Hereditary Triangle

In this luminous small-town drama, Hayashi’s English-language debut, a man faces the unresolved issues of his teenage years. In flashbacks, introverted Koutarou Fujiki and charismatic aspiring photographer Tooru Kajiwara are best friends who fall for the same girl, Touko. Then Kajiwara suddenly disappears. Years later, Fujiki and Touko, now married, return to their rural hometown and meet Kajiwara’s teenage son, Kaoru. The entrance of Kaoru into the couple’s lives creates a new emotional triangle and forces Fujiki to address long-held secret anxieties—and accept the inevitability of change. The story initially unfolds as a mystery—why did Kajiwara vanish?—but becomes more focused on digging into the trio’s inner worlds and their efforts to understand one another. “To me, Kajiwara’s life had frozen in time,” Fujiki realizes. “But in reality, it had gone on without a care.” Hayashi’s delicate linework captures pensive expressions and suggestive images: footprints in the sand, water running over a pair of hands. This subtle narrative will appeal to manga readers who are hungry for genuinely mature themes. (Dec.)