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Manga Thoughts: Bloom into You Anthology 1
Going on to spinoffs of Bloom Into You says a bit about how the original manga got and held my attention. Translating and publishing those spinoffs seems to hint Seven Seas could count on continued attention from more people than just me (although I suppose I don’t know that much about “manga spinoffs beyond anime adaptations” in Japan itself). For one particular spinoff, though, I had a particular push towards it from a different direction. Some time ago I happened on a “scanlation” of a Bloom Into You “anthology” of short comics by a number of artists. There might have been a few “it might be the only chance I’ll ever get to read and understand this” thoughts in taking advantage of the “scanlation,” but while its fan translation did seem a lot less stilted than a great many others I’ve seen (something that’s kept me quite ready to buy official translations) seeing a Seven Seas release of the anthology scheduled left me thinking I had to buy the legitimate version.
As I returned to the anthology in its new, official translation (which I’m not about to fault, but haven’t gone back to the “scanlation” for comparisons) I was thinking a bit about the fanfiction I haven’t sought out and the constraints on the anthology’s third-party artists. My continued impression was that they were dealing with a story not quite complete (and their authors’ notes at the very back did keep mentioning the sixth volume of an eight-volume series). The school play that happens partway through the series kept being mentioned. As for the character interactions and developments still underway and the assorted interpretations thereof, I noticed Yuu’s subtle reaction in one piece to donning Touko’s school uniform and her thinking “you have no idea how you make me feel” when a different piece has her dragged into a changing booth to evaluate outfits she’s choosing for Touko, only to see Touko unconcernedly change in front of her. There were other pieces focusing on Sayaka and her kept-to-herself feelings; it might have been a bit more interesting to see a piece about the young author Koyomi I felt freer to just interpret as involving “friendship” and a different piece about the adult same-sex couple introduced partway through the story, where things are already settled and established.
There’s a bit of fancifulness mixed in. One piece has Touko aghast to see Yuu floating in the air (her folding chair somehow picked up beneath her) as she’s absorbed in a romance manga; another has Yuu nonplussed when Touko somehow turns into a little girl (which did have me thinking of just how worked up Touko had been in a third piece, already mentioned, about the idea of them swapping school uniforms). The artwork seldom seems to try and imitate Nio Nakatani’s distinctive style, although some of it does appeal to me in its own way. (Unfortunately enough, the last piece in the volume seems to have the poorest art, even if its story is good in its own way.) I only recognized some of the other works credited to the artists (some don’t have other works credited to them at all), and haven’t got around to the works I did recognize. The only contributing artist I might have been really familiar with was Fly, who provides the illustrations for the Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki light novels (at one point, that series’s author Yuki Yaku refers in a translated afterword to the enigmatically pen-named artist as “him”) but has also worked on other “girls’ love” manga. Fly’s colour plate at the beginning of the anthology did have a somewhat feel to it than that other work.
I had wondered not that long ago about “packing away” Bloom Into You, but didn’t mind the anthology extending the farewell that much further. It also turns out a second anthology volume has been scheduled for release early next year; I’m at least allowing myself to wonder if its tales will be able to deal with the series as a completed work.
As I returned to the anthology in its new, official translation (which I’m not about to fault, but haven’t gone back to the “scanlation” for comparisons) I was thinking a bit about the fanfiction I haven’t sought out and the constraints on the anthology’s third-party artists. My continued impression was that they were dealing with a story not quite complete (and their authors’ notes at the very back did keep mentioning the sixth volume of an eight-volume series). The school play that happens partway through the series kept being mentioned. As for the character interactions and developments still underway and the assorted interpretations thereof, I noticed Yuu’s subtle reaction in one piece to donning Touko’s school uniform and her thinking “you have no idea how you make me feel” when a different piece has her dragged into a changing booth to evaluate outfits she’s choosing for Touko, only to see Touko unconcernedly change in front of her. There were other pieces focusing on Sayaka and her kept-to-herself feelings; it might have been a bit more interesting to see a piece about the young author Koyomi I felt freer to just interpret as involving “friendship” and a different piece about the adult same-sex couple introduced partway through the story, where things are already settled and established.
There’s a bit of fancifulness mixed in. One piece has Touko aghast to see Yuu floating in the air (her folding chair somehow picked up beneath her) as she’s absorbed in a romance manga; another has Yuu nonplussed when Touko somehow turns into a little girl (which did have me thinking of just how worked up Touko had been in a third piece, already mentioned, about the idea of them swapping school uniforms). The artwork seldom seems to try and imitate Nio Nakatani’s distinctive style, although some of it does appeal to me in its own way. (Unfortunately enough, the last piece in the volume seems to have the poorest art, even if its story is good in its own way.) I only recognized some of the other works credited to the artists (some don’t have other works credited to them at all), and haven’t got around to the works I did recognize. The only contributing artist I might have been really familiar with was Fly, who provides the illustrations for the Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki light novels (at one point, that series’s author Yuki Yaku refers in a translated afterword to the enigmatically pen-named artist as “him”) but has also worked on other “girls’ love” manga. Fly’s colour plate at the beginning of the anthology did have a somewhat feel to it than that other work.
I had wondered not that long ago about “packing away” Bloom Into You, but didn’t mind the anthology extending the farewell that much further. It also turns out a second anthology volume has been scheduled for release early next year; I’m at least allowing myself to wonder if its tales will be able to deal with the series as a completed work.