A review by lnluck13
Tokyo Tarareba Girls, Vol. 9 by Akiko Higashimura
5.0
So I actually read the first volume last month but apparently forgot to add it to Goodreads, so I just added it to my series binge today. In accordance with my NLROMV, I gave no review on the middle volumes but also the first volume that I forgot to give my initial feelings on. Which means that this review IS IT.
First off, I love Higashimura’s work. She is always about calling out the lies we tell ourselves and complacency we settle with. Princess Jellyfish was the story of a girl who had beautiful dreams, but felt that she couldn’t fulfill them as someone outcasted for having too much passion about something no one else cared about. When her complacency is broken by possibly losing her safe haven and a boy who has been outcasted in different ways but still pursues his passions and dreams, she is forced to act to find her happiness.
Tokyo Tarareba Girls is similar. We follow three friends who find themselves 33 and unmarried. They all want a love story, and they often meet to drink and consider all the what-ifs that could lead their lives to happiness, while stuck on the regrets of their past. What if they had settled with that guy? What if they stayed with that broke musician? They spin these what if stories as Rinko, a screenwriter, thinks she has a second chance with a guy she once rejected because she kept thinking, “What if there’s a better guy than is just around the corner?” When the second chance goes awry, she finds herself drinking with her friends saying “What if...” And a young guy tells them off about all their what-ifs at their age. The young guy turns out to be a model and actor named Key who happens to be working with Rinko soon. Key has his own feelings about love and what-ifs, so the girls and him become enemies of sorts as they all try to live their lives happily.
You may already see where this is going... three girls happy with complaining about their love lives at girls’ nights are forced to face all their what-ifs and fight to find their own happiness. If they want to get married and fall in love so bad, maybe they should speak up and do something about! But it can be hard to go from ideals to reality. This guy seems perfect so I’ll leave the job I love for him and change myself! I will be in an affair just to be with a guy who I love and who loves me! This guy will take me so I don’t have to ask and be rejected by the guy I love! Because what if that’s as close to love as I can get? What if I can be happy with just this? These girls fight to find what will really make them happy, even if it’s hard, even it means this won’t be the “safe” option, even if it means they won’t get married by the Tokyo Olympics.
And I love it.
I will say that a lot of the series seems on the surface to be saying a woman can only be happy married or with a man, but it’s not. In her author comics at the end of the volumes, Higashimura, a divorcee with no intention to marry anytime soon, tells us that the point is to find what will really make you happy, even if it’s not easy. These three girls happen to want relationships and marriage, but other women in the series don’t. Some want careers, fun, or peace. The point is to not wait your whole life passively for those things to happen for you. You have to be proactive and brave. And this applies to men, too. Men have what-ifs, and they sometimes force those what-ifs on women to handle them, rather than deal with reality on their own. What if you changed your hair? What if you looked more like this person I really want to be with? What if you stayed convenient for me? And that is also the wrong way to live.
We all have certain ideals in life, but reality waits for no one. Time will keep going, so you better start living a life you love rather than just considering the what-ifs, the tarareba. Go. Capture your happiness. That is what Tokyo Tarareba Girls is about, and I loved every part of it. The characters, the relationships, the imagery, the liver and milt, the ideals, but mostly, the reality.
Truly a series worth a read.
Volume: 5*
Series: 5* HIGHLY recommended
First off, I love Higashimura’s work. She is always about calling out the lies we tell ourselves and complacency we settle with. Princess Jellyfish was the story of a girl who had beautiful dreams, but felt that she couldn’t fulfill them as someone outcasted for having too much passion about something no one else cared about. When her complacency is broken by possibly losing her safe haven and a boy who has been outcasted in different ways but still pursues his passions and dreams, she is forced to act to find her happiness.
Tokyo Tarareba Girls is similar. We follow three friends who find themselves 33 and unmarried. They all want a love story, and they often meet to drink and consider all the what-ifs that could lead their lives to happiness, while stuck on the regrets of their past. What if they had settled with that guy? What if they stayed with that broke musician? They spin these what if stories as Rinko, a screenwriter, thinks she has a second chance with a guy she once rejected because she kept thinking, “What if there’s a better guy than is just around the corner?” When the second chance goes awry, she finds herself drinking with her friends saying “What if...” And a young guy tells them off about all their what-ifs at their age. The young guy turns out to be a model and actor named Key who happens to be working with Rinko soon. Key has his own feelings about love and what-ifs, so the girls and him become enemies of sorts as they all try to live their lives happily.
You may already see where this is going... three girls happy with complaining about their love lives at girls’ nights are forced to face all their what-ifs and fight to find their own happiness. If they want to get married and fall in love so bad, maybe they should speak up and do something about! But it can be hard to go from ideals to reality. This guy seems perfect so I’ll leave the job I love for him and change myself! I will be in an affair just to be with a guy who I love and who loves me! This guy will take me so I don’t have to ask and be rejected by the guy I love! Because what if that’s as close to love as I can get? What if I can be happy with just this? These girls fight to find what will really make them happy, even if it’s hard, even it means this won’t be the “safe” option, even if it means they won’t get married by the Tokyo Olympics.
And I love it.
I will say that a lot of the series seems on the surface to be saying a woman can only be happy married or with a man, but it’s not. In her author comics at the end of the volumes, Higashimura, a divorcee with no intention to marry anytime soon, tells us that the point is to find what will really make you happy, even if it’s not easy. These three girls happen to want relationships and marriage, but other women in the series don’t. Some want careers, fun, or peace. The point is to not wait your whole life passively for those things to happen for you. You have to be proactive and brave. And this applies to men, too. Men have what-ifs, and they sometimes force those what-ifs on women to handle them, rather than deal with reality on their own. What if you changed your hair? What if you looked more like this person I really want to be with? What if you stayed convenient for me? And that is also the wrong way to live.
We all have certain ideals in life, but reality waits for no one. Time will keep going, so you better start living a life you love rather than just considering the what-ifs, the tarareba. Go. Capture your happiness. That is what Tokyo Tarareba Girls is about, and I loved every part of it. The characters, the relationships, the imagery, the liver and milt, the ideals, but mostly, the reality.
Truly a series worth a read.
Volume: 5*
Series: 5* HIGHLY recommended