We Were There 4
June 17, 2009
Wow. This is like Sand Chronicles if it were about a hundred times sadder and somewhat more realistic. Sand Chronicles is pretty good about portraying bittersweet moments in adolescence, but there is a lot of suspension of disbelief that goes on in that series, at least for me. We Were There… I never have to wonder why the characters are doing certain things. I can see that Yano is kind of a jerk to Nana because he’s selfish, and that Nana sticks with Yano because she loves him and can forgive him that. Regardless of what happens, they will both be there for each other. Nana is the one making most of the sacrifices though, since she’s more sensitive to Yano’s feelings than he is of hers.
Of course, there is the specter of Yano’s old girlfriend Nana hanging over the couple. This is dealt with extremely realistically. Yano isn’t constantly bringing up Nana-san (the story uses the “san” when talking about the older Nana) as an excuse to act the way he does. Normally it’s someone else that brings up Nana-san, though you can see how her death what he says and does in Nana-chan’s presence. It’s not stated explicitly, which I like. I love it when series trust the reader to draw obvious conclusions. There’s lots to be said about subtlety, especially in a series like this.
I’m also glad that Yano isn’t a total jerk. He is somewhat sensitive to Nana-chan’s feelings, and when he acts out, he always apologizes afterwards and says he understands what he did wrong. He also tells the truth to Nana-chan about something he probably would have been better off hiding. It hurts her, but he did it in order to be as honest as possible in an effort to make their relationship work on trust. The way he breaks this little bit of news to Nana is also handled in the most amazingly tasteful way possible, and it really conveys absolutely everything tragic and nice about the act.
More than anything, though, I like how the story goes about portraying the love between Nana-chan and Yano. They both love each other and nobody else. This is never questioned. There is no cheating, and the only real problem with their relationship is Nana-san, who is dead. The fact that I know Yano loves Nana-chan very much does a lot to make me forgive him when he’s being selfish.
The end of the book… Nana-chan brings up Nana-san and forces Yano to talk about her. This conversation is exactly why everyone should lay off Yano about Nana-san’s death. I cried a little about the outcome, and I sincerely hope things will get better next volume.
I know I said a lot of nice things about Sand Chronicles, but this series takes Sand Chronicles and does it better. Sand Chronicles forces its sandess, whereas this just has the sadness welling off of every page. I’ve never seen a dramatic series like this one with such well-written characters and emotions. There is simply nothing as bittersweet as We Were There.
June 17, 2009 at 10:03 am
“SAND Chronicles forces its SANDess, whereas this just has the sadness welling off of every page.”
On the one hand, this feels like brilliant wordplay, on the other hand, it looks like a typo. Still, I like the idea that SAND Chronicles has a lot of SANDess (with sandess being a particular type of sadness), though I admit I haven’t read it. Does We Were There also have a lot of SANDess?
June 17, 2009 at 11:01 pm
i like sand chronicle’s characters and character designs better. however this series is really getting good.
June 18, 2009 at 2:01 am
Sara K.: Wow, I think I’ll leave that, because it truly is an amazing typo. But perhaps there’s something to be said about the sandness in Sand Chronicles. Maybe it’s a quality that only that series has.
Eh. Nope, I got nothin’.
June 18, 2009 at 2:07 am
ame: I think I prefer the art in We Were There a little better, but I tend to prefer sketchy, minimalist art sometimes. We Were There does have particularly plain art and uninspired character designs (to be honest, the only thing worth noting are the strangely good cover illustrations), but it somehow fits with the nostalgia vibe it gives off.
June 18, 2009 at 5:43 am
Yup, whereas I get mighty frustrated sometimes with the characters in Sand Chronicles, I just get really sad when I read We Were There.
I’ve put off reading We Were There until recently because it was on hiatus in Japan for the longest time and I dislike things without an ending. Luckily the mangaka is now back! I’m so glad as this series is so poignant and awesome, it’s one of the most realistic shoujo I’ve come across.
June 18, 2009 at 7:14 am
[...] Novel Reporter) Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 1 of Venus Capriccio (Manga Life) Connie on vol. 4 of We Were There (Slightly Biased Manga) John Hogan on vol. 1 of Yokai Doctor (Graphic Novel Reporter) Johanna [...]
June 19, 2009 at 4:23 am
Yes! It’s quite good, and I’m so happy it recently resumed in Japan. I was ogling the new Betsucomi cover just before I wrote my review tonight. I was going through and looking at the covers for the series, too. Yano and Nana always look happy on them, so I keep hoping that something magical will happen sometime in the future. As much as I like the realistic sadness, I’d also love to see if the series could turn itself around and do happiness just as well. That may cause it to lose something, though.