Feb 10, 2019
Renai Anagram is a simple, yet powerful story about a woman's life roundabouts, and its greatest merit is the firm characterization of the protagonist, Miyamoto Satsuki, and how she and the people around her wistfully wander through life's complex web of motivations.
As the narrative anachronically reflects upon her defining life's moments, Satsuki's personality and morals are steadily established. What could be considered nefarious acts by the characters in any other manga is poignantly justified here, granting the story an authentic mature feeling. Reality is most of the times not pleasant, people are selfish, things go wrong and sometimes we find ourselves miserable. Anagram earnestly acknowledges
...
that, but doesn't let it solemn dictate the story.
"I would never abandon myself. I would go on living". As these strong words manifest within her, even though she's going through her lowest, inspiringly hopeful feelings are evoked. Anagram constantly throw juxtaposed situations like that and acts diligently about them; there's a impeccably constructed gray area in the dramatic presentation - A fine balance between struggle, happiness, dismay and hope, what creates a much more reasonable frame about life when describing it so soberly.
To look back and reperceive: to remember past experiences and reflect about them, it bring to characters realizations that confront their own shortcomings of perception, considerations that challenges their own attitudes towards others and themselves. Yet, they cannot always make the right decision. In fact, the manga realizes that there is no such thing as the "right choice", because to acknowledge that is to dwell and blame our past selves instead of learning from it.
The star of this concept is Ryuu, Satsuki's childhood friend whose left side of body is paralyzed, his optimistic nature marked her for a lifetime. Despite his short presence he becomes an incredibly iconic figure inside the story, his cracked smiles and single-eyed tears were nothing but full of touching candid sincerity. An emotionally manipulative factor for sure, but a relief that I couldn't welcome less.
The art is consistently good and exceptionally expressive, but like most josei works tend to do, it mostly relies on simple backgrounds and visual presentation. In parts where the characters interact or make up the environment, the background is decently and enough detailed. However, in most cases the background is pure white; appropriate to highlight the characters' discourse and facial expressions, which are the truly fine aspects of Tendou's Kirin artistic work.
Renai Anagram is an underrated gem even within the niche josei bibliography. Although the disjointed way of storytelling may be strange and sudden at first, I'm sure it can amaze those with the taste for more bittersweet, down-to-earth manga.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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