娘の友達

MUSUME NO TOMODACHI

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
7
RELEASE
December 24, 2020
CHAPTERS
62

DESCRIPTION

Kosuke has lived to play the ideal self as a father at home and as a manager at work. However, his life changes 180 degrees when he meets his daughter’s friend. In front of her, Kosuke was able to be his real self and his worn-out heart was healed. However, he knows that these are feelings that should never be held. The story of the middle-aged man meeting a young girl, presented to the modern people who suppress themselves in society, begins.

CAST

Koto Kisaragi

CHAPTERS

REVIEWS

saulgoodman
80/100
Painfully enjoyable age-gap drama
To summarize this series in one word:
PAIN

Story

Widowed and with an estranged relationship with his daughter, Kousuke works hard to maintain a good image of himself in the work place and society. However, the exhaustive effort has built up and he has to swallow up all the stress he faces with his personal life. But, lo and behold, heaven presents to him Koto, his daughter's friend, who he can find escapism with. However, it's not all a blessing. As they spend more time together, they learn more about and intertwine their gloomy lives and face the dark consequences.
- This is genuinely painful to read. In a great way. Musume no Tomodachi portrays the unblemished consequences of the societal taboos, namely age-gap relationships, and failure to follow societal norms. The darkness is much more relevant and empathetic than something intense like murder or rape, because many of us may struggle and question some of society's unspoken rules, making this series painfully relevant to our lives.
- Whereas other slice-of-life, drama series generally follow plot structure, this series seems like it's in an infinite climb of rising action. The slow, steady, looming drama and excellent cliffhangers make for an unreachable climax. Just when I think shit can't get any worse, each chapter proves me wrong. The suspense and indefinite delay of resolutions really claws at my heart. Every time I see a new update, my heart always sinks and my breath tightens in anticipation for what else will go wrong.
- I'm a sucker for age-gap series, it's always interesting to see how authors tread upon delicate, taboo matters. Musume no Tomodachi portrays the subject of age-gap relationships in a refreshing manner. The consequences follow through in the most dire manner and we see how their relationship affects everyone around them. There is not a speck of hope or acceptance, only hardship and disapproval.
Characters

The characters are, to put it simply, fucked up. It's clearly conveyed just how shitty their lives have been, so their questionable, sometimes downright "wrong", actions have never annoyed me. Instead, it just strengthens their character.
- Kousuke, the main character. Lost his wife, has a shut-in daughter who won't talk to him, works like a dog and silently pressured by societal norms. So when his only salvation is Koto, a teen girl, he jumps at the chance at escaping his life temporarily. However, this seemingly rehabilitative relationship only worsens his mental/emotional state, tipping his moral scale and turning his life for the absolute worse. He's nearly never in a healthy mindset. Eventually, the only thing he yearns for is escapism from societal demands, in the form of Koto. Thus, he traps himself in an eternal downward spiral of despair and angst.
- Koto, the main heroine and femme fetale. Initially presented as an angelic deus ex machina for the exhausted Kousuke, she's steadily characterized as someone the same as Kousuke. Someone that lives to maintain a constraining image. As opposed to Kousuke maintaining his image in respect to societal norms, Koto maintains her image in respect to her mother's wishes. Her family life is just as broken as Kousuke's. As opposed to Kousuke's family situation, where he's rejected by his only family, Koto is latched onto by and is necessary for her mother. Rather, she's an object for her mother, a mere possession to fill in the missing holes in their family. Koto is just as broken as Kousuke, and equally seeks out escapism in him just as he does.
- Kousuke's daughter shut herself out from the world and her father after her mother's death. However, she eventually opens up again to Kousuke and their situation seems to have taken for a better turn. However, upon witnessing Kousuke and Koto's intimate relationship, her parent-child relationship was once again severed. She isn't characterized by societal/familial pressure as intensely as Kousuke and Koto, but instead by her utter confusion.
- Koto's mother, arguably the antagonist of this series. Left by her husband, her personality takes for the worst. Manipulative, controlling and selfish, she will do whatever it takes to keep Koto wrapped around her finger. Her character is defined by her chaotic love for Koto. Seemingly a more moral cause than what Kousuke and Koto possess, as a parent's love and nurture is expected, but her motives are arguably much more dark and worse than anyone else's.
Art

Stylistically, aesthetically pleasing and works incredibly well. The art is finely detailed and wonderful to look at, but it's strength lies in the "show, not tell". The facial expressions never warrant explanatory dialogue for a character's feelings and motives. It's quite literally all there, plastered on the face, slight gestures and body movements. It creates the usual stuffy, tense atmosphere and smoothly conveys the internal. Sometimes, it's almost like I'm watching, not reading. The character designs are quite nice, as well. I especially love Koto's design. Her blush, big teddy bear eyes and soft looks exudes a feeling of relief and angelic ... but there's also something there that contrasts that perceived image.

Enjoyment

Yeah, I'm probably a masochist since I love reading despite the pain. It's rare for me to not get annoyed by the characters' dumb actions in drama, but here? It's painfully enjoyable to see it all. Honestly, I'd put this on the same level as Oshimi Shuzo's works, like The Flowers of Evil and Blood on the Tracks. I love the dark empathy and immortality, the sense of catharsis is one hell of a drug, man. 10/10.

Final Words

If you've enjoyed The Flowers of Evil, Oyasumi Punpun, Blood on the Tracks and other heavy drama series, I believe you'll find great enjoyment in Musume no Tomodachi. Successfully creating a constant air of quiet tread and discomfort and portraying the dire consequences of societal self-images and taboos, I think this is one of the best on-going slice-of-life drama manga.
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bigcashphrog
70/100
Frustratingly enjoyable, frustratingly human
君は人間だ

Musume no Tomodachi isn't the most enjoyable manga. Its characters are flawed as people, and following their story leaves a bitter, uncertain taste in one's mouth. But I think that it's the sort of work that needs to exist, the sort of work that needs to pepper the scene.

Drama and psychological manga can be tasteless, off-putting, uninteresting - in general, all sorts of flavors of "bad", perhaps even more so because of the subjects it tries to tackle, the people it tries to create in our eyes. In a way, such work is also important to breathe new life into the world, but regardless, it often manages to only disturb or offend the reader.

But the manga of this sort that succeeds at its mission seems to disturb the reader only more. There's an uneasiness about the air of the story, concern, pity, disgust for the characters, a flavor that you don't want to taste in your life. Still, we read, we keep reading and we keep ourselves in this state of 'distrubed' that, on the surface, we would never even want to be in, a sort of state that differs from being disturbed by tasteless actions or depictions, differs from being fascinated by the errors of others. It feels, on one hand, disconcerting, on the other hand, comforting.

Musume no Tomodachi is a work that seems to fit this frame, among many other manga, much more lauded and acclaimed. It starts off with a chain of mistakes and never seems to make up for them. Ichikawa Kousuke, a widower, never stops his interactions with Kisaragi Koto, a high school student, the friend of Kousuke's daughter. He regrets it, finds it to be a major mistake, yet he keeps going, never quite clearly understanding what they are - is he her caretaker, her lover, or her friend's father? Over the course of their relationship, mistakes seem to keep piling up. These people hurt themselves and those around them, and yet they don't understand what they want to cling to. Was "normality" truly their place to be?

At the end, no one seems to make up for what they did, no one seems to heal from what had been done. The reader is not left with a charming, cheerful note - there is no overtly happy ending. Kousuke and Kisaragi go about their lives, their relationship still going despite the hours of thought and regret. It is never made clear whether we're supposed to feel good about this. Kousuke seems only regretful and frustrated at him failing his role as 'father' and 'leader'. Kisaragi managed to weather a lot of the storm, but it isn't clear whether she's truly able to take a breath and live, prepared for many other storms waiting for them.

The story was dramatic, at some points perhaps unnecessarily so, sweeping the reader up in all of the circumstances surrounding the characters, in their fates. But this made the quiet, reflective parts of the story only more precious. It never seems like any of the people in this story manage to recover or breathe, not a moment of peace is left for them. Even when they're not actively trying to find something to grasp onto, when they're all on their lonesome, they're left with this uncertainty of their current life, the doubt, fear, and regret being their only partner.

At some point in the story, Kisaragi asks Kousuke whether he thought of her as a fish, - trapped in an aquarium, doing as its told, living in a world so small, - or as a cat - a free creature, unbecoming of society, doing whatever it wants. Kousuke says that she is, to him, human.

Yes, human - this is what this manga seems to be most about. The characters and their actions are frustrating and worrisome, but in a human way. None of them ever get certainty in their lives, perhaps none of them ever will find certainty, never until death. They make mistakes and regret them, they make mistakes and never make up for them, and then they question whether or not the actions they've taken truly are mistakes, they wonder about the nature of a mistake and the nature of their lives. What are they even supposed to do here? Answers never seem to be found, yet somehow, they keep living, they keep worrying and keep being injured. Yet they live, in a life littered with regrets, mistakes, sorrow, perhaps only for the little lights that they can find in it.

The ending shows Kousuke and Kisaragi's lives going on after everything that happened. The author chose not to touch upon how Kousuke's daughter's troubles should come to a close or many other questions that could be in the reader's mind. It doesn't feel like an end, but rather an abrupt close of the curtains to a story still yet to continue - this is something that only fits the manga. None were satisfied, many were frustrated, and all of them keep living - not as fish or cats, but as themselves.
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