My First Manga
So…I generally haven’t read manga up until now. Why? Well, I am not even close to literate in Japanese and am wary about what part of the store I’m standing in. After all, in video shops, you end up hip deep in porn as you travel along the friendly family animations wall. It’s not entirely ridiculous to be overcautious. Also, the only manga that I’d had any exposure to was the wildly frilly for-girls type stuff or the robot stuff. What an incredible mistake! At long last, I’ve tried one, and found that I dig it. It’s called ダーリンは外国人, or My Darling is a Foreigner. (And, interestingly enough, the second book in the series addresses foreigners’ misconceptions about manga. Ha ha. Irony.)
The first book is all about the dating life of Saori Oguri and Tony Laszlo. Saori is obviously a Japanese woman. Tony is an American of Hungarian heritage. Also, he’s a freaking genius. Ok, maybe that’s overstating it, but he is quite gifted when it comes to linguistics. Anyway, the first book in the series (orange cover) follows the adventures that these two have when the move in with one another and start life together. The Japanese is pretty easy to follow, in my opinion. That makes it a quick read. It’s under 200 pages, and if my average is anything to go by, you can kill it off easily in 2 sittings. I tend to read between 80 and 100 pages at a time, anyway. (This holds true for the second book -yellow cover- as well, especially because it includes furigana to aid foreign readers, but not for the third - green cover. The third one deals with pregnancy and childbirth, and thus has loads of words that I’m completely unfamiliar with, so it requires more extensive use of the dictionary…)
Anyway, some really goofy stuff is brought up in their relationship, but there are more thoughtful and meaningful moments too. An example of lightheartedness might be the anecdote where Saori desires to be called by some sort of pet name. The movies she was watching featured romantic nicknames between loved ones, so she wanted one. Tony’s sort of apathetic to the whole thing and apparently doesn’t want to create one from obligation, so he doesn’t. Saori, undeterred, decides that if he won’t call her by a pet name, she’ll call him by one. She decides on “my wolf,” to Tony’s dismay. Tony later nicknames her after a tree, I think, to her dismay. They really enjoy teasing one another. An example of a more serious note would be the search for an apartment to share. When it is learned that Tony is a foreign man, loads of places turn them away. Saori notes that that was the first time in her life that she’d ever truly experienced discrimination. (But they don’t get preachy about it. They note the problem and basically encourage change without getting melodramatic. I really appreciate that.)
The second book deals with married life. It involves more cultural interaction, and similarly touches on ridiculous things and problematic things. I already mentioned that it launches into a castigation of foreign misunderstanding of manga. I cop to that, but apologize, and have changed my ways. 
Other fun items include an overstep by Saori’s mom, who calls Tony 「あなた」 at one point (and later asks to be called 「お母ちゃん」, which is also shot down). That drives Saori up the wall. She’s bothered by how close Tony and her mom have become. (Tony’s mother in law even tends to side with him in arguments with Saori…ha ha ha.) It’s a funny territorial issue. In this series, Tony always has little mini-essays interspersed with the types of short giggle-worthy frames that I’ve given you a glimpse of here. It’s pretty easy to follow, and tends to bookend the themed sections of each release.
I liked the first book so much that I went to a store and bought the other two immediately. I also picked up this book - 「ダーリンの頭ン中」 (Inside Darling’s Head). It’s apparently his thoughts on the study of language. I’ll be reading that one next, as soon as I’ve finished the third book (”with baby”). (Wow. As I am writing this, another teacher here walked over and handed me another one! 「母に習えばウマウマごはん」 - a sort of manga / cookbook from the same author? Cool!)
Anyway, I’d really love to know what your impressions are about the series if you’ve read it. Also, I’m unsure about where to go from here, so if you’ve got any suggestions for me, please drop them in the comments!
Bonus: Translations of the frames I included here. (You can click on them for bigger versions, by the way. Just not on the book covers themselves.)
1. アルパカ トニー
Alpaca Tony
2. バレバレ 冷蔵庫にお茶を取りに行くときのトニー
冷蔵庫にチョコアイスを取りに行くときのトニー
Busted! This is Tony going to the refrigerator for some tea. This is Tony going to the refrigerator for some chocolate ice cream.
3. 気づいて！ 電車の中で… ガタン ゴトン 「あっボクと同じケータイ！」 ぐっ 気づいてー ブンブン 「あぁ…」 「満足…」 ハッ 「このあとどうすればいいのか…！！」 ナンパと思われたかも！？ 「忙しく作業する フリをするのだっ」 あー忙しい忙しい 「社交的なのか シャイなのか」
Please notice! On a train… chugga-chugga chugga-chugga “Hey, she’s got the same cell phone I do!” Oof Notiiice… woosh-woosh* “Aaah.” “Satisfaction…” CRUD! “What do I do now?” She might have thought I was hitting on her!? “Pretend to be busy… Withdraw from the situation…” Cruuud….busy busy busy. “Is he sociable or shy, which is it?”
* I actually think this is more like a fluttering noise. Kind of like a hummingbird’s half buzz-half hum- half drone-half flapping sound. Yes, it is a mathematically complex sound with 4 halves. Got a problem with that?
4. ざんげ 姉と電話していて うん うん 「それで？」「それでね…」 「そのときに あ～ん あ～ん」 「あっかのこ泣きだした？」 「よーし 負けないぞーっ あ～ん あ～ん う～わ～ん」 ちょっ…ちょっと… あ～ん 会えば 「おいでー 私がホントのお母さんだよー」といって洗脳しようとします… すいません… 友だちの子どもにもやります… ほんとすいません…
Confession -on the phone with my older sister- mm hmm mm hmm “And?” “Well…” “Then- WAaaAaa” “Ooh, Kanoko’s crying?” “Ok, I’m not going to lose to her. WaaAAaA WAAaaAAa AAAhhhaaaWaaaaaaAAa” He-hey*… -if we get to meet- “Come here, I’m your real mother…” I try to brainwash her by saying stuff like this. Sorry. I do it to my friends’ kids too. Really sorry.
*- Kind of like, “Whoa. Hello? What’s the big idea?”
Also - apparently Debito doesn’t like Tony much. I don’t know the guy in real life, but I quite like the fanciful character in the manga. And I don’t always agree with Debito anyway. But it’s curious, anyhow. Dunno if it’s a turf issue or legitimate. Oh well. (I’ll just go on with my current idealistic appreciation of everybody, believing that they’re all nice people until they prove otherwise to me. It’s all my poor little brain can handle.)