Okay let me take a crack at love, a universal topic. Seen in lyrics, poems, the bible, even on the plans of a presidential candidate to save a country (Cabo Daciolo), this thing is unescapable. A fire that burns without being seen, a wise man’s doom and a fool’s hope and salvation. Something that is too ideal for an idealist to understand, and too real for a realist to see. Everybody has something to say about this question, and this analysis will be about Umino’s Chika take on the topic, me extrapolating conclusions, from the several ways such a broad ideal is portrayed through her manga, 3-gatsu no lion and Honey and Clove (Spica does not matter, really, in her body of work, and her spin offs were never translated so fuck me, I have not read those), and to asseverate the several meanings it takes.
(the way Umino's draws herself in her manga)
Starting with the easy part by introducing, what this analysis will not be about. Sadly, the feeling has absolutely nothing of Eros (will be using a lot the Greek denominations for love, so it is good to be at least familiar with its meanings) sexual desire and eroticism are pretty much a foreign object to any discussion regarding passion in these manga. Maybe one of the more defining aspects about Umino’s writing, is the complete lack of sexual intercourse (nobody fucks). We follow throughout her narratives, protagonists that are usually on the 18-24-year-old range, however they act as the timidest teenagers when dealing with sex, that seems to be the last thing in their minds. In spite of this, the expressions of this act, as rare as they may be, are also very telling. On honey and Clove, it occurs on a pivotal point in the development of the relation between Rika and Mayama (which for the extreme acts being portrayed is probably the best way to drive the importance of such interactions anyway), when both spend their first night together. Rika, a woman that lost her husband in an accident inflicted by her, losing the only person that truly mattered in the world, turns for Mayama, the young men that platonically loves her, and decides to hurt him. Exploiting the awareness of his feelings, agrees to sleep with him, just to disappears before dawn, wanting to leave him abandoned, broken, feeling the coldest rejection, another could possibly take. Such an act is far from senseless, it is done in order to strength a sentiment of sorrow, a general self-deprecation and hatred, a sense of melancholia and regret with the act of being alive itself. Those bringing a determination to abandon existence, finally exiting this world, that could have nothing more to offer her, whenever her husband work come to a completion (ensuring a suicide was actually her goal here). Confirming such, by destroying the only person that refused to abandon, despite the painful, melancholic existence. Note the lack of any romance in the enactment of this. There is also the implied sexual abuse between Rei and Kyouko, which is basically a power play, a demonstration of predominance, having a revenge regarding the way her father chooses Rei, instead of his actual children. That consists only of a way of instilling hatred, and to showcase how dysfunctional they are as a family unit.
(Answering like this to someone trying to hurt you deeply is just so awesome)
Finding a better picture of this topics, consists of studying one of the more interesting love “triangles” in fiction, the pair Morita, Takemoto and Hagu. Morita’s style of passion is very close to his own self-satisfaction, being based around egotistical needs, where feeling well is the most important factor, which is in one of the more criticized sentiments found in the manga. Therefore, Morita our protagonist has to follows such ideas to a tea, being a narcissistic man children (he is pretty similar to someone I know, actually), always acting according to his whims, while barely acknowledging the desire and situations of those around him. Nevertheless, having an arc that mostly revolves around these flaws, and concepts. Throughout the series, he learns and finds himself with great affection for Hagu, while she also corresponds, with a platonic infatuation. The sentiment is really particular in this case, though, in the sense it is completely twisted to self-gain. It is love that is as far away as possible, to be the most important aspect, one that happens to be a play thing, a ruse to use and discard whenever you find it necessary. A sentiment so devoid of any attention and care for others, where you can ask someone to abandon everything, to follow your desire for self-destruction, then ruin their life, and the act of accepting such a ludicrous purpose becomes an obligation. Having this abstract idea, to work as self-justification and indulgence, in a process to instrumentalize and completely dehumanize people. A relationship based on such feelings could never work, and rightfully so it doesn’t, as both come to separate ways in the end of the series, finding their mutual affection never met.
(Just love seeing these kids, in their pointless paths to adulthood)
In stark contrast with what I laid out above, we see Takemoto. Onto the character, you can find a very direct representation of philia, found in kindness and mutual appreciation, where going for the happiness of the beloved is essential. A sentiment found in the backward ways, the character goes in order to fulfill Hagu’s wishes, always worrying how she is feeling, what could he do for her, in order for both achieve joy, filled with empathy, so to speak. There is this sense of wonderment in his journey, of getting to know, seeing more aspects, facets, flaws, anxiety, just in general drawing in closer and getting to know the beloved, becomes a pleasure and a goal in of itself. There is no attempt to extinguish selfish interests on this form of love, Takemoto because of his low self-stem, has an almost pathological desire for altruism, he can only stop feeling worthless, and a generalized self-deprecation, when doing something for others, which he does, at any cost even. There is also a desire to run away from loneness and emptiness in the heart of the character (cause by a complete lack of direction, and capacity to make any choice for the future), that is usually channeled towards this relationship. Perhaps you could draw those feelings back to deeply rooted anxiety and worries, him searching the world and others, to run away from the more internalized painful truths in his mind. However, there is just so much merit, on the tale of this scary anxious kid, lost and with no sense of purpose for his existence, but still struggling to create connections, doing the best for others, so kind that the concept of hurting anyone is physically painful for him, and following peoples wills, as almost a mandate. I certainly found it adorable.
(The never ending desire to put my fingers around his neck)
This is the point where I add, there is actually a forth wheel, on this supposed love triangle from Honey and Clove. In the finale, the will them won’s them ends, with her abandoning the romantic interests, and going on a self-recovering journey, with her 30-year-old cousin, a controversial ending for many. When reading an Umino Chika manga, it is good to have an open mind, since the difference between romantic love, and familiar one, is always very fluid. Familiar love has nothing of Storge, meaning it does not come from a sense of natural obligation, there being lots of examples of such relations being completely deprived of the sentiment, in 3-gatsu no lion. Furthermore, Hagu and Shuuji’s relation, could only be described as one of complete devotion, there are literally no limits to where this man can go for Hagu, the manga ends with him literally quitting his job, giving up any savings, and going on a massive years long process, just to help her injured hands. Notice how this does not depend or is drawn from any qualities on the loved object, but on its intrinsic nature, she could treat Shuuji like shit and he would still love her. It is unconditional love, through and throughout, based on a sort of morbid obsession. Being together all throughout their lives, made them closer, knowing everything there could be about each other, allowing them to share a relationship, which could never be contested by Morita with his self-centeredness, or Takemoto with his personal insecurities. Those 3 types of affection are for me a template, every kind of love found in a Umino Chika work, more or less fits one of those.
There is a very telling discussion on 3-gatsu, on which the author displays what I believe to be some of her main ideas on the topic. On it, Akari is questioned about Rei’s growing feelings for Hina, and the chance of those blossoming into romance, with her literal response being of this as an impossibility. Each of them already shared a deeper bond, a filial love, which was way stronger, satisfactory and everlasting than any form of platonic romance or passion. To regress from this status on their relationship, would in fact be a downgrade. Something that makes a lot of sense in the context of 3-gatsu no lion, a story about our protagonist surpassing and learning to deal better with depression, trauma and personal anxiety, by finally forming the core family, he could only dream through most of his life.
So with that out of the way, I can finally get into what I consider my favorite couple in fiction (Shevek x Takver is up there though). The actual relation between Rei and Hina, is something I can only describe as a magical, unbelievable entity. They just complement each other so perfectly, their interactions always allowing and furthering growth, providing something the other deeply needs. On Rei’s side, we have this emotionally traumatized and repressed kid, always keeping a façade for others, finally acquiring better emotional intelligence, realizing that dealing with your emotions, trying to talk to people make them understand, face such issues head on, is always better than killing yourself internally by suppressing and wallowing toxic ideas in your mind. On what consist of the most poignant scene of the start of the show, where Rei is forced to confront her openness about the feelings of loss Hina has, as a result of the losing her mother, something he knows all too well. It also highlights another troubling aspect of personality, the tendency to internalize everything, create value based on how people perceive you (or better to say your own distorted vision of such perception). A process of self-evaluation only based on others opinions, where every criticism becomes something to be taken at face value, loneness and isolation are just natural, because if people perceive you as someone to be isolated, then you certainly deserved it. These ideals begin to break for Rei, when he sees Hina going through some of the same hardships. When receiving bullying by the rest her class, she refuses to internalizes any of the mean things they did or said her. Being ignored by people did not make her a horrible person, that deserved to be left alone. All she did was to stand for a friend, who was in pain and desperately needed help, company, a friend, and nothing the world said or did, could shake her certainty of being right. That the act of helping, being kind was pointless or wrong, despite how scared one may be, of some of its consequences. The mere idea of someone can actually taking such a stance, ensure their own merit, and worth in spite of a group’s perception and judgement, is just revolutionary for Rei, whom was never about to develop such conscious, because of a painful awareness of flaws, issues, and mistakes, that formed a monstrously distorted vision of self. Kyouko coming to his side and actually saying the most malicious hateful things, is a fact Rei actually takes some morbid pleasure in hearing, and assuring how much of a horrible person he actually is. Hina takes this, and shows there is a new way to deal with all of that, removing a truly dangerous certainty, once held.
(Like even more seeing these two though)
The act also takes an entire new meaning when seen through these specific circumstances. Rei was also someone that faced social ostracism, through his life never managing to create bonds with anyone in school, his only answer to the abuse he received from others, was to try to disappear, and never be noticed by them. In Hina, he finds something needed throughout all of life, someone which would stand for the socially isolated kid, that would not leave its side even when facing pressure from a class. Furthermore, she even affirmed the kid was not wrong for not fitting in, but the toxic group dynamic was the subject to blame. Rei feels Hina is there, refusing to abandon, always there by his side, an impossible beautiful and important symbol of goodness and kindness, that gives purpose for the hellish years of lonely school live. Sharing such poignant moments and ideals, gives Rei’s life, create a purpose for it and a new goal, in helping the loved one, while also allowing for a renewed desire and capacity for self-improvement.
Oddly enough, the complementary aspects of the relation do go both ways. Hina does gain greatly in terms of security, by having this relentless, always stable and trustworthy individual by her side. Someone that, although almost incapable of expressing himself in words, is always trying meddling, making plans and taking whenever action necessary. Being there, when the whole word starts falling down, because of her abusive father coming back. In teaching that there was no reason to get frozen by a few happy memories of the past, and reminding her what is the ideal of love, and relationship they strive for and hope to maintain. One that can be found in what the people of this house, the Kawamoto’s and Rei share, not on the cold indifference of this stranger. That can be found on people that wish for the best of the family, and would do anything to assure each other happiness, no questions asked.
You know, if you had payed close attention there is a strong parallel between the absolute fraternal love some character present, and the criticized egotistical love of Morita. You could see one as an even more extreme reversion, or its opposite. The questionable aspects of such unconditional fixation, despite a few positive examples are not above criticism. In this side of the field of parental love, we find the most hateful character Umino ever written (really everyone else is just so adorable) Seijirou, the father of the Kawamoto sisters. Onto his character you can find all the loveable characteristics of a compulsive liar, that says whatever suits him, and manipulate every situation to his binding, a vocal abuser of wife and children, that loves to go on tirades on how they are to blame for everything wrong in life. Someone that can leave a family just for being actually bored and wanting something new. But the sad part of this, is her wife still had that maniac obsession, an unconditional affection for such man, defending him despite many horrible actions. Wasting her life, for the return of the kind man she once knew, and fall in love with. This sickening and self-destructive aspect of devotion, is the authors criticism to those displays of love. As consequence of such events, there is a strange of melancholy, of a fundamentally broken household under the cheerfulness of the Kawamotos, the older sister being so emotional traumatized she becomes horrified of the act of following in love. Passion became such a monstrous thing, that can only lead someone to support abuse, ending up as an emotional wreck, completely ruining any happy memories connected to this aspect of life. And really, who can blame her, when the single experience Akari had with such, ended up in such a way, hurting the mother she loved the most?
There is this tendency if fiction to give a greater attention to declarations of love, starts of relationships, than the relations themselves, which is definitely followed here. Most main characters’ deal with this fear at some point, a general dread of exposing yourself, finally showing your innermost and more personal feelings, let the beloved one see what is there. Your pathetic self, which you believe has nothing to offer at its most fragile moment. Takemoto prefers to cross the entirety Japan with his bicycle, to run to the ends of the land, because facing such sentiments, Hagu, and his pointless search for purpose, was actually way more terrifying. Morita is only drawn to a point he can come close to indirectly confess any of that, in a situation where he has lost everything, and can only think of the worst thing to hurt both. Therefore, such moments are in fact periods of immense growth and change, where you can find the catharsis for the characters’ personal journeys, Rei’s declaration of marriage for Hina, or Mayama crying over how scared he is, because of how personal were the worlds out of his mouths. These paths of affection are deeply tied to personal growth and maturity, throughout both narratives, and with the even grander aspect of seeking purpose in life.
Because meaning is an integral part of an individual life’s, and the search for one in a never fulfilled loved, is a central question for some characters. Yamada and Takemoto, never met their objects of desire, the romantic relationship they desired, being born, growing, dyeing and only ever existing in their own minds. Far from denying any merit of such relations, those are reaffirmed as valuable, in going after their wishes, each learned so much, created relations, met new people and formed memories, which cannot be easily forgotten. Despite how aimless the whole thing may seem, and the entire road may as well have led to nowhere, there is this sense of wonderment in embarking on it, meeting all these new places and growing a lot in the process. Looking back Takemoto fells nothing but gratitude, for coming to know such a people, for falling in love, and having all this time with her. To say it is about the journey not the destination is an understatement, and surely these characters found their ever elusive purpose in such endeavors.
Seeing the narratives of Umino Chika as stories about people dealing with stagnation in life, a general inability to move forward and deal with their past, would be quite accurate. Most romantic relations have this static feature, we never actually get to see a personal changing their love inclination (with Rika and Yamada the change is closer to a subtle possibility than anything else). Furthermore, the will them, won’t them scenarios Honey and Clove create go nowhere. Which in a work of the predominance of the past over the present, that is trying to give this strong sickening sense of nostalgia and decay, focusing on the importance of memories, and a day to day life that seems to never change is essential. Life is perceiving as moronic, never changing for these characters, the entire iconography revolves about its cyclical nature, this can be seen on the oppressive Ferris wheels, the gentle four leaf lover, the attention to circles in a bicycle. However, love has such a transformative nature, it is what leads Rei out of his isolationist instance, to try and create more meaningful interactions with people. Having someone she genuinely cared, and worked towards motivates Kyouko in her little redemption arc. Far from something in service of decay, it stands as an object of change that leads to a general self-betterment , creating some of the better emotions and interactions, on the paths of the humans that dare to attempt it.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect is the character’s inability to explain anything though. They seem too clueless to completely understand any such feelings. Ask any of them, when they fall in love, what it about the person you appreciate so much, why would you go that far from her. They simply have no answer, no rational meaning or interpretation, or form to truly get any of it. As something they cannot rationally understand, they also act pretty irrationally about, always worrying, wasting time, energy, refusing to let go when being terminally rejected. But maybe those messy confusing parts are what such relations worth it, and believable in the end
As bright and idealistically as this discourse may be, setting up a bound is important. Getting to the realization love isn’t everything, nor it is supposed to be. When it appears as only a settle back, something stopping you of doing what you really need and wants to, then of course it needs to be discarded. Shimada and Hagu went through this route, having to leave people they cared deeply about. In shimada’s case it was a matter of personal ambition, finding love was not the most important to him, the frustrating and endless shogi life, he dreamed of, was, so he had to meet such a path with the determination to leave everything. For Hagu what mattered the most was achieving an actual dream, a simple vision of ultimate almost divine artistic expression. Her existence was only a mean to get to that, and she was ready to put everything away, in order to reach those desires. Both willfully made a choice, found a different way and goal in life, and found variable degrees of satisfaction in doing such. Despite the incoherent mess, I hope you have taken something out of what I wrote. You can find countless people talking about love, people describing it, giving their little worthless opinions on the subject. The number of those with something relevant to say, is way smaller though. But when an artist finally appears, and can portray a love that talks not only of the universal feeling, but seems to show the specific brand of passion you believe, that seems almost specifically made, you can find no equal anywhere, containing a particular feeling or representation felt or believes to still do. Then, that is something to take notice of. To elicit such special emotion and intensity in a melodrama (because let’s face it, this is what all her stories actually are), giving such warm fuzzy feels, to the point you feel the passion, the characters are displaying, even when the people involved cannot even put those in words. If you could not get by now, I do love her, and those works of fiction too.
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