I guess I’ll find out in the next upcoming volumes of where this storyline will go between Satoko and Mashuu. But for now, I can easily say that I enjoyed the first two volumes of Hitomi Takano’s “My Boy” manga series and I do recommend it!
Image courtesy of © Hitomi Takano 2016. All Rights Reserved.
MANGA TITLE: My Boy (Watashi no Shonen) vol. 2
STORY AND ART BY: Hitomi Takano
FIRST PUBLISHED IN JAPAN: Futabasha Publishers, Ltd.
PUBLISHED IN USA BY: Vertical Comics
RATED: 14+
Available on July 17, 2018
In Volume 2, Satoko considers the time she spends with Mashuu to be special. One day she gets a glimpse into his warped home life, and she wonders what she can possibly do for him. Even as her ex boyfriend/current boss calls her behavior strange, she becomes even more determined to help Mashuu…
From mangaka Hitomi Takano comes her manga “My Boy” (known in Japan as “Watashi no Shonen”).
The first volume introduces us to a 30-year-old office worker named Satoko Tawada, a young woman who lives her life with not much exciting going on. She had a love since she was in college but after a year, they had broken up. And now that ex-boyfriend happens to be her supervisor but he is with another woman.
One day as she is walking home, she sees a young boy (whom she thinks is a girl because of his long hair) playing soccer and Satoko knows soccer well, and shows him how to kick with the ball.
The following day, as she is walking by the park, she sees a man with the boy and worried about him (as there is someone molesting kids in the city), she scares the man off and she tells the boy that he shouldn’t be out late. But the boy, names Mashuu Hayami, tells her that the reason he is practicing late is because he has a soccer test.
Satoko agrees to give him pointers but when she sees Mashuu, she worries because his mother is not around, his father is always at work and he wears clothing that are too small and too young for his age. Seeing him dirty, she invites the boy to her place to get washed up.
But Satoko starts to realize the pain that she has kept inside her regarding her ex and as Mashuu is concerned about her, she is also concerned about Mashuu’s well-being as he’s a nice kid but for some reason, she is curious where his parents are and why he is always alone.
But there is one thing that Satoko knows, this young boy has brought some happiness into his life, as she has brought happiness to Mashuu’s life.
Meanwhile, for Mashuu, at school, what happens when a girl at school takes an interest in him?
In volume 2, what happens when Satoko becomes an a history tutor for Mashuu? and takes him to a public swimming pool?
Meanwhile, Mashuu’s little brother has gone missing and Satoko tries to help him.
All this and more in vol. 2 of Hitomi Takano’s “My Boy”!
So far, “My Boy” is an interesting an entertaining manga series.
I can see some people probably being creeped out about a 30-year-old woman named Satoko trying to help a 12-year-old kid named Mashuu, a young boy she doesn’t know and inviting him to her home and I know in some places, some may think it’s child abduction or just morally wrong for a woman to do that.
It’s important to note that there is nothing taboo going on with these two characters, if anything, Satoko is almost being a motherly figure to Mashuu and that is why they have a connection.
It started out as Satoko wanting to teach the boy soccer, to get the pain of a breakup out of her head. But when she starts to notice certain things about the boy, his reasoning of not wanting to go home, his parents not being there, his naivety and wearing clothes that are too short for him, what is wrong with this child’s family life? Is his mother alive? Does his father not care about him?
These are things that Satoko worries about Mashuu. But Mashuu also knows Satoko is hurting, as she cries out of nowhere and if anything, it’s almost like a mother/child storyline but it’s not necessarily the case.
In vol. 2, Satoko feels like being a mother to Mashuu, to help someone in need and she finds herself caring for him like a young son. Meanwhile, as she becomes a history tutor and soccer tutor for Mashuu, what happens when Satoko’s ex-boyfriend is starting to witness Satoko’s change?
Also, what happens when Mashuu is unable to look for her brother and invites Satoko to his home? What will she discover about the family?
Overall, the second issue of “My Boy” is delightful and if anything, we are starting to see this bond between the two, an adult who wants to feel appreciated (which Mashuu looks at her as a motherly adult), while Satoko starts to see Mashuu as a young boy who appears to not have parents to raise him well. But we’ll learn more about Mashuu’s home life in this second volume.
I guess I’ll find out in the next upcoming volumes of where this storyline will go between Satoko and Mashuu. But for now, I can easily say that I enjoyed the first two volumes of Hitomi Takano’s “My Boy” manga series and I do recommend it!