I just finished reading, on Dynasty, a series called Ikoku Nikki by Yamashito Tomoko. It is quite unlike any other series I have ever read. The first episode was published on Dynasty in March of 2019. The final chapter, episode 51-54, dropped today. Stay with me, I’m leading up to something. The basic plot is: a young girl’s parents were killed in a car crash. She was adopted by her mother’s younger sister. The girl is Takumi Asa, hence the title of the poem below. The younger sister is Koudai Makio, an author of girls’ novels. The final chapter concerns Asa’s high school graduation and her and Makio’s coming to terms with their feelings for each other. It is total emotional overload, at least for me. I can’t stop crying. Not from sadness, just from overload.
Anyway, here is the poem:
Daybreak by Koudai Makio (Yamashita Tomoko)
Daybreak,
Someday you
Will build a boat sturdier than I did.
And then you’ll set off
Wind blowing fervently in the sails
And that boat’s floorboards
The nails
The small frays on the edges
Will be proof of what we fought to build, won’t they?
It’s us
And the us we were long ago
And also what you all will be someday.
We make a boat
And set off.
Daybreak,
You will make a boat far sturdier than we did and sail so very far.
I’ll become someone that pushes your boat and stays behind on the shore.
I’ll become your anchor and sink into the sea.
I’ll become the bow that cuts through the waves.
I’ll become something that won’t mind if you forget about it completely.
Because that dawn you’re seeing is what we all see.
So, Daybreak,
If you could find it in you,
Just as a visit,
Just as a renewal,
Just as it’s always been there,
Stop by a certain person’s little departure.
Koudaki Makio
Everyone who commented thought it was the best manga ever, regardless of genre.
