I already knew from the Princess Jellyfish and Tokyo Tarareba Girls extras that Higashimura-sensei is a very entertaining person, but the majority of her cutting (yet comedic) commentary was more focused on self-absorbed nerds/single women. I guess I should have expected her to be even harsher on herself, her self-awareness is really worthy of respect.
This series made me wonder if I should read more autobiographies. It was so interesting reading Higashimura-sensei’s chronicles of not only her own life, but those of the other artists around her. Maybe because my life has been quite planned (and gone to plan), but I find stories like Ima-chan’s chance encounter with Higashimura-sensei in the art club room (cos he hated painting and so hadn’t finished his art assignment in time) leading to a career in oil painting, absolutely fascinating.
Since I have a friend who went to an art school in Japan, I felt like I understood a bit of the commentary about the school application process and the huge focus on sketching. But even without this prior knowledge, Higashimura-sensei made sure to explain the implications of her choices really well.
It was also really interesting learning little bits of trivia about Higashimura-sensei’s manga, in particular that all her male characters are based on her college boyfriend (it’s sooo true) and the reason behind her pen name. I also wasn’t aware that her breakthrough manga was also autobiographical. I would love to read it in English.
And of course Hidaka-sensei 😠I cried so much at Higashimura’s regrets. What an amazing person and teacher.
Conclusion
I blame the blurbs for making it seem like there was going to be a heartfelt ending. It was much more realistic, with Higashimura-sensei more coming to understand the true impact of Hidaka-sensei’s influence in retrospect.
This series makes me excited for her upcoming series about her childhood. Her childhood manga friends got some page time in this series, but they will now have their time to shine!
Categories: Series Review
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