#koudai makio

[mapoeggplant]

ikoku nikki chapter 54 - the end // spoilers

“why can’t you just say that you love me?”

“those words wouldn’t be enough”

and whichever words i chose to write here, they wouldn’t be enough to thank yamashita tomoko-sensei for the story she created.

ikoku nikki is, secretly, a story about love and how silently loving someone can produce music so loud that it prevents us from speaking our truth. it’s a story about loneliness, about company, about being who we are. there was a lot that could’ve been explained in the final chapter, but sensei opted to insert us inside the narrative.

by not answering some questions (such as asa’s parents and what they thought of her), we’re immersed in asa’s future and how she’s slowly learning to live without answers. there are still so many questions to be made, so many answers to hear and so many people to talk to — but in the end, what it mattered the most for asa, in that moment, was knowing that she would never be alone and how love she is.

we, as readers, are both makio saying goodbye at the door and asa running for her future. we’re the ones inside the boat and the ones pushing it further. we’re makio, asa, kasamachi, minori, emily, touno and everyone around them, such as the time they still have to live.

for asa, we can only hope for the best and wait for her to come home and visit us.

as for makio's journey, what other beautiful way to say goodbye than with words other than "i love you"?

who would’ve thought that after years of repressed feelings, makio would finally understand what her sister felt half of her life? what she felt when she wrote the diary? what she felt when she said goodbye way too early? makio’s way of showing asa how much she loves her is showing how welcomed she is in her sanctuary. for someone who never saw herself loving someone, allowing asa to continue living there is the same as saying how much it hurts to let her go.

it’s more than love, more than she could ever feel for someone. while asa learned how to chase for a world of her own, makio learned how to build a safe space for her to come back to. it’s the perfect circle for a story that started with endings: a new beginning starting to form.

it hurts to say goodbye. it hurts not being able to open the door and seeing asa there, lying in the sofa. it hurts not being able to fall asleep with the sound of makio’s keyboard. it hurts to finally understand the meaning of having your heart broken.

the circle is incomplete, as it should be. even with the same words tying beginning to end, their lives isn’t ending, just taking a new perspective. for us, what remains is to say goodbye. for them, what remains is to live. and to love. unconditionally.

[egodb]

Read Ikoku Nikki, y'all!

Thirty-five-year-old novelist Makio Koudai never had a good relationship with her older sister Minori, who always berated her for being different. Due to this, Makio is not stricken with grief upon hearing the news that Minori and her husband die in a car crash. But when Makio is asked to identify their bodies, she runs into her 15-year-old niece, Asa Takumi, whom she has not seen in years.

Struggling to process her parents' death, Makio reassures Asa that her complicated feelings are valid and suggests that the teenager start writing in a diary as a way to cope with the loss. Upon learning that no other relatives wanted to take in Asa, Makio decides to become her guardian despite her lack of experience. In a world full of uncertainty, the novelist and teenager must learn to live with each other while figuring themselves out.

(^ from MAL)

Ikoku Nikki (Journal with Witch) | Manga - MyAnimeList.net

This manga of 54 chapters (~11.5 h read) ascended to the top spot in my personal manga rankings within the first few chapters. Oh, what it feels like to be SEEN! I didn't cry at Luz's "I want to be understood" for no reason.

This is a fascinating story about acceptance and grief. I have not related to a piece of media this hard ever, and am compelled to recommend it,

SPOILER WARNING

We have:

Neurodivergence Representation

I'll not go into all the ways neurodivergence is hinted at, because really I want y'all to read this manga. It's absolutely definitely worth it.

Right from Chapter 3, we're shown aspects of one of the protagonists, Koudai Makio, which are neurodivergent, likely ADHD. It is present in all but name (even being indirectly referred to as a developmental disorder). However, even if it is a character trait, it is not the story! It is something that just is, and is separate from this beautiful journey of finding oneself and dealing with grief.

Chapter 15 introduces a lawyer who is autism-coded, and explicitly has a lack of empathy. He's upfront with it, and it actually feels like he is doing his best dealing with it, instead of exaggerating any aspect.

LGBTQ+ Representation

Koudai-san is aro-coded and has an unlabelled close relationship with one of the supporting characters.

One of Koudai-san's school friends is canonically a-spec.

One of Koudai-san's colleagues and friend is nonbinary.

The lead protagonist's best friend and important supporting character is lesbian.

Seriously, don't sleep on this manga.

[retro-friki]

Ikoku Nikki by Tomoko Yamashita.

The story of a 35 year old novelist and her 15 year old niece learning to live together.

[daychiie]

List 10 of your favorite characters from different fandoms

Tagged by my friend @stuck-in-jelly <3 Thank you thanky-u!!!!!!!! I tried picking different characters from the last time I did one of those favorite characters thing >:°D

Mob/Kageyama Shigeo (MP100)

Tulip Olsen (Infinity Train)

Oozora Akari (Aikatsu)

Murashige Yuzuki (Skip to Loafer)

Koudai Makio (Ikoku Nikki)

Van (Legal Pirate Parfait)

Kageyama Tobio (Haikyuu)

Hojo Sophie(PriPara)

"Mytho" (Princess Tutu)

Takeda (Kemutai Hanashi)

I'll be tagging @gardeningfrogs @waitineedaname @shimamitsu @homolobotomized

[petalpetal]

so I am reading this Josei manga Ikoku Nikki and oh my god not only is the art beautiful but so is the story

this the plot

The manga centers on 35-year-old novelist Makio Koudai and her 15-year-old niece Asa, who live together under one roof. Makio took Asa in on a sudden impulse after Asa's parents, which included Makio's older sister, passed away. The next day, Makio returns to her senses and remembers that she does not do well in the company of other people. So begins their daily life, as Makio attempts to acclimate to a roommate, while Asa attempts to get used to an adult that never acts like one.

[the-art-of-sanshoku]

Manga Recommendations from Things I Read in 2023

I wanted to make an end of the year post highlighting things I read last year and want others to know about! I tried focusing on manga that don't have anime adaptions (although a few of these are getting ones soon) and covering a variety of genres. Anyway, let's get right into it with:

Ikoku Nikki (Tomoko Yamashita)

Status: Complete, 54 Chapters, unlicensed - complete fan translation (Note: When I say something is licensed or not this only refers to having an English release.)

Genre: Josei, SOL, Drama

Synopsis: After the loss of her parents, 15 year old Asa finds herself in the custody of her aunt Makio Koudai. Makio, the introverted novelist, has no experience with children but will do what she can for Asa.

While this isn’t an ordered list I will start with what is probably my favorite manga I read this year. Ikoku Nikki is a very cathartic read for me as there are a lot of adult characters who are just trying to figure things out (although this also applies to the teen characters, but it’s just more relatable with the characters closer to my age). Figuring out how to like yourself even when you don’t fit to society's “norms”, figuring out how to process traumas from growing up that still affect you well into your 20s and 30s and beyond, figuring out how to love others, figuring out who “you” even are.  And it’s written and worded so lovely and deliberately that sometimes it says something and just puts into words a feeling you’ve had for forever but were never able to express and all of a sudden it just makes sense.

The cast is diverse and I think everyone can find someone to relate to. There are neurodiverse characters, and characters that widely spread the LGBTQIA + spectrum. But they don’t feel trope-y or anything, they’re just well fleshed out and well realized people. Ikoku Nikki just has a very “understanding” vibe that is just comforting to read and be seen by media. In a way it was a little of a life changing (life affirming?) read for me and I highly recommend it to anyone, and I pray it gets an official English release in the future so I can add it to my collection and support the author properly.

Tenkaichi: Nihon Saikyou Bugeisha Ketteisen (Yousuke Nakamaru & Kyoutarou Azuma)

Status: Releasing, 32 Chapters, unlicensed - ongoing fan translation

Genre: Action, Battle Royale, Seinen

Synopsis: 16 historical figures participate in a grandiose tournament of 1v1 battles to determine Nobunaga’s successor

On the opposite end of the manga spectrum we have Tenkaichi, which is just a very fun read. And sometimes I feel kind of crazy how little I’ve seen this talked about online by anyone, as it’s a super quality battle manga. It feels like a manga written by battle manga lovers for battle manga lovers, and in the author’s notes you can see this to be true. They love unpredictable battles with over the top powers and larger than life characters and they deliver. Tenkaichi lacks a “main character” so every fight feels like either side could win and I have even been surprised by a few outcomes of the battles. And even without a main character, the characters that exist are just super cool and easy to pick one to root for. They also usually become a bit more fleshed out via backstories so they’re not super shallow either. The art, paneling, and character designs are also really good, if you like fighting manga at all check this out.

Medalist (Ikada Tsuruma)

Status: Releasing, 36 Chapters, licensed 

Genre: Sports, Drama, Seinen

Synopsis: A cinnamon roll coach and his cinnamon roll student aim to make her a gold medalist level skater

Medalist is a classic underdog story that is really elevated by its superb main characters and art. Inori and Tsukasa are a very silly and endearing duo, but are also incredibly dedicated and hardworking that make them impossible not to root for. Their relationship and belief in each other really forms the core of the manga. The art can be really funny with silly faces, but also really intense and beautiful to capture the figure skating and emotions of the skaters pouring their blood, sweat, and tears into their work. Each competition feels really thrilling and has you on the edge of your seat, and it does a good job of getting into the specifics of the scoring so you can follow along. It’s inspirational in the way that great sports manga are, it just makes you want to work hard to become someone you can be proud of.

Souboutei Kowasubeshi (Kazuhiro Fujita)

Status: Complete, 250 Chapters, unlicensed - complete fan translation

Genre: Supernatural, Horror, Action, Shounen

Synopsis: A lovecraftian mansion poses a threat to Japan. To handle this, a team of supernatural/paranormal/spiritual experts are sent in along with - a scrungly artist?

Kazuhiro Fujita is a mangaka that I feel is super underrated in the west. Despite getting anime adaptations of 2 of his works in Ushio to Tora and Karakuri Circus (although the Karakuri adaption was not the best unfortunately), I feel that these were overlooked and he doesn’t really get talked about. Which is a shame because I think he’s a really great mangaka. He’s been around since the 90’s, and you can tell through his artstyle and storytelling style. Despite Souboutei coming out in 2016 it still feels very old school shounen, but this isn’t a bad thing at all. Fujita’s manga are full of heart and his artwork really exaggerates faces and body language to communicate the character’s feelings. I like his manga a lot because from the start it will often tell you “the big bad” and the whole manga will build up this antagonist until a satisfying end and climax. It doesn’t introduce new threats, or powerscale indefinitely, or pad its runtime with unnecessary filler, it starts - brings you through an emotional rollercoaster of twists and turns - and then ends.

Souboutei is no different in this regard. It builds and builds on the primary antagonist (in this case the mansion of Souboutei) and its mysteries to make a journey full of intrigue where you want to keep turning the page to find out more. The mansion is also a great setting that becomes a character in its own right, a twisting labyrinth full of malice and various horrors. Fujita also always makes a unique cast of characters with varied motivations, ages, character designs, and abilities that make each memorable and likeable. Fujita also likes to make every little detail count and sometimes add to the main plot where you least expect. Being a shounen there’s also plenty of action, and his battles feel creative and the abilities are inventive to make for some exciting fights. Souboutei has a bonus for the main character being an artist and having large themes on passion and creation and “what is art” that gave me an extra layer of enjoyment. Also it must be said that Sakamaki Deido would totally be a hit as a tumblr sexyman if this manga had any fanbase at all. But whether you read Souboutei or one of his other works, I hope you give Fujita a try.

Rojica to Rakkasei (Kinome)

Status: Complete, 25 Chapters, unlicensed - has complete fan translation

Genre: Fantasy, Comedy, SOL, Seinen

Synopsis: The titular characters Rojica and Rakka spend wacky days in their wacky world.

Rojica to Rakkasei is a breath of fresh air with a fantasy world that’s just plain weird and unique. A lot of manga fantasy lately feel like derivative goblins and dragons and slimes type worlds in medieval european-esque settings. Not Rojica though, it kind of feels almost like surreal and absurdist manga, but doesn’t go quite that far so it’s easier to follow as a series of episodic adventures. It’s a short, creative read that I enjoyed from start to finish. 

Witch Hat Atelier (Kamome Shirahama)

Status: Releasing, 74 Chapters, licensed

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Drama, SOL, Seinen

Synopsis: In this world there are people born as witches who can wield magic to help others. Or at least that’s what the world is made to think. After one fateful day, ordinary girl Coco, will learn the truth behind magic and become a witch apprentice.

Speaking of refreshing fantasy worlds, Witch Hat Atelier is a wonderful manga with great worldbuilding and setting. The “magic system” used in the manga is unique and feels very naturally woven into the world and society. This magic is harshly regulated and has many rules of its use, but Witch Hat Atelier lives by the creed “restrictions breed creativity” to create interesting solutions to difficult scenarios. The characters are delightful, focusing more on a younger cast of aspiring and bright girls who aim to become witches proper. Their struggles to make a magic unique to them and find their own voice in society make them a relatable bunch. Kamome Shirahama’s artsyle and paneling is also to die for, I love just looking at this manga. This manga isn’t all just school life and rainbows though, there’s a dark undercurrent to the story in the form of the antagonists the “Brim Hats” that bring some extra excitement and thrill to the story as well.  Just a brilliant manga. Also the only manga with my little meow meow Qifrey

Orb: On the Movements of the Earth (Uoto)

Status: Complete, 62 Chapters, recently licensed

Genre: Historical, Drama, Seinen

Synopsis: We’re studying heliocentrism! But it’s the 1400s…

A manga that really touched me on its themes of legacy, and passing knowledge down to new generations. This manga focuses on the secret studies of those who look at the stars and dare to challenge the current knowledge of the world. It takes place in Poland, which is a rather unique setting, in the 1400s. The constant threat of the inquisitors is felt at all times and our characters are left to question if this pursuit of knowledge is worth the weight of risk. What is the worth of my life? What is my purpose? What does it mean to be fulfilled? Philosophical, romantic (in a literary sense), and profound, this manga stands out among the crowd.

Futari Ashita mo Sorenari ni (Suzuyuki)

Status: Complete, 87 Chapters, recently licensed

Genre: Romance, Comedy, SOL, Seinen

Synopsis: Long term couple moves in together - fluff ensues

This is likely my favorite romance manga as it is one of the few to depict fluffy domestic life with your partner. Finding manga that deal with established relationships can be hard, but to find one about a healthy romance where the characters just live together and love each other and feel like adults and not the blushy “oooh she h-hh-holding my hand??” teenager mentality is a super fresh and nice thing to read (although I like those kinds of romances too, it’s just a bit oversaturated of a market comparatively). It’s a feel good romcom SOL with pretty much zero drama which some people may not like, but it had me grinning from ear to ear like a madman the whole time. If you like cute domestic fluff it’s a must read. Doesn’t overstay its welcome and has a great ending.

I have some more manga I want to talk about, but this post is pretty long so there will maybe be a part 2 ^.^

[paandaan]

tagged by @hyperculture thank you!!! this looks so fun :]

challenge: make a poll with five of your all time favourite characters and then tag five people to do the same. see which character is everyone's favourite

tagging: @heavenlyyshecomes @shimamitsu @mangojournals @bigshoeswamp @aegissi

[bladeandwound]

makio koudai in march (ikoku nikki, chapter 54) // "initiation song from the finders' lodge" by ursula k. le guin

[communistsister]

Diary of a Strange Land

I’ve been rereading Ikoku Nikki again, an ongoing manga series written by Yamashita Tomoko (who you may perhaps know as the original writer of recent anime adaptation of the supernatural BL series The Night Beyond The Tricornered Window). It’s one of my favourite manga, largely due to the art and very considered, introspective writing, but also because I just empathise with one of the two protagonists a lot.

Some thematic if not literal spoilers will follow.

One of the two protagonists, 35 year old novelist Makio Koudai is wonderfully written; she’s awkward, somewhere on the neurodiverse spectrum, struggles to be around people and prefers solitude; she forgets things, hates phonecalls, struggles to clean up after herself; and she has a tendency to monologue on deep dives into the meaning of words, the uniqueness of everyone’s own feelings, and how it’s okay to hate your family. Much of the plot is her learning to live with her 15-year-old recently orphaned niece, Asa, who she adopts at the start of the series.

Generally though... she’s a rare kind of protagonist that I don’t really see written much, and is also directly relatable for basically everything I wrote above. I see myself in Makio a lot. I also think it’s easy to read her as trans; the author’s background in creating Boys’ Love manga means she tends to draw women with quite androgynous-to-masculine face shapes, and some imagery and subtext has cropped up so far through the series that can be read as supporting Makio as trans. She has at least one close nonbinary friend who she can joke about their junk with; she quickly clocks a supporting character as a teenage lesbian struggling with her identity; childhood flashbacks of Makio’s terrible relationship with her sister often show her in masculine clothing with short hair. It’s not textual but it’s an easy read for me.

As both an author and a neurotic person who largely overthinks things and lives inside her own head, Makio does display a lot of emotional intelligence throughout the series; but it’s generally a very analytical display of it that I feel an affinity with. She struggles with direct emotional outbursts, and sometimes fails to read how others feel until it’s said out loud; she explicitly says she struggles guessing people’s thoughts and emotions. But when able to take a step back and describe an emotion or situation in a more literate way, she expresses a real understanding of the nuances of a lot of difficult emotions, like waxing lyrical on the expression of grief when her niece Asa is thinking about her recently deceased parents, by discussing the use of tense in both english and japanese:

Makio’s a good protagonist to co-centre the story around; Ikoku Nikki deals with the obvious themes of grief that come from having an orphaned character, but keeps going into some other less familiar areas. Whether your parents love you; how and when it’s acceptable to be angry; being unable to relate to others’ feelings; breaking up with a partner because they feel too perfect and you feel undeserving of love; the struggle and loneliness of writing & creating art. Makio often takes a teaching role in chapters about these topics, conveying wordy thoughts to Asa as the latter struggles through processing grief & growing up through school. Makio’s own past is told through often-abstract flashbacks rather than spelled out, but it’s clear from how she acts in the present day that she’s developed a sort of detached, almost disassociative maturity around being a person, and her advice to Asa usually comes across as pained sympathy instead of lecturing. Coupled with a small cast of similarly well-rounded supporting characters and their own internal and external emotional dialogues, Ikoku Nikki both starts strongly and grows over its chapters to be a really thoughtful story about sets of complex emotions. In case you can’t tell from me writing a long post about it, I really recommend it, as a relatively uncommon example of manga with a well-fleshed-out adult cast dealing with the low, relatable stakes of trying to be happy.

[cloudbends]

[ID: a digital drawing of makio koudai and asa takumi from the manga series "ikoku nikki", depicted hugging each other similarly to the last chapter of the manga. A speech bubble reads "you can stay as long as you want". End ID.]

Ikoku Nikki ended :(

[mapoeggplant]

i couldn't contain myself with the ikoku nikki anime news and finally decided to do something i've been waiting so long to do: i wrote two minifics in december of 2022, which i shared on twitter, but always wanted to move it to ao3 so i finally did it!!

rereading them right now after knowing the ending makes me a little emotional 💛

[burgers-in-anime]

Ikoku Nikki (Journal with Witch), chapter 2 (2017)

[solarehq-blog]

howdy! I'd like to reserve Makio Koudai (different country diary) as a Face Claim as the Commissioning Editor please!! Thank you xxxx

Howdy right back at ya! Please have our beloved Commissioning Editors application in by the: 30th of December 2019! 

[theonetruebird]

Ikoku Nikki: Review Ikoku Nikki, by Tomoko Yamashita, is about a 35-year old novelist, Koudai Makio, and her 15-year old niece, Takumi Asa, who live with her after her parents pass away in a car wreck.

[djemerald]

Tite line & freedom sunset ”new years party” feat. Kaoru Inoue

“真夜中の太陽”に、今年も逢いにいらしてください。 ;) ちょっとした仕掛けをご用意して、お待ちしております！

/////////////////////////////////////////////////

●1/20(fri) “Tite line & freedom sunset ’‘new years party” feat. Kaoru Inoue" at solfa［中目黒］ OPEN 22:00｜DOOR 2500YEN/ADV 2000YEN

-ROOM 1- Kaoru Inoue (SEEDS AND GROUND/Chari Chari) Koudai (Mullet) BING BING (BOW & IGAXX & U-T)

-ROOM 2- shiba@FreedomSunset×DJ FUNNEL -LIVE Wataru Sakuraba DJ Emerald PONTIAC aka びんかん (DRAMATICBOYS/PLAYA) Hiromi Noguchi Masaki (Myst)

FOOD: Makio

////////////////////////////////////////////////

[mapoeggplant]

ikoku nikki chapter 52 // spoilers

so they finally met each other on the desert. finally face to face in a place that both understand it so, so differently. for makio, who’s security means loneliness. for asa, who deeply understand the meaning of loneliness.

just before, both were facing a very similar challenge: could i love this kid who’s loved by the woman i hate? VS could i love this woman who’s unable to love me? while asa was feeling unloved, makio was running after a time she was leaving behind without knowing. she’s not getting younger and, truth be told, anything could happen in a blink of an eye. so, to show care, makio starts to walk around the boarder before slowly starts to creep inside asa’s planet, studying the ground before making herself at home.

she wants to give asa the security of being able to stand on her own, to show her how integrated she is on her life. makio, the one who had no one to leave everything to, finally breaks the first layer of her own heart: she’s giving asa her sense of family back. she’s making sure that she’s safe, sound and loved.

but a person who lived their whole life alone can’t understand what loneliness feels like. she, who thought that she could show asa’s security in a more legal manner, never stopped to think that maybe what asa needed the most at the time was acknowledge, care, protection and love. with makio thinking “what will happen whit asa when i’m gone?” she’s not realizing how this sounds, to asa, like an early goodbye. instead of feeling secure, she’s feeling abandoned again. asa, who still can’t understand makio’s way of loving someone, believes that she’ll never find a place to call home again; never have a window for the cicadas to come in.

and makio, who’s imagination is used solely only for her writing, have to start asking herself the best way to stop fighting this feelings she’s facing now. to love someone who was once loved by someone you hate. to feel that you have someone when there’s a wolf by your side. to feel that two different people can find each other in the middle. that’s the journey they are starting right now.

also, something that i forgot to mention: asa saying “even if my brain understands it, i just can’t take it” means that she finally has a complete understanding of the whole situation and fighting for her life to not disturb makio’s life. which, in the end, makes her loneliness even wider and even harder to pass through. she understands, she gets it: makio is all that she has left but…that’s all? it’s just all a legal transaction in the end? so family is to leave something behind when your gone? does life only exist to say goodbye?

once again, yamashita-sensei proves her mastery in storytelling, in the way she manages to capture human emotions and weave a plot out of it. gorgeous. truly gorgeous.