The man I was interested in was not a man at all Vol.1
Manga artist: Sumiko Arai
Translator: Ajani Oroe
Author: Brandon Bobia
Publisher: Yen Press / $20
October 2024
She is a girl who is interested in fashion. Her first secret is her love of 90s alternative music, and her second secret is that she has a crush on a boy who works at an imported music store. He is her FRUiTS magazine, a vision in black denim, a black hoodie, and black nail polish, and his secret is that she is the quiet girl who sits next to him in class every day. The man she was interested in wasn’t a man at all, it’s a complicated and crushing situation, with the weight of Viola/Cesario and her heartbeat buzzing to the tune of an old heavy rock’n’roll song. My heart beats. Sumiko Arai plugs into her amplifier and turns up the volume.
I mean, it was completely shattered. This comic is about longing, desire for a person who is literally sitting next to you, but is still out of reach, at an impossible distance. Just being with her gives me an unparalleled sense of elation. It’s about anxiety, about how when she gives away a part of herself, it suddenly becomes smaller. What did you think about that song? Have you actually seen them live? Director Arai shows what’s in the hearts of the two girls, their shock and surprise when they find each other, and then allows them to work through it in a way that only young love can.
As real as the intensity of new love is, it’s funny to see someone trying to keep it together when they’re with the person they love. Arai gives you a peak, running around like crazy in your skull, but your body language has to remain aloof, just let her think I’m cool. When a desire not to act weird leads to really weird behavior, and over-preparing to look extra casual, the guy she was interested in wasn’t a guy at all. A book about understanding vulnerability.
It’s also about indulging in fantasy, not just sweet, awkward silliness. The “prince” gets so overwhelmed by the intensity of the other person’s emotions that before he even realizes what he’s doing, he’s doing the kind thing you dream of the person you love doing for you. This may happen. It’s just something that comes up every once in a while, a gesture like lending your sweatshirt to a friend caught in the rain. Sometimes it’s like magic, donning a festival mask to hide your true identity within target range and hit the target with a big prize. I love the anticipation of nerdy girls flipping out, silence looking cool, and popular kids getting nervous. I love that the inner nerds are just as chaotic.
What Brings Girls Together is ripped straight from the 1994 BMG Music catalog. Their secret connection is not a cowboy hat (like Chris Gaines), but a love of “Western” music, as opposed to the K-Pop comebacks that all the other girls in the class are buzzing about. BTS doesn’t impress like Beck, Nirvana, or Pearl Jam. Cheating lends her a new Foo Fighters CD. I created a playlist that was completely crushed and blurred.
I have to be honest and confess that I find the position this manga has put me in as a reader ridiculous. The 90’s alternative boom has been around since I was a teenager. Arai channels the feel of a sitcom by setting nearly every scene in a school or CD store. This store is a place with a little space where collector geeks are making fun of themselves. The store’s owner, a cool uncle, and his friend’s regulars suddenly feel old as they watch a teenage couple re-discuss the meaning of the music of their youth. He sees a playlist of love letters she’s made and wonders if someone is trying to trick his teenage niece. It’s like taking the music of my teenage years and making people my age part of the old man joke.
Music is not for old people. Arai’s manga talks about love, but it’s also busy smashing expectations. A century after alternative rock came and went, some emo kid on the other side of the world is putting in a disc, pressing play, and trying to feel it. So is Mondaine Girl, a fashion-forward retro rocker. Music is just the beginning. Neither of these girls will let others prevent them from being themselves.
Arai is primarily locked into a modern manga art style that’s nice and expressive, a little more sketchy than solid, away from the house beat style, and more toward magazines aimed at older readers. Or a global indie style like the ones you’d find at Shortbox Comic Fair, or really cool image books. but! Arai also loves playing Bugs Bunny Looney Tunes in full with reactions. Things get silly and cartoon-like when the girls get nervous (and incredibly sweaty), overreact to the news and explode, or their faces are completely out of place. I love the goofy reaction style, and Arai-san is the best.
Also, the guy she was interested in wasn’t a guy at all. Printed in black and electric lime duochrome, Arai’s color work is highly stylized, highly intentional, and yet surprisingly understated. Be it this manga, Peow2’s gourmet manga (think Michael Farrar’s amateur cartoonist flop Bark Bark Girl), or Lucie Brion’s sublime Nobrow dumpster-fire lesbian romance graphic novel Thieves-like look. Similarly, the original format that Arai worked on before Ien Press collected and translated it limited each story to four pages in length, an unusual pace for a manga (that I’ve read). It consisted of fewer long chapters and shorter works. Arai plays out small scenes one after another with a vivid rhythm. The sitcom is back with two score episodes per season.
The Clash of Secret Identities, Spider-Man’s Actions, and Your Will. She doesn’t know that the emo girl hiding behind the mask likes her back. She doesn’t know what she already knows. She doesn’t even know it’s her. The uncertainty that if you remove the mask, the girl under it will cancel out your crush is not unfounded. it’s complicated. They are both complicated and struggle to discover the magic in each other.
Manga royalty are already praising Arai as the creator of the new Nana, and I can see Ai Yazawa pulling from a rock premise and even going beyond it. Every girl has a side to the story and you will hear it. When I hear the song Arai, I think more of the serious awkwardness of “Skip and Loafers” or the Will the・It reminds me more of “They Want the They.” The current book. Today is tomorrow’s manga.
Volume 1 of The Man She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Man at All is available from Yen Press or wherever better manga, comics, and books are sold.
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