Sora ga Suki!

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While I was grateful for the response from fans, I also felt like, 'it's too late! If you had said something earlier, they might have extended the series!' I was a little irritated. [lower-alpha 2]

In response to these letters, Sora ga Suki! resumed serialization with a second part of the series starting in the August 1972 issue. [13] However, Takemiya was no longer as enthusiastic about the series as she had previously been. [14] The second part similarly ended after ten chapters, with the final installment published in the October 1972 issue of Shūkan Shōjo Comic. [13]

Collected volumes

In October 1974, Sora ga Suki! was published as two tankōbon (collected edition) volumes by Shūkan Shōjo Comic publisher Shogakukan, under their Flower Comics imprint. It was the first manga by Takemiya to be published in this format. [15] The first volume contains Rakuyō no Ki (落葉の記, 'The Chronicle of Fallen Leaves'), a 16-page preview of what would become her 1976 manga series Kaze to Ki no Uta (lit. 'The Poem of Wind and Trees'). The preview was included at the end of the volume without notice or explanation. Takemiya said she wanted to "expose" a part of Kaze to Ki no Uta, and she was curious to see how readers would react to it. [15]

Multiple collected volume editions of Sora ga Suki! have been published:

Sequels

Marude Haru no Yō Ni (まるで春のように), a sequel to Sora ga Suki!, was published in a special issue of Shūkan Shōjo Comic in 1972. [24] It is a 40-page one-shot depicting the events in a town visited by Tag. A second sequel, NOEL!, was published in two parts in the November and December 1975 issues of Bessatsu Shōjo Comic . [24] [25] The 120-page story continues the events of the original manga series. Both Marude Haru no Yō Ni and NOEL! were included in the 1978 collected edition of Sora ga Suki! published by Shogakukan. [24]

Themes and analysis

Musical theater

Sora ga Suki! is influenced in plot and form by musical theater, with characters expressing their feelings and emotions through dance and song lyrics. [6] In illustrating the series, Takemiya stated that she drew inspiration through the use of movement to indicate expression and meaning, and that she was particular about drawing motion lines that indicated character movement in order to communicate their emotions. [11] Further, she felt she was able to express the vividness of youth by incorporating musical elements. [6]

Shōnen-ai

The primary characters of Sora ga Suki! are all male, which was atypical for shōjo manga of the era. [26] This, combined with the ambiguously homoerotic subtext attributed to the central friendship between Tag and Genet, led writer and sociologist Shunsuke Tsurumi to describe it as a shōnen-ai (male–male romance) manga. [27] The second part of the series depicts a kiss between Tag and Genet; while it is depicted in-text as an expression of their friendship, it was nevertheless a taboo at the time for manga to portray male characters kissing. [28] In the afterword of the 1984 collected edition, Takemiya described the kiss scene as "the most fun" she'd had as a manga artist since seeing her work in print for the first time. [12] However, in her 2019 memoir The Boy's Name is Gilbert, she stated that she intended the kiss as an expression of the emotional drama between the characters, and that she ultimately viewed its inclusion as unnecessary in retrospect. [29]

Reception and influence

Sora ga Suki! was Takemiya's breakthrough work as a manga artist. [30] It was her first critical success as a creator and helped establish a fan base for her manga, some of whom began to visit her at the Ōizumi Salon, the nickname for the rented house she shared with manga artist Moto Hagio that became an important gathering point for shōjo manga artists in the early 1970s. [31]

Manga artist Mineo Maya ( Patalliro! ) has praised Sora ga Suki! for pushing forward depictions of fashion in manga, specifically noting the black and white spectator shoes worn by Tag, and evaluates the series as unique for its era in this regard. [32] Manga artist Chiho Saito ( Revolutionary Girl Utena ) became aware of Takemiya after reading Sora ga Suki! while in junior high school; at the time she had developed an interest in films and musicals after watching West Side Story , and was impressed that a musical could be depicted in manga. She credits Sora ga Suki! with helping inspire her to become a manga artist. [33] Aiko Itō  [ ja ] also became a fan of Takemiya's after reading Sora ga Suki! and began visiting the Ōizumi Salon in fall 1972, becoming Takemiya's assistant shortly thereafter. She studied under Takemiya and made her debut as a manga artist in 1973. [34]

Notes

  1. ↑ Collected editions of Sora ga Suki! have also been published by Kadokawa Shoten and Shōeisha.
  2. ↑ Quoted in Japanese: "「ファンのこの反応をありがたいと感じつつも、『遅いよ！もっと早く言ってくれれば連載が延びたかもしれないのに！』と少しいらついていたのだけれども」" [10]

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References

  1. ↑ Takemiya 2016, p. 70.
  2. ↑ Nakagawa 2020, p. 204.
  3. 1 2 Nakagawa 2020, p. 205.
  4. ↑ Nakagawa 2020, pp. 205–206.
  5. 1 2 3 Takemiya 2001, p. 130.
  6. 1 2 3 Takemiya 2019, p. 119.
  7. ↑ Takemiya 2016, pp. 70, 129.
  8. 1 2 Takemiya 2001, p. 132.
  9. ↑ Takemiya 2019, pp. 109–110.
  10. 1 2 3 Takemiya 2019, p. 120.
  11. 1 2 Takemiya 2019, p. 110.
  12. 1 2 3 Nakagawa 2020, p. 207.
  13. 1 2 Nakagawa 2020, p. 254.
  14. ↑ Takemiya 2019, p. 151.
  15. 1 2 Nakagawa, Yūsuke (2019b). "新書判コミックスで変わる、マンガの読み方" [How Reading Manga Changed With Book-Format Comics]. Gentosha Plus (in Japanese). Gentosha. Archived from the original on December 11, 2019. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  16. ↑ "空がすき! 1". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 14, 2023. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  17. ↑ "空がすき! 2". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 14, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
  18. ↑ "空がすき! 1". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 31, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
  19. ↑ "空がすき! 2". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 14, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
  20. ↑ "空がすき 1". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 14, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
  21. ↑ "空がすき 2". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 14, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
  22. ↑ "空がすき!". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 14, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
  23. ↑ "空がすき!". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 14, 2023. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  24. 1 2 3 "空が好き！／竹宮恵子" [Sora ga Suki! / Keiko Takemiya]. Otakuma Keizai Shimbun. 22 May 2014. Archived from the original on April 28, 2021. Retrieved January 15, 2023.
  25. ↑ Takemiya 2016, p. 197.
  26. ↑ Takemiya 2019, p. 109.
  27. ↑ Tsurumi 1991, p. 382.
  28. ↑ Nakagawa 2020, p. 206.
  29. ↑ Takemiya 2019, p. 176.
  30. ↑ Yamawaki 2016, p. 31.
  31. ↑ Nakagawa 2020, p. 217.
  32. ↑ Maya & Yamada 2021, pp. 65–66.
  33. ↑ Saito 2016, p. 98.
  34. ↑ Nakagawa 2020, p. 108.

Bibliography

  • Maya, Mineo; Yamada, Marie (2021). "魔夜峰央×山田マリエ 父娘対談" [Mineo Maya × Marie Yamada: Father-Daughter Conversation]. 私たちがトキめいた美少年漫画[Bishōnen Manga We Were Excited About]. Tatsumi Publishing  [ ja ]. ISBN   978-4-7778-2720-6.
  • Nakagawa, Yuuske (2020). 萩尾望都と竹宮惠子[Moto Hagio and Keiko Takemiya] (in Japanese). Gentosha Shobō. ISBN   978-4-344-98586-5.
  • Tsurumi, Shunsuke (1991). 漫画の読者として[As A Reader of Manga]. Chikuma Shobo. ISBN   4-480-74707-9.
  • Takemiya, Keiko (2001). 竹宮惠子のマンガ教室[Keiko Takemiya's Manga Class] (in Japanese). Chikuma Shobo. ISBN   978-4480888037.
  • Takemiya, Keiko (2016). 竹宮惠子 カレイドスコープ[Keiko Takemiya: Kaleidoscope] (in Japanese). Shinchosha. ISBN   978-4-10-602269-2.
    • Saito, Chiho (September 16, 2016). "私にとっての竹宮惠子 (Keiko Takemiya, for me)". 竹宮惠子 カレイドスコープ[Keiko Takemiya: Kaleidoscope]. By Takemiya, Keiko. Shinchosha. pp. 98–99.
  • Takemiya, Keiko (2019). 少年の名はジルベール[The Boy's Name Is Gilbert] (in Japanese). Shogakukan. ISBN   978-4-09-406713-2.
  • Yamawaki, Asao (2016). "竹宮惠子作品の魅力的な「美少年」たち" [The Charming Bishōnen of Keiko Takemiya's Works]. In Kono Manga ga Sugoi! Editorial Department (ed.). 美少年の世界[The World of Bishōnen Magazines] (in Japanese). TJ Mook. pp. 30–33.
Sora ga Suki!
SoraGaSuki.png
Cover of the second collected volume
空がすき!
(I Love the Sky!)
Genre Comedy [1]
Created by Keiko Takemiya
Works by Keiko Takemiya
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