#IReadsYou Review: A TROPICAL FISH YEARNS FOR SNOW Volume 2

A TROPICAL FISH YEARNS FOR SNOW, VOL. 2
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

MANGAKA: Makoto Hagino
TRANSLATION & ENGLISH ADAPTATION: John Werry
LETTERS: Eva Grandt
EDITOR: Pancha Diaz
ISBN: 978-1-9747-1059-1; paperback (January 2020); Rated “T” for “Teen”
172pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK

High school student, Konatsu Amano, learns that her father has gotten a job overseas.  Konatsu has to leave Tokyo and the life she’s always known and relocate to a small seaside town, Nagahama, to stay with her aunt.  On her first trip to her new school, Nanahama High School, Konatsu arrives at the open house for the school's “Aquarium Club,” where she meets a like-minded teen girl, Koyuki Honami.  She might be the one to bring the introverted Konatsu out of her shell.

A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Vol. 2 (Chapters 5 to 8) opens with Konatsu and Koyuki in an embrace that Koyuki initiated.  They suddenly part, embarrassed by the moment.  Now, it seems that Koyuki is avoiding Konatsu, but luckily, Koyuki's father, Mr. Honami, a teacher at the high school, has a way to fix what ails them.  So what's next for the Konatsu and Koyuki after this bonding experience.  Plus, Konatsu's father returns to Japan for a visit.

[This volume includes an illustrated “Afterword” and bonus manga.]

The A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow manga is a light-hearted, LGBTQ-themed manga from VIZ Media.  It is similar in tone and spirit to That Blue Sky Feeling, a manga about a straight teen boy who has a very close relationship with a gay teen boy.

A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow Graphic Novel Volume 2 depicts the first complications in Konatsu and Koyuki's still new relationship – the first bumps in the road on their journey of love.  In fact, Vol. 2 is thematically about complications and obstacles, but not too complicated or obstacles too weighty.  A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow is rated “T” (for “Teen”), so this is a gentle romance in which “getting physical” means hugs and holding hands.

John Werry's translation and English adaptation is gentle and sweet and appropriate for the tone of the narrative.  Eva Grandt's lettering plays the dialogue like soft melodies, and that's okay.  A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow is something different, and I am curious to see where this story goes.

A-
7.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Review: A TROPICAL FISH YEARNS FOR SNOW Volume 1

A TROPICAL FISH YEARNS FOR SNOW, VOL. 1
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

MANGAKA: Makoto Hagino
TRANSLATION & ENGLISH ADAPTATION: John Werry
LETTERS: Eva Grandt
EDITOR: Pancha Diaz
ISBN: 978-1-9747-1043-0; paperback (November 2019); Rated “T” for “Teen”
172pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK

Nettaigyo wa Yuki ni Kogareru is a manga from Makoto Hagino.  It is currently being serialized in the Japanese magazine, Dengeki Maoh, where it began in June 2017.  VIZ Media is publishing an English language edition of the manga as a graphic novel series, entitled A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow.

A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Vol. 1 (Chapters 1 to 4) introduces high school student, Konatsu Amano.  When her father gets a job overseas, Konatsu has to leave Tokyo and the life she’s always known.  She relocates to a small seaside town to stay with her aunt.

The move also means starting at a new school surrounded by complete strangers, and that is a lot to handle for a girl who has trouble with change.  On her first trip to Nanahama High School, Konatsu arrives at the open house for the school's “Aquarium Club,”  There, she meets Koyuki Honami, an older girl who is the sole member of the Aquarium Club.  Konatsu has introverted tendencies that are hard for her to overcome, but she finds herself drawn to Koyuki.  Maybe, she has found something and someone worth coming out of her shell for?

[This volume includes an “Afterword.”]

The A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow manga seems to be the latest LGBTQ-themed manga from VIZ Media.  That it arrives shortly after the conclusion of VIZ's release of That Blue Sky Feeling, a manga about a teen boy who has a very close relationship with a gay teen boy, does not feel like a coincidence.

A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow Graphic Novel Volume 1 introduces two high school girls who are obviously drawn to one another.  They may even be smitten with one another.  Creator Makoto Hagino has an anime-inspired drawing style that features girls with big, emotive eyes, which conveys the narrative's highly emotional tone.

John Werry's translation and English adaptation is gentle and sweet, and the best thing about it is that it captures both the awkwardness of the girls and their desire to be connected with one another.  Eva Grandt's lettering presents sound effects as melodic tones that indicate important moments in the development of Konatsu and Koyuki's relationship.

There is something about A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow that firmly holds my attention.  It is as if I have to follow whatever romance may or may not be happening.

7.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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