ALL THAT’S RIGHT WITH WE BOYS
We Boys starts off with a virtually perfect first volume, but sadly loses sight of its strengths early on, and finishes off with an unsatisfying ending. The first couple of chapters are a delight.The art is minimal and silent, and at times, the panelling and storyboarding truly shine. Every once in a while, author Shouko Konami’s genius comes through and a scene is described beautifully, the sounds in the foreground and background are crisp or faded and far away, and the characters are shown bashful, happy or frustrated, with little to no dialogue needed. One can even feel the breeze or smell a certain scent, like old wooden desks on a classroom. The linework is perfectly neat yet looks carefree, which compliments the books’ pure and innocent characters.
In spite of being a tranquil slice of life story, it is very often funny. Konami writes cartoonish comedy, but tones it down to fit the manga’s atmosphere perfectly. The side characters are normally used for this purpose, and are more exaggerated than the main Takashi and Tamio. This way, the common sense reactions, particularly Tamio’s, to the absurd humour keep it from seeming too ridiculous. It also makes great use of referential comedy, generally to assorted elements of Japanese culture like literature or music, myths and social phenomenon.
When I was little, I dreamt of moving to the countryside and living a slow life, surrounded by nature. Naturally, this manga fed into my obsession. Surely, it was this that brought me closer to the story, and despite the huge cultural differences I suffer with Japan and its author, I connected to the characters and their dreams and ambitions a lot more. I cannot say I am not partial to the prompt for the series, but I believe the theme holds potential for a great story, regardless of readers' personal experiences.
WHAT WE BOYS FAILS IN
Past its initial chapters, We Boys quicky falls into a spiral of increasingly nonsensical plotlines, as it leaves behind the quiet romance introduced in the first volume.
The story switches its focus from Tamio’s sincere one-sided love to a plethora of subplots, involving new, wacky characters and premises. Sadly, most of these mini arcs are left underdeveloped and unexplained, and therefore, often confusing and seemingly inconclusive. One thing Konami keeps mostly consistent is the humour. Slapstick and referential comedy can still be seen throughout, thought it seems to be much more in-your-face than the slightly subtler jokes form the first volume. It is still, by all means, enjoyable, and in my opinion, the saving grace of the later volumes in the series.
The art somehow worsens, as the minimal yet intention-filled stokes in the first pages become sloppy simplistic panels. It is most definitely not an eyesore, but it loses its special qualities, which is truly a shame. The chapter covers, however, continue to be quite fun and pretty illustrations.The ending is remarkably forgettable. It barely closes off the plot in a practical sense, and the main characters’ evolution is barely shown, particularly Takashi, who seems to not have changed one bit in the course of the manga. The original plotpoints, living in the countryside and one-sided boys’ love, were addressed, but much too casually for my taste. If they were portrayed just a bit more melodramatically, and shown Takashi to be more nuanced, the final chapters would have tied in with the original premise much better. An attempt at this seems to have been made, as Takahashi is seen truly desperate for the first time in the series, and moving cities is the theme of the final mini-arc, but the execution was not-to-par.
Overall, the second half of the series regrettably brings down the potential-filled beginning. However, the greatness of the first volume cannot be ignored, and the series as a whole is still more than salvageable. Even with all its flaws, We Boys was still an enjoyable read and reread. For its theme and magical beginning, it will continue to be kept in a special place in my mind.