Tonoharu: Part One

A brief, spare comix about some young people doing the Japanese English teacher program (where you spend a year or two in Japan teaching English in schools). I loved the art, and really appreciated the change in perspective - from the Guy That Arrived This Year, to (zooming back) the Guy That Just Left. That made me do a double-take, and I appreciated it. Interesting storytelling!

But, as others have noted, the guy we spend a lot of time with (the Guy That Just Left) is really a gratingly passive sad sack. The comix feels both sympathetic and critical of his behavior - I mean, he's just a shy kid, basically, fresh out of college and paralyzed by culture shock - but it does wear on you, the reader. He is juxtaposed against the fellow English teacher girl from the neighboring town, who seems to be a social butterfly. I kinda just wanted to shake him. But, then again, that can happen when you're an expat: you don't get over the culture shock hump, but just kinda wallow in alienation and loneliness.