A Girl on the Shore

I don't really understand Inio Asano at all. This was a frustrating read about apathetic teens, sexuality, mental health, and I have no fucking clue. There were some serious issues the book was contending with, but I don't think Asano ended up saying very much about them. Maybe he understands teens and their fickle feelings and behaviours more than I do. Maybe I'm too old to really appreciate this, or too white. Maybe it's totally vapid tripe. I have one more Asano book on my pile to go through, but I am pretty sure I just don't jibe well with his work. Alas! At least he's a brilliant artist and his books are quite pretty.

This is one of the few artworks I don't know what the fuck to get out of it. Like my life, if I have to say. It's crude, random and doesn't follow a real logic; it's one of the most realistic courses there could be, and like for the people I see around me in life- I don't really get the final decisions of the characters. We followed them closely and we start to think that we get them: we simpathize or at least comprehend why they act like that and we think we can grasp what they'll be up to until when, suddenly, they change and take an abrupt turn. We're reminded once again that you won't ever fully get others, neither we can think to get along with them in life because there will always be a turning point (for them or yourself) that only the one concerned is seeing and that could change everything. One time we are Koume, the other we are Isobe, and the other one Kashima. Like all the characters in the manga, we in the world are this entities that both manipulate and are left behind, that are directioned and direct oneselves and the others, knowingly or not. In an endless circle. Single pieces that live thanks to others but won't stay connected. There isn't an intended, specific meaning to search in this story for me, because everything in life is more "big, and wider" than us to be grasped fully. I think that's what the author wanted us to feel, or at least that's what I was left with after finishing this artwork. Like if I just lived a piece of life, not especially clear or satisfying, but in having made a connection, it definetely changed me. May it be a little, or greatly. To end this, my opinion on Asano's use of sex: it's a way to express how the protagonists cope with themselves. It gets weirder and more twisted the more they try to process what they feel, or want. There's nothing more direct and raw than the depiction of sex and I think it's perfect to use as a metaphor for depicting emotions and connections. I approve it. If it disturbs you is because you aren't fully at peace with exploring yourself honestly.