This was a very parallelized chapter, echoing back a ton to chapter 1.

Asa isn't going to get Makio to act like some mom who cares when she's coming and going, or anything of that sort. But her nonchalant attitude probably also means if she really wants to stay around she'll let her - she's gotten used to her, and that was all that was required, I'd suspect.

Thanks to the translators for this. It's also impressive that the translation for the first chapter (without any future context) could be used unchanged in chapter 50. I only realized this because chapter 50 made me want to reread everything.

I don't think calling Makio nonchalant is accurate. She gives a lot of comfort and advice (often bluntly) to Asa and was rather effective in guiding Emiri during her uncertainty. Her introvertedness leaves her with a limited supply of energy for other people, but she's been kind and loving the whole time (despite her warning when she took Asa in).

Thanks to the translators for this. It's also impressive that the translation for the first chapter (without any future context) could be used unchanged in chapter 50. I only realized this because chapter 50 made me want to reread everything.

I don't think calling Makio nonchalant is accurate. She gives a lot of comfort and advice (often bluntly) to Asa and was rather effective in guiding Emiri during her uncertainty. Her introvertedness leaves her with a limited supply of energy for other people, but she's been kind and loving the whole time (despite her warning when she took Asa in).

The issue is Asa needs people to see and love her. She feels completely adrift with no anchor. Makio is great, but unconditional love is not her bag.

I don't think calling Makio nonchalant is accurate. She gives a lot of comfort and advice (often bluntly) to Asa and was rather effective in guiding Emiri during her uncertainty. Her introvertedness leaves her with a limited supply of energy for other people, but she's been kind and loving the whole time (despite her warning when she took Asa in).

None of this says that she doesn't do it in a nonchalant/casual/... way. Nonchalant doesn't mean uncaring, or unwilling to help, or anything of that sort. Emiri is (by my memory anyway) also a good example ... she just hands her that movie and then occasionally casually chats with her. She's not pushing her anywhere, she's not constantly checking whether everything works out fine, she's not persistently hovering around seeing that she does this or that. It's basically the epitome of being nonchalant about something, imo.

Go read the latest chapter in Mangadex, I need more hands to handle these feelings.

Go read the latest chapter in Mangadex, I need more hands to handle these feelings.

Oh, man--I didn't even want to mention it until it was posted here so there would be a support group.

Never has life insurance been imbued with such deep emotional resonance.

These latest few chapters kinda gave me "developing towards a conclusion" vibe. I hope not. But then I'd want the manga to continue forever, and it's not going to, so ...

MASTERPIECE!

AYOOOO WE GOT LIVE ACTION IN HERE https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-06-06/tomoko-yamashita-ikoku-nikki-manga-gets-live-action-film-in-2024/.198851

That can only be absolutely awful.

That can only be absolutely awful.

Yeah, I’m not much of a manga > live-action person anyway, but when I think of this series (which I consider to be one of the best ever, insofar as that can be said about an in-progress story), I think of the visual and verbal pacing, the framing, the loose expressive line, the subjective metaphorical scenes, the varied facial expressions—in other words, a lot of comics-specific stuff done spectacularly well in a notably low-key way.

If the live-action version turns out to be good, well, great, but at this point I can only conceive of it being painfully flat as compared to the manga.

That can only be absolutely awful.

Yeah, I’m not much of a manga > live-action person anyway, but when I think of this series (which I consider to be one of the best ever, insofar as that can be said about an in-progress story), I think of the visual and verbal pacing, the framing, the loose expressive line, the subjective metaphorical scenes, the varied facial expressions—in other words, a lot of comics-specific stuff done spectacularly well in a notably low-key way.

If the live-action version turns out to be good, well, great, but at this point I can only conceive of it being painfully flat as compared to the manga.

Fully cosigned. So much of what makes Ikoku Nikki great is its use of the comic's strengths that ae unfilmable. It can be done if the director takes the same care to instill the same mood via visual images without it becoming overwrought or tedious, but that takes care AND skill.

Not going to watch this unless I hear from other people it is great. The comic is there already, after all.

About the newest chapter 54 on mangadex:

So, one of my all-time favorite manga's ended and I am going to miss the monthly shot of soft mourning and holding on bonds of hope and love. What the hell am I going to read after this.

But aside of that, it ended as it has alwas been. Not a bang and also not a whimper, but the splashing beat of life that goes on in daybreak's light. I really love that Makio has still hang-ups and struggles and likely forever will be exhausted by connecting and getting sad about that and that she still doubts her capacity to express love directly and so, subconsciously?, keeps doing it the indirect way she knows it: by writing. The point of the tale is not to make Makio better or to free Asa fully of her grief. It is simply that once there was a girl about to be deserted by life and family, and Makio was there to tether her to the world, to keep her on this earth. That is it. A lonely adult strove to take care of a bereaved child and they both managed to connect despite those issues. So shines a light through all the dust still. I love this manga so much.

Seriously, what am I going to read next?

last edited at Jun 9, 2023 6:45PM

About the newest chapter 54 on mangadex:

So, one of my all-time favorite manga's ended and I am going to miss the monthly shot of soft mourning and holding on bonds of hope and love. What the hell am I going to read after this.

But aside of that, it ended as it has alwas been. Not a bang and also not a whimper, but the splashing beat of life that goes on in daybreak's light. I really love that Makio has still hang-ups and struggles and likely forever will be exhausted by connecting and getting sad about that and that she still doubts her capacity to express love directly and so, subconsciously?, keeps doing it the indirect way she knows it: by writing. The point of the tale is not to make Makio better or to free Asa fully of her grief. It is simply that once there was a girl about to be deserted by life and family, and Makio was there to tether her to the world, to keep her on this earth. That is it. A lonely adult strove to take care of a bereaved child and they both managed to connect despite those issues. So shines a light through all the dust still. I love this manga so much.

Seriously, what am I going to read next?

Same. I literally came here to say some version of the ending was exactly like the rest of it. So, so good.

These latest few chapters kinda gave me "developing towards a conclusion" vibe.

Godfuckingdammit.

No real complaints, except that there isn't more of it. I mean, can I pretend there might one day be a sequel about Asa going to college ... ? Okay, that's a joke; but I really want to see what Yamashita Tomoko does next. There's never any guarantees but if you create something as outstanding as this series it's kinda hard to see how your next work isn't going to be at least good too ...

Live-action film trailer now up, not that I can tell much about it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFy1-bEL-zo&t=2s

This post is mostly just another chance say how freaking good this manga is.

That manga relies so much on narrative techniques unique to manga I really can't imagine that working as a live action movie ... but I agree. Any opportunity to go on about how good it is is a worthwhile opportunity to take ;)

I'll check out the live action even if it most likely won't be a fraction of how good the manga is. I really hope we can get an English license for this story though.

That manga relies so much on narrative techniques unique to manga I really can't imagine that working as a live action movie ... but I agree. Any opportunity to go on about how good it is is a worthwhile opportunity to take ;)

That’s why (even though I’m still primarily a manga/comics person) I massively prefer anime adaptations of manga over live-action, since at least more of the visual techniques of manga—like the ability to seamlessly switch from an exterior to an imagined interior landscape—are infinitely more easily available in anime.

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

Yeah, I don't even have the strength to read the poem again because I can feel the tears rising up again so I will hold it for now, for one day until I have all the physical volumes in my hands and I can share it with others not just with a link

We are getting an anime https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2024-05-03/tomoko-yamashita-ikoku-nikki-manga-gets-tv-anime/.210467

We are getting an anime https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2024-05-03/tomoko-yamashita-ikoku-nikki-manga-gets-tv-anime/.210467

I'm not liking this, I know it's a teaser but, man, it feels too artificial, no texture or anything like that...

I think the live action adaptation (film) is the one I'd be more interested in between the two

last edited at May 4, 2024 11:52PM

I would say that the trailer for the anime is a bit ominous but for two things:

1. The studio, Shuka, doesn't have a huge portfolio, but two of the shows it has done, Durarara and Natsume's Book of Friends, are all-time classics that aren't, like, KyoAni beautiful, but are visually striking and good adaptations of the original materials' distinctive styles.
2. The series score will be provided by Kensuke Ushio, who is seemingly everywhere right now (and crushing it), but very notably did the soundtrack for another story about teenage girls making music, Liz and the Blue Bird. That is in my top 5 for soundtracks to anything, animated or otherwise, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what he does with this. (If you want another recent example of how his work can really take something to the next level, check out the shounen romcom The Dangers in My Heart – there are a few times (especially towards the end of the second season) where his score took what was a cute and somewhat generic scene and made it genuinely moving.)