Release Date: August 18, 2020
Price: $15.00
Creator(s): Ayami Kazama, with interludes by Azure Konno
Format: 208 pgs., Black & White, 5.8"x8.2", Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-9753-3288-4
Age Rating: Older Teen
ICv2 Rating: 4 Stars out of 5
This is an interesting autobiographical tale of a husband and wife, both manga creators, trying to have a baby after learning of medical fertility problems. It is really aimed more at adults, although older teens may find it interesting.
Because the story deals with medical issues, it is at times clinical, but the reader gets drawn into the story because the creator deals with her anxieties by showing both the serious and the humorous extremes of her thought processes. As her imagination takes her into “teen friendship” manga tropes and into exploring her "inner mammal" as a potential mother, she explores everything from the medical procedures needed to identify fertility problems to the difficulties in finding affordable maternity clothes after spending much of your money on fertility treatments.
That said, some readers may be puzzled by ideas brought up in passing in the story, but not resolved or in any way meaningful. An example is the idea that her husband, who wrote the interludes, has some kind of unnamed fetish that is totally unrelated to the story. Then why bring it up?
As described, the hormonal changes described may terrify readers, but the resolutions and her attitude will constantly keep the reader laughing. Male readers won’t get as much out of this one, but will also learn a lot about what women go through under these circumstances.
--Nick Smith: Library Technician, Community Services, for the Pasadena Public Library in California.
