metamorphose no engawa

Yuki Inchinoi, a 75-year-old woman who teaches calligraphy in her home, drops by a bookstore and is drawn to the cover of a comic book and buys it. It turns out to be a “boys’ love” (BL) romance story between two male high schoolers. This prompts her to befriend Urara Sayama, a 17-year-old part-time bookstore clerk, with whom she starts exchanging BL comic books, and attends the sale and exhibition of doujinshi magazine. For Yuki, a widow living alone, a fresh new breeze has come into her life. For Urara, on the other hand, Yuki is the first person with whom she can talk and get excited about BL. This debut manga gained wide popularity by portraying two individuals with different backgrounds and a 58-year age difference, brought closer together through a shared interest.
ComicNewtype (KADOKAWA)
http://comic.webnewtype.com
November 2017-Series still in progress
© Kaori Tsurutani

This is a story that makes readers feel surprised and joyful at seeing a type of friendship that they had never seen before. BL stories have an unspoken cardinal rule that they have to have a happy ending. They are far more of a fairy tale than fairy tales. Reflecting the challenges that female readers face in life as women, every story leads to an exit called happiness. Although the two people that could very well be grandmother and granddaughter may initially seem like an odd combination, they are connected by an invaluable tie of sharing the “love and happiness” portrayed in the manga. This joy and the simultaneous existence of aching loneliness are expressed beautifully. It truly is a lovely piece of work. (NISHI Keiko)