doujinshi on a regular basis, most notably for Antique Bakery. Yoshinaga has also drawn fan parodies of Slam Dunk, Rose of Versailles, and Legend of Galactic Heroes.

Reviews

[RoseAdagio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed all the stories except for the second one (not only was it off-putting, but it was unclear how it connected/overlapped with the other stories). Besides that one, I found the characters to be very interesting to follow and felt that this was a good collection of woman-centric short stories.

[Maria Shuffit · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this josei about relationships that adult women have, specifically with their mothers. If I had to choose just one adjective to describe this manga, it would be "tender." Not just in the sense of gentle, loving tenderness, but also the sense of a tender wound that is fresh and hurts with the lightest touch. This book explored some of the bitter, some of the sweet, and some of the bittersweet aspects of the relationships that women have with their mothers and friends. Will it blow the minds of most readers? Probably not. There was no big action scene or shocking secret revealed. It was just a lovely slices-of-life manga that I am pleased to have added to my "keep" collection.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

By the author/artist of Ooku, which is for older readers.more sophisticated, and Antique Bakery, for teens and those in their early twenties. This is manga slice of life for older teens or more likely women in they twenties, mother-daughter stories, five of them intertwined, focused on a young woman in her late twenties, not close to her mother, a cancer survivor, dad dead, and mom decides to marry an aspiring actor who is three years younger than her daughter… there's memorable single panels/pages, the image of the woman hunched over crying, having decided prematurely to leave home to move in with her boyfriend to avoid the uncomfortable younger "step-Dad" situation… The final story is the most powerful, with three generations of women, grandma, mother, daughter… warmth and connections emerge in small ways as we see the impact of girlhood on adult women. Maybe a 3.5 for me, as I sort of compare it (and why? different audiences and purposes) with the more ambitious Ooku series. This is one volume, but serious, thoughtful work. Yoshinga is always trying to surprise us with inventive, challenging relationship issues, turning expectations inside out, gender-bending reversals in Ooku, here this aspiring actor guy who really does love his much older wife, though they are nothing alike, finds her pretty though she does not find herself so. Good work.

[Curious Madra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found out about this manga via the Book Riot website [https://bookriot.com/standalone-manga/] and I have to be honest when reading the whole thing, I really felt it should’ve focused more on the first story than creating other ones that don’t really relate. Anyways it’s basically about a 30 year old salary woman Yukiko who still lives at home but her mother remarried a young man who’s 3 years younger than Yukiko. Yukiko doesn’t trust the guy since he was a host beforehand and the relationship with her mum is not going according to plan. That’s why Yukiko decides to move out. We then see the other stories such as a student x teacher realtionship story (it was honestly rushed plus absolutely dumb). Maybe this is me but I feel like this manga wasn’t really taken seriously of Yukiko and her mums relationship like if it was the main focus of the whole manga, I would have no bother with this manga. However putting in stories that aren’t really relating to the “mother-daughter” genre, didn’t make sense for me. I’m probably wrong but that’s how I felt while reading the rest of the manga.

[Soobie is expired · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sooo not my cup of tea!

There are five short stories in this collection and they all are somehow connected. The first one is about a middle-aged woman who got married to a guy who's younger than her daughter. The daughter doesn't like him very much and she's afraid that he's going to hurt her mom. Mother and daughter have a weird relationship and, in the end, the daughter decides that it's high time to leave home.

In the second there's a friend of the abovementioned young men, who has a little situation with one of his students. The poor girl is convinced that love pass through sex and she offers herself to her professor. And he accepts. Obviously. As long as it's about sex, everything is OK. When he tries to be more considerate and invites her out, she dumps him.

Then I lost track of who's who. There's a woman who's considering an arranged marriage. There's a high school student who wants to change the world and the last one presents the mother and daughter of the first story with the addition of the granny.

I got lost in the narration.

I know I have personal ideas about getting married and what it means to be a woman and this one-shot shows practically the opposite of what I think. I mean, arranged marriage? Come on, a woman is a woman even if she doesn't get married. And what about the sleezy character she meets? Would she really be better off with him next to her?

I really didn't get the part about the girl who wants to change the world. She has this big ideas but she never makes the first step trying to realize them.

I don't know. It's supposed to be a josei manga but I couldn't get the feel of it. I didn't like the characters and I didn't care about them. I didn't even like the art: I think the author isn't that good at drawing facial expressions.

Sigh. Let's move to something else!

[Michael Sorbello · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting something deeper, but it’s mostly just mundane romantic affairs between adults going wrong in odd ways. The second story was a bit iffy to me as it treated the sexual assault of a man like it was no big deal. Other than that, I just found the whole thing to be pretty underwhelming.

[daph pink ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed how the stories related to one another and shared a common theme and fundamental idea. I enjoyed the concept and some of the stories, and the narrative made me experience the struggles of being a woman. The author did a great job of capturing it.

[Mark Robison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish there were more manga available in the U.S. like this: Adult dramas. This one is five stories, and I read it twice back to back. It was even better the second time as I understood the characters more, like the girl who is fiercely feminist and dreams big with her friends only to, years later, settle into a conventional marriage and subservience to a husband. Early in the story, uncommented on, she's got a bandaged eye in one scene and other bandages in another. She was abused as a child and no one talked about it and it ended up undermining her dreams as her life became more unstable.

The opening story — about an older woman who, after surviving cancer, marries a man younger than her oldest daughter — has a scene where the young man looks at old photo albums and talks to the daughter about how the woman hates to look at pictures of herself and thinks she's ugly. He keeps telling her how lovely she is but she brushes the comments aside. It's a minor part of the story.

Only in the final story do we hear why she thinks she's ugly — and it's heartbreaking.

The second story is creepy as a professor's student engages in "forceful fellatio" on him, repeatedly. He ends up falling for her and she ... Well, read the book. But it's part of a theme where the women in the stories are belittled and dismissed and ignored as children and how this plays out in their adult lives.

On first read, this was 3 stars, maybe 3.5. But I keep thinking about the stories so, for me, despite some flaws, it's 4.

[Korynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Five short stories featuring a mixture of the same characters with a theme of permanence. In the first story Yukiko is introduced as the beleaguered sullen daughter who puts up with Mari, her harsh no-nonsense mother, until she marries a much younger man, Ken. In the second story, we are introduced to Kiyo, a friend of Ken's, who is having a bit of a dilemma with a female student. The third story is about Sayako, a friend of Yukiko's who is considering an arranged marriage. The fourth story begins with Yukiko trying to remember her best friends from middle school, with the narration then settling on Yuko telling about the friendship that continued after Yukiko left between Yuko and Kisaragi. The last story is about Mari's relationship with Tsuyuki, Yukiko's grandmother. Each story takes a single idea that each character takes for granted: Yukiko thinks her mother will always take her for granted. Mari persists in believing that she is ugly and that her mother hates her. Sayako is sure she will understand what romantic love is in time. Kiyo in under the impression he has no choice in his dilemma. Yuko was under the impression that Kisaragi was the type of strong girl that could not be wounded. These ideas carry the story until within each story there is a revelation that completely changes the view of the character 180 degrees and causes them to understand a little more of the world and changes themselves.

[Kenneth Hardcastle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted my book club to read a manga in the traditional style to keep them on their toes. Yoshinaga examines the Japanese attitudes to relationships, be they lovers, friends, or family. At the center of the book is Yukiko’s relationship with her mother, but the book spirals outward to take you through defining moments in the lives of their friends and family as well, always with a focus on the women. It gave me a sense of the cultural mores in Japan, and the kinds of problems women face with regards to familial expectations and daily life. It draws a lot of attention to the expectations of emotional labor on women. I also learned a lot about some interesting aspects of Japanese culture - such as host clubs, the historical drama genre, and cooking.

The book is flexible in moving backwards and forwards in time, and the illustrations are beautifully-composed. They do get simplistic when the characters are angry or surprised, a trait this book shares with other manga. I had to go back and forth a bit to confirm the identities of some characters, or try to figure out what they had to do with the characters already introduced.

Overall, the book was a tenderly-told analysis of womanhood in Japan. It had some resonant emotional high points, but I just don’t think the book will stick with me for long.

[meeners · Rating 3 out of 5]

i really want to assign yoshinaga fumi in a class someday, but unfortunately time limitations make it hard to assign tons of manga volumes by a single author. found this while looking around for 短編漫画. i found the individual stories to be rather thin, but i think the last chapter (a wonderfully thoughtful sketch about three generations of women, moving precisely because of its restraint) could work quite well on its own.

(random note: have to admit that the title gives me cognitive dissonance every time i see it, because i can't help thinking of connie willis' chilling story of the same name.)

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Knowing, forgiving, and loving are all different things."

Five interwoven tales about the complex lives of ordinary people. It's hard to describe what makes this book so effective, but like a great short story collection, it delivers great insights in a small space. Yoshinaga is incredibly effective at getting to the heart of her characters.

I'd recommend this even to non-manga/non-comics readers.

[Mikael Kuoppala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhat sappy but ultimately insightful, “All My Darling Daughters” is a glimpse into the life of a family of women, all dealing with everyday life and finding their place in the world. The concept is just slightly “Sex and the City”-ish, but the focus isn’t mainly on coupling and women defining themselves through men. The piece is nicely modern and nuanced, unafraid to challenge norms but sticking with the plausible context of everyday living. Real and smart.

[Nicolas Lontel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un peu partagé sur ce manga de Yoshinaga. Je l'ai évidemment pris parce que j'adore sa série Le pavillon des hommes, Tome 1 écrit bien après All My Darling Daughters, ce n'est vraiment pas la même chose du tout, pas le même genre, pas le même style narratif, pas les mêmes thématiques.

All My Darling Daughters est presqu'un recueil de 5 nouvelles tournant autour d'une même famille dont les intrigues tournent souvent autour des ami·es/connaissance de la mère ou de la fille ou carrément une des deux (quand ce n'est pas les deux dans la première et dernière nouvelle).

La première, quatrième et cinquième (dernière) nouvelles sont les plus réussies à mon avis, on présente les différents personnages, leurs relations et liens affectifs, comme le titre du manga l'indique, c'est définitivement un recueil qui s'intéresse aux liens entre mère et fille et ces deux nouvelles réussissent à communiquer beaucoup d'émotion à l'intérieur de dynamiques changeantes entre la mère et la fille. Il y est question d'héritage, de projection de soi, de peur, d'affection et d'amour et l'intrigue réussit à vraiment rentre ses personnages attachants et très réaliste. La quatrième nouvelle tourne plutôt autour des amies d'enfance de la protagoniste et leurs rêves, comment leurs chemins ont divergé, de quelle manière, qu'est-ce qui arrive aux rêves une fois que l'on grandi (et qu'on se rend compte que tout n'est pas possible). Ces trois nouvelles sont très belles et tristes à la fois.

La deuxième nouvelle était la moins intéressante, non seulement les politiques de cette dernière sont vraiment étranges et décalées par rapport au restant du recueil (une relation professeur-étudiante qui commence par un viol du prof. par l'étudiante), mais le traitement des relations abusives est aussi très mal exploré (plutôt que de montrer comment l'étudiante se fait manipuler par des hommes, ce qu'on montre quand même un peu, on la montre rechercher très activement les pires relations, rejeter en deux secondes les bonnes et on la montre comme vraiment peu intelligente pour une étudiante collégiale). J'avoue que j'ai craint pour le restant du recueil à lire cette nouvelle qui n'a même pas rapport avec le reste des histoires non plus. Mettons qu'on peut la sauter au besoin.

La troisième nouvelle, en deux partie, était correcte. Mettons que ça montre comment la protagoniste de la nouvelle peut pousser sa philosophie de non-discrimination jusqu'au bout, mais j'ai vite vu où cette philosophie aller mener (ça me faisait penser à Angéline de Montbrun à plusieurs égards, une analyse comparée serait certainement intéressante ;) ). Je suis quand même déçu du choix du personnage, je pense que son choix va dans la direction opposée à sa philosophie, mais peut-être est-ce le message qui est véhiculé. À plusieurs égards, ça peut aussi être vu comme l'histoire d'une protagoniste aromantique qui ne sait pas vraiment comment établir des liens affectifs avec ses prochains.

Dans l'ensemble un bon recueil, qui aurait été excellent sans la deuxième nouvelle. La petite bio à la fin sur Yoshinaga me donne envie de continuer à lire d'autres mangas d'elle. Je poursuit toujours sa saga Le pavillon des hommes, mais elle a définitivement une très belle plume, et toujours de magnifiques illustrations, pour créer de l'émotion chez son lectorat. Sa capacité de pouvoir sauter d'un genre à l'autre, de créer des histoires quasi opposées les unes aux autres démontre bien son grand talent artistique.

[Aubrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many spoilers ahead. I wanted to do some research on a new theme I'm thinking of using for a temporary book club like I did last year. The theme is women writing graphic novels. I had heard good things about this, and after reading it I think it would make for a good discussion.

Trigger warning for non-consentual sexual assault from both a male and female perspective. I will talk a little bit about it in this review.

First off, I thought it was odd that the synopsis on the back of the cover to this book only barely brushes a topic in one of the chapters. This is more a book of vignettes about different women and their relationships - friendships, family, and romantic endeavors. Some of these relationships are precious and I did tear up a couple of times throughout.

I have very complicated feelings about one of the chapters. In it, a male teacher is asking his friends for advice about how to deal with a student who is performing sexual favors. At first it is against his will, she says she will tell if he doesn't allow her to do it. During these acts, he starts to get to know her and realizes that her previous partners required her to do these things for them. They would basically use her as a sex object, and would otherwise either verbally abuse her or neglect her entirely. As he is getting to know her, he realizes he likes her, feels bad about her previous relationships, and asks her out on a date without a sexual requirement. After the date she breaks things off, saying she prefers men like those she previously dated. There are many things I see wrong with this - her assaulting him, him falling for her, her very unfortunate ideas of how a relationship should be - but I do think it would be a great chapter to break down. It does make me feel sorry for her, because she believes sexual and verbal abuse is part of a normal relationship. I don't want to ignore that the teacher was assaulted either, but he is soon gladly accepting her advances because it feels good to him. It's harmful storytelling, and especially silences male victims of sexual assault. Men do not ask to be raped and I think this chapter could have been written better with this in mind.

I think there is a lot to think about in every chapter. Some other topics include body positivity, age, disability, and career choice. There might have been too much about romantic relationships for my taste, but they do not overshadow the women themselves. The women were written well. Each one is complex, even the student mentioned earlier. I can see why many people like this book. This standalone was nicely written and I'm looking forward to reading more of Fumi Yoshinaga's work.

[marcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this manga, Fumi Yoshinaga explores what it means to be a woman and how that impacts your relationships with other women. I don't consider this a short story collection. Since the stories are interconnected and build on top of each other, they don't work when read in isolation. As with Ōoku, many of the characters have same face syndrome. On top of that, the story about the teacher student relationship feels out of place. Even so, I do enjoy this manga. My favorite stories come from later on in the volume. One of them is about Yukiko's former friend reflecting on the life trajectory of someone they both knew. The other is about Mari's complicated relationship with her own mother and how it has affected how she raised Yukiko. It's a poignant story about how you can understand why someone behaves like that and still be unable to forgive them for the devastation they have caused you.

[aliaareadstoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for cat manga, but found this one instead. Such a heartwarming read 🥺

[Jillian -always aspiring- · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread in 2019

This is still a beautiful collection of intertwined stories where mothers and daughters experience romance, up and down relationships, and all the joy and pain that come with life.

[Kirstie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first chapter follows Yukiko and her mother (who are largely the linchpins for the whole series if not always the actual main characters) and their complicated relationship which becomes more complex when you add the mothers new husband, who is younger than Yukiko! The characters are all wonderful and fun, and I'm gad I got to read more about them in the following chapters too.

I struggled a lot reading the second chapter/story. Especially the ending. The self degradation on the female character, the rape (btw it's the guy being raped, which doesn't get depicted much but it's treated rather lightly by his friends when he reveals it which is horrible and only made it harder to read. And to top it all off when he falls for her (which felt soooo wrong to me) and treats her nicely she leaves to find someone who treats her terribly again. I know this is possible, there are abused women out there who genuinely feel they don't deserve better, but it's so hard to read a story with this much hopelessness in it.

The third story, about Sayako looking for a partner through arranged marriage was surprising and wonderful. Tatsuhiko is a such a cool character. I loved him and am super sad he didn't 'get the girl' in the end *sob*, but also I'd never want to force an aro ace person(Sayako) into marrying anyone. Still, I could have been perfectly happy to leave chapter three at the end of part one ;p.

Chapter four with it's school-hood friends losing touch/reconnecting is touching, especially watching their life goals changing as times moves on to reconnect with the present.

In the final chapter we reconnect with Yukiko and her mother and uncover more about the relationship between Mari and HER mother and how that affected how she in turn mothered Yukiko. It was a lovely way to round out the book.

Overall I enjoyed the book (ignoring that difficult second chapter) and found it an interesting look women in Japanese culture. As usual Yoshinaga-sensei's art is lovely too.

[Belinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book of vignettes linked by the family of Yukko and Mari. For the most part it appears to work, but I still do not get the sequence with Mr Kiyotaka Izumi in it. A girl who likes to be abused and who gives men blow jobs because she "doesn't deserve sex" (she might enjoy it). I found that deeply disturbing simply because there's no resolution, no connection to anything else in this book except that Kiyotaka is a friend of Yukko's boyfriend. I guess it gave Yukko the opportunity to let Taka have it about his morals, but that's all.
x
The other sequences are about the relationships between mothers and daughters. Mari seems to have passed on the abuse she received from her mother. She isn't simply verbal, she even kicks her daughter. I don't know, am I missing something here?? Is this normal in Japanese society?

Still, the art is always exceptional, the relationships between friends and lovers can be interesting, even tender. I just don't see why everyone has to be so flawed.

[Denise Griffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book specifically to meet one of the requirements for the 2019 Read Harder Challenge. It is a manga book. I knew nothing about manga before I started searching for one of the books. I was shocked to see how many books are available in this 'genre'(?) I cannot honestly say, 'I enjoyed it', but I am glad I read it!

It was difficult to adjust from reading left to right page, to right to left page, which apparently, is manga style. The art work was really well done, but the story plot was hard to follow for me. Manga has a really large following, so my thoughts are probably minority opinion. Would I try another manga book? I don't want to say 'never' but there's too many other GREAT books that I would rather read.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A selection of loosely connected about mothers and daughters, women and their friends. I'm not sure if I'm rating it higher than I should simply because I'm so glad to be getting such woman-centric storytelling. I think I liked the last story--on mothers, daughters, and beauty--the best.

Meanwhile, the downside of reading several works by a single creator: the use of the same character designs & faces in every series becomes more of a distraction with every iteration. Ack.

I can see some older teens enjoying this, but this really strikes me as storytelling for adults. It works for me because it resonates with some things I've realized only post-25 myself!

[Ashley N. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my second manga I've read from Yoshinaga and I have very mixed feelings about her work. On one side, the art is beautiful and the stories seem heartfelt. On the other side, I had a hard time following the characters--this is something that I found with her Ōoku series as well. I'm not sure if there is a cultural gap that is to blame, my ability to recognize drawn faces, or if this is Yoshinaga's style and I just don't get it. If you can follow who the characters are, then the story will be well worth it.

[m_miriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is so much sadness in this book, yet it's such a quick and fun read. The interconnected vignettes are an interesting portrayal of gender dynamics and changing relationships; I especially liked the inter-generational storyline. All the 'darling daughters' had a sense of deep melancholy about them; while this mood did not overwhelm the entire storyline, it was a constant presence, which felt genuine to the characters' experience of the world.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have rated this a lot higher, but the second chapter was just awful. We're supposed to see a man getting sexually assaulted as some kind of weird meet cute just because a young woman did it? What is wrong with people?! I liked most of the other parts of this book but that was just disgusting and upsetting.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

2021 READ: 3.5 STARS!

I just wish that this was longer.

My review is not for intelligent discussion. It's what I felt/thought while reading the book. For 2021, I would rate the book this way:
1 - DNF'ed
2 - does not exist
3 - did not like
4 - it was okay
5 - I like it / I enjoy reading it (but it doesn't mean I recommend it)

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the first full length right-to-left manga I've ever made it through. Yay me. The art and story- five interlinked threads of women making big decisions in their lives- was good, but since it was a contemporary realistic setting, I felt like I was missing a lot of the cultural touchpoints.

[dejah_thoris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange manga where I'm not sure how all the threads tie together, especially the second story, but it does come to a beautiful conclusion when the protagonist accepts her mother as she is once she learns where her behaviors came from.

[Klley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Women in their twenties understanding their mothers as people and the effects of their mothers on theirself. Insecurity and tumult while moving through dating relationships. i thought it might hit closer to home. but enjoyed reading it anyway.

[G-Soxx · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent early work of Yoshinaga sensei's. Worth having on your bookshelf if you enjoy Yoshinaga's artwork and her keen observations on Japanese life. Great slice-of-life type of stories.