Addition to oyaji romance list: Amatsu Sora Naru

Another Oyajism title makes its way into the Oyaji Romance Manga: Amatsu Sora Naru. I thought reading this title would be a chore because there’s a lot of specialized terminology I’m not familiar with, ranging from the characters’ Kansai-ben to specific terms associated with tea ceremony and traditional Japanese clothing. However, I managed and even enjoyed because it flowed naturally and I was able to fill in (and look up) the blanks. The best part of the manga is the lovely clothing–true to the story’s theme, the main characters are seen in both traditional and Western outfits.

Amatsu Sora Naru by Mori Hinoto
type: josei, romance
length: 1 volume (complete)

Chidori is the heir to a household that has practiced Japanese tea ceremony for generations, but she has no personal interest in these traditions or carrying on the family business. She’s more enamored with modern and foreign trends and attends an American university. However, she’s called back to Japan and has to endure her strict mother and uncomfortable, constricting kimono.

Chidori meets a local kimono merchant and cleaner, Saiuchi Tsumugi. Although Tsumugi always maintains a polite smile, his words are sharp and he’s not shy about sharing criticism. Although a bit harsh and hard to read, he never completely rebuffs Chidori. She is intrigued by Tsumugi, always finding herself drawn back to his shop. But before she can get to know him better, she has to deal with her mother’s plans for an arranged marriage. With Tsumugi’s (not particularly gentle) encouragement, Chidori has to assert herself and decide her own future.

The oyaji: Saiuchi Tsumugi

42 years old. His store sells and cleans kimono. He’s not a dry cleaner–his shop practices the arai hari cleaning method in which the kimono is taken apart, the panels are washed separately, and then resewn together. Although he’s quite skilled in traditional practices and often seen wearing kimono, he has interest and experience in foreign affairs and culture. Chidori’s mother offhandedly warned her not to become interested in Tsumugi, which was a bit of a mystery.

“Oyajism” is a thing

There’s a line of manga dedicated to serving oyaji lovers: Oyajism.  While it was exclusively digital before, it recently released three print titles. I received two of the three today. I missed the third because my casual cover browsing did not detect the third oyaji. I will fix that mistake soon enough. You can stalk the publisher on twitter as well.  Here’s the covers for the print line-up:

I haven’t looked into the digital titles at all yet, so I don’t know if there’s any region-locking, DRM, time limits, etc.  But some of them look ridiculously cute. If I didn’t have ~20 new manga staring at me, I’d be digging furiously. I shouldn’t covet  more manga before I’m done unpacking the new….

….but look at this.

Urk.

Update:  Yeah, that lasted a whole 5 minutes. I purchased the oneshot shown above (74 yen) and loved it. It’s linked with a T-Time application. So it’s tied into their program. But damn, I can get so many adorable old guys that I just don’t care at the moment. Oyaji moe is at maximum capacity.

Oyaji Romance Manga Selections

I consider myself an advocate of the delicious oyaji.  At least advocate sounds better than raving fangirl madly attempting to brainwash others. *ahem* As a follow-up to my oyaji BL manga primer, here’s a selection of great romance manga featuring older men.  Romance for adults.  Not necessarily the naughty kind, but the grown-up kind.

You’ll notice this list is much smaller, especially since I went ahead and independently covered a number of the titles.  Unfortunately, romancing older men isn’t a terribly common theme, at least not as the main focus of a manga. I don’t use the label “romance” lightly.  A genuine, powerful draw between two characters must be the main focus to make this list.  So here’s a selection of my favorite titles featuring an oyaji in a romantic story within some selected shoujo, josei, seinen, and BL manga.

Dowth may be like 1000 years old, but he’s still got it.