Top 3 Manga Articles Read in Reiwa] The fierce world of the upper class… “The Struggle of Women” depicted in “The Yangonaki Clan
After the tumultuous year of 2022, Reiwa is now in its fifth year. Over the past four years, FRIDAY Digital has distributed more than 150 manga-related articles. We would like to take a look back once again at the top three most popular articles among them.
Set in the upscale residential area of Ashiya in the Kansai region, the manga “Yangotonnaki Ichizoku” (written by Yukari Koyama) depicts an upper-class family, and was dramatized in April 2022, creating a sensation.
The main character, Sato, is a cheerful woman who runs a popular diner “Manpuku-ya” with her mother in the downtown area where she was born and raised. Her boyfriend, Kenta, is the second son of the Fukayama family, a wealthy family in Ashiya.
However, she is at the mercy of Kenta’s father, Keiichi, who wants Kenta to be the second son, not the first son, to succeed him.
In the drama, Sato is played by Tao Tsuchiya. She gives a good performance as Satou, who is not defeated by the treatment she receives from the Fukayama family, and who stands up against unreasonableness together with Kenta, played by Kohei Matsushita. Wakana Matsumoto’s performance as Mihoko, the elder brother’s wife, was highly acclaimed as “Matsumoto Theater” and was selected for the Best Supporting Actress Award in the “Tokyo Drama Award 2022.
FRIDAY Digital previously conducted a special interview with the author, Ms. Yukari Koyama, and the interview drew a great response. Koyama is a female manga artist who has produced such hits as “Suite 10” and “Rose-colored Seisen,” and has consistently drawn stories from a woman’s perspective.
In “Yangonokake no Ichizoku,” she visited Ashiya many times to conduct interviews, and reflected in her work the lifestyles and customs of the upper class people she learned about there, as well as her own feelings during her interviews.
The message of “changing what needs to be changed
The Fukayama family, a prominent family that has existed for over 400 years, has many “customs” that Satou, a “commoner,” could never imagine, and breaking them is outrageous. Kenta’s father, Keiichi, reigns as the patriarch of the family, and no one is allowed to disobey him.
In a world where values such as “marriage is between families,” “the eldest son’s wife’s job is to produce an heir,” “children belong to the husband’s family,” and “it’s normal for husbands to have mistresses, and I’m sure you came here prepared for that.” …… In a world where such values are taken for granted, it is the women who are suffering and being sacrificed.
Mihoko, the wife of an eldest son, is desperately trying to get fertility treatment, saying, “I have to have a boy. Ritsuko is distressed by the fact that her politically married husband Daisuke is constantly cheating on her, and her only emotional support is to shop extravagantly and get responses on social networking sites. Kumi is married to Keiichi, the family patriarch, and has endured years of being treated like a servant.
Like Satou, these women are “joined” to the Fukayama family as wives, but the harshness of life is no different for women born into the Fukayama family. Neither Seika, the eldest daughter, nor Arisa, the second daughter, can choose their own marriage partners. In order to deepen the family ties and strengthen the foundation of the family business, they must marry the right person, as determined by their father. In the family she has entered, she is expected to fulfill her role as a “daughter-in-law” as perfectly as Satou and the others.
There is a scene in the book in which Seika’s young daughter cries out, “I’m sorry, Mama,” and “I wish I had been born a boy, I don’t want to be a girl.
We must protect what is good and change what needs to be changed. If we do not do so, our next generation will also suffer. The struggle between Satou, Kenta and his wife, and the Fukayama family is not only for themselves, but also for their children who will live in the future.
In our last interview, Ms. Koyama said, “I always want to draw stories that support women who live through various difficulties. I hope that all women living today will read this work.
