Yoshinaga, Character Development and Don’t Say Any More Darling

Yoshinaga is quite the prolific multiple series mangaka creator. Manga may operate in a strange way to readers since stories are released on per issue in a magazine. Cancellations or months of not reading the same author is a common issue, so manga that is given a chapter is always quite open ended when the work is finished. For this MMF, I have read about a basketful collection of short stories from Yoshinaga. Actual one shot collection manga are Truly Kindly, and Don’t Say Any More Darling. The other works that I am tempted to label are All My Darling Daughters, Ooku or even Solfge.  The last three titles are not considered one shot though, since they have a recurring storyline and characters in one volume or more.

I received Don’t Say Any More Darling a long while ago, from a fellow Twitter friend who I am sad to not be able to recall who sent me this volume. It was my first Yoshinaga manga after reading Antique at the time, so they were great to have sent me a copy of this work. There are five stories within, and four of them are of the bl variety, with one heterosexual pairing. There are two stories that gave me the most impression out of the other three. “One May Day” reminds me of what choices a female can have in choosing to marry an older man. This story brings a surprising realization as to who should be tired of a relationship at first. “Pianist” reminded me of reading Solfge, with a relationship between a washed up male pianist meeting a younger male, and then misunderstands happen.

The development of a character is quite signature of Yoshinga, and while it may seem as though a character has a shortcoming of being the pushy or needy variety. The maturation or resolution from the other character and plot shows a raw fact that humans need other humans. Yet because there is conflict in human nature, Yoshinaga’s writing pushes out an essence of love and destruction. Four of the five stories in Don’t Say Any More Darling technically does not have a “happy ending.” But the character development is quite emotional.

This is my last straggling post for August’s Yoshinaga MMF, and as a recap here are some other articles I was able to write and be a part of, for this week.

Foodie Yoshinaga

Yoshinaga and Boys Love

If you want to read any other entries for this MMF, be sure the check the archive.