Tramps Like Us 10

Going between Hellsing and Tramps Like Us is more than a little weird.  Tramps Like Us is pretty engrossing though, and I tend to forget about the other as soon as I start in on the next volume.

The more volumes I read of this, the more I grow to like it and realize how unique it really is.  It focuses more on the lives of the characters than their relationships, even though the relationships are the biggest part of the story.  Sumire and her struggle between the two men in her life is secondary to a lot of other things in many chapters, and always these other things are enjoyable and shed more light on Sumire’s situation.  It has a very casual tone despite some earnest situations, and even though Sumire is getting herself deeper and deeper into a situation she seems like she will regret, the tone is still fairly light at this point.  It’s incredibly human, as I’ll mention later, and it’s just a joy to read every single volume.

There are two really, REALLY great chapters in this volume.  The first is “Woman of the Cancer Sign,” which is a short story about Sumire’s paper getting horoscopes and her believing them.  Hers says something along the lines of “you will lose something old and gain something new,” and when another part of the horoscope proves to be true, she starts to wonder how it applies to her relationships with Hasumi and Momo.  Hasumi, in Hong Kong, has the same sign, and he wonders the same thing about Sumire and his pet.  There’s some really hot and heavy scenes that fall in between, but it ends in a very silly way.  I really like this title’s ability to balance the serious with the light like that.  I don’t point it out very often, but it happens really frequently.  A lot of times characters will read too much into something that turns out to be no big deal.  I like it because… well, it’s pretty realistic, and it makes for some very human characters.

The other chapter I really liked was one called “Some Kind of En,” which was interesting because the characters explain the Buddhist concept of “in,” a direct cause, and “en,” an indirect cause, and talk about how there is no English equivalent (which was a great conversation that could be appreciated on many levels).  The rest of the chapter went on to talk about how the people in Sumire’s life are all there as a direct result of “en,” and how if she hadn’t met them in the way she had, she would have met them some other way because there was always “en.” Conversely, there was likely a whole circle of people she encountered every day but would never meet, which was “in” in the absence of “en.”  All the main characters and their relationships are examined using this philosophy, and there’s even a gratuitous flashback scene that I enjoyed even though it was highly unlikely.  Once again, there are many, many themed chapters like this, but I don’t point them out even though I should.  It’s something this series does that once again puts it head and shoulders above most other casual relationship manga.

One more wonderful chapter in brief, just because it nearly made me cry.  While covering a news story, Sumire and her coworkers meet an artist who has a wife in a coma, and he asks that they speak English to her since she speaks very little Japanese.  The story is actually more about Sumire’s work and how journalism can both help and hurt people, etc, and the story is good.  It’s the end, where they write a love letter for the man and spell it out phonetically in English so that he can read it to his dying wife that really got to me.  It was one of those bittersweet situations, and it takes a light touch to make it come across as well as it did here.

Oh my god, I was just reading the commentary in the back where the Japanese editor of the series mentions that one of the new characters is like James from “From Eroica With Love.” THAT’S NOT TRUE AT ALL.