Captivated, By You(夢中さ、きみに。) Japanese Manga thoughts
Yama Wayama has had a very fulfilling last few years. The author bursted on the manga scene with an art style that's original, paired with stories of everyday people connected by their choices in life. Captivated, By You is Wayama's one shot collection that helped put the spotlight on the newcomer in Japan.... I think a drama/film was made based on this manga too.
A couple of short stories about high school life and students who must live through everyday while finding life's meaning in simple occurrences..
Captivated by You is a collection of short stories that starts off very very rocky... at least in my opinion. I'm pretty sure that many people will pick up this collection thinking that this manga is Boy's Love or Yaoi. Let's make one thing clear right now, Yama creates stories that could cross the line over into BL territory but the overall message isn't about sexuality. Anyways, I wasn't sure how to feel about Captivated after reading the first two stories, so good thing the stories get better over time. I quite enjoyed the characters and how they were a disturbance to school society without meaning to be. At first, readers will think that these stories have no point as well as direction however, the connection lies in the same characters that make constant appearances in multiple stories toward the end of the book. My favorite stories were Run Yamada! and the multiple part story about the cursed student that everyone avoided in fear of being cursed themselves. Theses stories are downright comedic yet tell in detail the deepening of an odd friendship containing two very different people. There's also a ton of jokes that you won't get unless you know a lot about Japanese pop culture. For example, One character was barely answering another character in a part of the story and the character asking the question thinks to himself, " What is he trying to be like Erika Sawajiri?". A lot of English speakers won't know who she is but the joke is in reference to a Japanese actress, singer, and model who at the press conference for her newest drama was so angry that she barely answered reporters's questions. She didn't want to do that drama at the time but her agency made her causing her bad attitude. Erika was extremely popular in the early 2000s for her looks and acting ability. She known most for her starring role in the 2005 J-drama 1 Litre of Tears. Also, the Junji Ito joke that everyone should have laughed at if you're a fan of his work. Horror it'sself is actually a big spoof for the last stories because a lot of influence comes from other manga horror stories. The rumored cursed student was a play off the classic long winded shojo manga " Kimi ni todoke: from me to you"where the main female lead is supposed to look like girl who comes out the well in the Ring films so, the students avoid her. All of these shady jokes did my soul some good.... Yama even threw the J-pop idol company Johnny's Associates in there for good measure. The translators really should have had a reference page at the back of the book like they used to back in the day. If you were looking for sexually explicit Yaoi, you may call this manga boring or intellectual. What probably happened was you missed what Captivated, By You was trying to convey which is that there's a place for everyone in this world, including a place for those society might call odd.
Yama's artwork is more on the sketch side of things to me. The sharpness in the strokes of the pen gives character's a mature adult feel as students. Some other people claim that the manga looks like a horror manga without the horror.... I don't see that at all. Is it mature? Yes. Is it head first into the dark horrors of your mind Junji Ito style? HELL NAW! I'm trying to see the comparison.... Could be the use of the pen strokes that they both use. Ito is still on another level though. I'm sure Yama would agree.
Captivated, By You is a manga that you might have to read more than once to get value out of the pages. I loved certain stories more than others. Not everyone will get what I got out of my read though.
I really liked your opinion on what you think about Captivated by You. First, I completely agree and I feel like most people who discovered Captivated by You through edits or pictures imagined it could be a BL, at least that’s what happened to me with clips that popped up from its anime adaptation. In fact, I wanted to watch the anime and know the story because of the clips I saw of Nikaido and Medaka. When I started the story, I was left confused because it turned out the story wasn’t just about the two of them, the first half was about Hayashi and how he is described and perceived by the different connections he made and met. Despite that initial confusion where I thought the story would only center on Nikaido and Medaka, I must say I came out absolutely fascinated. I loved Hayashi way too much and I left with an unexplainable happiness seeing that he was just completely himself, not even realizing that people found him weird, and that in the end, he still captivated all the connections that approached him. On the other hand, after finishing Nikaido’s story, I must admit I liked Hayashi’s side much more because of the emotion it transmitted to me, which was more positive. Of course, that doesn’t mean Nikaido’s story wasn't good, I really liked it too, it was just like more complex due to his past trauma, the stalking, but it was beautiful to see that in the end he could open up to someone again, Medaka. Lastly, I feel like I was one of the few exceptions who loved the story so much despite the confusion of having two stories in one, Hayashi in the first part and Nikaido in the second part. I happily ordered the manga to read the original story the anime was obviously based on for its adaptation. Flipping through the manga, I noticed the anime added a few extra little things to give more context and to complement the story more so it wouldn't be too short, even though the anime only has 5 episodes, they did an amazing job. In conclusion, SINCE I LOVED THE ANIME SO MUCH, I FEEL LIKE I WILL TRULY ENJOY THE MANGA AND I’LL BE HAPPY READING THE STORY OF MY BELOVED HAYASHI AND WATCHING NIKAIDO DECIDE TO OPEN UP TO SOMEONE AGAIN AND FORM A BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP WITH MEDAKA. Honestly, even though the stories were in general about everyday school life, the original part was specifically showing the lives of two students who experience unusual things in completely different ways. On one hand, Hayashi, described as someone unusual by nature and happy being himself, and on the other hand, Nikaido, someone who chose to be withdrawn because of an issue from his past. It's simply a slice of life that completely captivated me. In general, if I literally have to describe its demographic, I give it 100% more of a slice of life than a BL. It has a depth that goes way beyond ships between characters, because it doesn't base itself on romance, it's more about life and connections in general. I loved that, and it left me thinking way more than I expected, just like a story that brought out a reflection and captivated me to be alive in general in this century to have discovered Yama Wayama. I will definitely read more of her in the future, and I simply loved her story. THAT’S ALL, END OF MY REPORT.
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