Unita Yumi

Unita Yumi is best known for her josei slice of life manga/anime Usagi Drop, both of which have seen releases in North America.  She has been a rather prolific manga-ka since the end of the 90's with her realistic slice if life tails aimed at women readers.  She has a particular style with her character designs.  They are generally tall, slender and long-limb.  The women tend to have a homely/comfortable 70's hippie look to them and the men usually look at bit like idiots.  The artwork is lined and simplistic, with little in the way of shading and detail.  What lacks in depth of the artwork is more than made up for in the depth of the writing.  Unita-sensei focuses on interpersonal relationships for the heart of her stories.  She expresses human emotions and rationality in plain and realistic ways.  Many of her female leads go through a range of difficulties in their journeys,  sometimes rather aloof to their circumstances.  My review of a longer and pleasant slice of life series called Yoningurashi can be found here as well.

Below are a number of her one shot and shorter manga titles.

Nomino:  18 year old Mitsuya has to deal with his childhood friend, Noko, who is a bit more dense than the average person.  He has to take time out of his exam studies to ensure that she doesn't get into trouble.  It seems that the almost childlike Noko is convinced she will be with Mitsuya for he entire life and isn't concerned for her self.

    This is an interesting story for Unita-sensei,  given that the female character is incredibly simple minded and lacking self sufficiency.  By the end of the story you almost wonder if she doesn't have some sort of learning disability.  Its like shes a 6 year old in a 16 year old's body.  Mitsuya seems duty bound to protect her from her own naievity.  You almost feel sorry for the girl,  as it really doesn't seem as Mitsuya has any intentions of marrying his childhood friend.

The Girl on the Other Side of the Glass:  Takahashi is a 29 year old office worker who has begun to notice a young woman always crossing his path in the morning at the train station.  The problem is he can't talk with her, they are going opposite ways each time and a wall of glass separates them.  When their brief relationship seems to be in peril he does what he can to actually connect with the girl.

    This is a sweet story about chance encounters possibly leading to wonderful things.  Takahashi doesn't have anything to look forward to in his dismal worker bee life,  except the kind smile of the girl heading the other way every morning.  It was short, simple and ended in an manner that would make you think life just continues on as it always has.

 

Mani Mani:  The first story deals with an unrelated woman who returns to the countryside after leaving her job to figure out what she wants to do with her life only to become romantically involved in a childhood friend.  The rest of the stories deal with Fuuko and her mother, Kureha.  Fuuko is struggling to remain focused with with her studies and frequently skips school, but she gets help from her older tutor boyfriend and wants to try harder.  She doesn't know the trials her mother faced at her age in being a single mother trying to make it in a society that looks down on you.  Kureha made poor choices when a teenager but worked hard to provide the best possible life for Fuuko.  Atthe same time she trusts her own daughter to make better choices than she did.

    The first story is out of place with the rest,  although I have not been able to read the final chapter so it may all tie together.  The other stories weave a fascinating ans realistic tale of delinquency,  poor choices and the struggle to redeem them...working to make a better life out of the bad choices.  I would put this the best story out of all of the shorts and am eager to be able to finish it up.

Toribako House: Miki is stuck in a long term and controlling relationship with an older man she isn't sure she loves any longer.  Due to this situation and her own hang ups she has a hard time interacting with others.  When he explodes about her being out late with her friend and two college students they accidentally ran into she sees a side of him that scares her and she decides to make her move.  One of the guys she ended up chatting with at the bar does what he can to help her stay out of a dangerous situation.  She ends up boarding with him and a small group of odd men in a ramshackle boarding house know as toribako,  or bird box.  Now she has to start over and be self dep3ndant all well trying to keep from being hurt by her ex boyfriend.

    Unfortunately I have only been able to read about half of this story but what I was able to read was enjoyable.  I wonder about Miki and her pathetic-ness.  When Unita-sensei chooses to make a female lead a stereotypical helpless woman it makes me feel somewhat cheated.  I keep hoping that all of her female characters will be strong willed champions of feminism.  Yet they mostly do not fit that bill and when they are as pathetic and hopeless as Miki its hard to be satisfied.  Even with the leads weakness the story is enjoyable,  especially the odd ball residents of the boarding house.

Yuku Yuku: These are stories about the side characters from Toribako House.  The first story deals with Miki's best friend and he own relationship issues.  The second story deals with an otaku who lives in Toribako House and his efforts to get a girlfriend.  There appears to be a third chapter that I have not read though.

    It was nice to see side stories from Tokibako House, it would be cool to have one for all of the side characters.

Sukimasuki : Heisaku is a slacker college student who has a bizarre habit of peering into shadowed spaces in the world; small spaces between buildings, drains and any other shadow space left forgotten by others.  The space that has the most draw to him is the slit between the curtins of apartment across from his bedroom window and the mysterious women he sees there.  He stresses about what he is doing might be peeping but can't help himself being drawn to the space between the curtains and what the world beyond them holds.  One night at school he runs into a girl who may very well be the woman who lives in that space between the curtains, that he spies on every night.  Little does he know the girl has been secretly spying on him as well.  Obsessing over him and amassing an impressive collection of photographs.  When the first chance encounter leads to her joining his small group of friends he has to figure out if she knows hes been spying on her or not and figuring out the easiest way to get to know her better.

     This was the first non-Usagi Drop manga I read from Unita-sensei and it was a bit of a departure from what i was used to.  Given the breadth of her work that I have read since then, I would say its the other way around.  Heisaku is an idiot and he can't help himself.  Once he does begin interacting with the woman he has been spying on he becomes even more of an idiot.  The woman too shares her own insecurities and problems so it's only a matter of time before they can actually interact with each other normally.  I liked this one and would like to see it turn into a short anime.  I do believe there is a live action version that either came out recently or is in the works.
 

 

    I really have come to enjoy her various pieces and would like to see more of them licensed in North America...but a lot of people may shy away from her given the ending of Usagi Drop and how much its upset readers.  I would like to see more feminism from her, but she does a good job as it is with providing complex and strong female characters, even if they sometimes need a 'mans' helping hand from time to time.