遥か遠き家

HARUKA TOOKI IE

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
1
RELEASE
February 27, 2021
CHAPTERS
7

DESCRIPTION

In the winter of 1990, a young man named Alain finds himself lost and searching for direction. He currently cannot find it at home nor through the church. But when he meets Hayden, a free-spirited cook, he at least finds someone he can relate with. He may not know where his life is going but at least he has someone to lean on. But Alain's new life, filled with new feelings and many new challenging experiences, may force him to find his path on the road...

(Source: KUMA)

CAST

Alain Saverio
Hayden Stewart
Maria

CHAPTERS

REVIEWS

Kingyaoithethird
100/100
deep, emotional and tear shedding.
This is what this manga did to me through its chapters: it made me feel. I felt so bad, and happy, and glad and confused, and mainly I was invested in the story.

Haruka Tooki Ie is about 2 boys that went through a lot and decided to deal with it together.

The backstory of the characters itself isn't the most original thing, to be honest it, but i don't think the matter or the point is really the backstory, but how it's been told, how we can understand what the characters feel and empathize for them even if we didn't (or did) go through the same they did.

I finished this in a very little amount of time, and in this short time I've went through more emotions that I've felt while watching entire movies. Another great point is the art, it's relaxing, it's beautiful, it's warm. It's so important for me to see what I'm reading, that's why I like comics and mangas in general, they make me go through way more feelings when I can SEE the information I'm absorbing (even though I'm pretty invested in books and novels as well).

As far as i'm not a professional into making critics and availing things, I realized there are no reviews of Haruka Tooki Ie, which makes more difficult for people to find interest on reading it, so I simply decided to make a review of my own of this short, dramatic and emotional piece of work, with what I feel from the bottom of my heart after reading it.

After all this speech I made, i think I should do a final review at least.

Story: 8
As I said before, some things are far from being original, but it's not like it was a problem at all, because it brings up unfortunately rather common problems that people could have gone through life, and it's developed in such a sad, dramatic and also beautiful way, using such a complex topic called love and turning into something even more complex, the problems that come with it, the people around you, your ideals, mixing all of it and making something insanely common at the time the work takes place, and even nowadays. The poetry inside every page, telling this tragic story, is impeccable.

Art: 9
I dont have nothing to complain about it, the artstyle used to duo with the story of this manga is beyond beautiful, the expressions are wonderful, the scenario is chef kiss and that's about it.

Characters: 9
I think the main thing to be availed is the characters. The world goes around them, the story is about them and how people see them. I don't think there was really anything left to be added, there were few chapters but it was enough to show us the main characters and make us understand everything we needed about them, make us feel sorry about them, care for them.

Overall: 10
It might be just according to my very personal feelings, but for such a short story, the message it gave was way too big and it did the work that many similar on going pieces of work couldn't. Haruka Tooki Ie is definitely not for everyone, but I would recommend it to anyone interested on reflecting all of their life decisions and ideals, and crying for fiction that is mixed with reality.
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KrenZane
60/100
A brief journey with a poetic end, where sinners hope to find their haven
Brief in length, heavy on pathos. A Home Far Away is an exceptionally appropriate title in encompassing the cognitive state of the spiritually and societally ostracized through the lens of religion and domestic misfortune. To escape from it all, those people need a home: a community of shared love and warmth.

I just have to say, the author really gets it. By that, I mean the indubitable highlight of the story, which is religious guilt. There lies a copious amount of stress shouldered daily by people who think they are the devil's spawn due to their realization that their heart's desires misalign with their bodies sculpted with the likeness of The Divine Entity. The fear of being cursed, intermingling with the hatred of one's nature, all stream into this woeful ocean of philosophy:

"If I were born differently, this love wouldn't have been a sin."

And at the very least, that newfound home could have been one without the gallows for a backyard; where greetings don't come as meted judgments; where they can be one with the neighborhood, warm cheers close in proximity as they all relish in the greatest gift given to man, the ability to wholeheartedly love.

Of course, contrarian scenarios all too well exist in real life, and the author resolved to capture its full tragedy. Sprinkle in some hope and joy to exacerbate the looming threat, give the characters some time with peace that should have been theirs to regularly taste to begin with, before finally pushing them off the edge once and for all.

How cruel is the truth that this world cannot save space for the people who need it most.

All this to say, A Home Far Away was sad to read. Despite the depressing frame, the hasty approach it took dried up the adhesive of a surefire emotional journey, thus preventing me from being too heavily invested enough for a heartbreak.

However, it had its powerful moments, such as when Alan shot through the crucified statue of Christ. That bit, yes, it broke me to pieces. That whole scene in the chapel subdued my capacity for optimism, because it was the last nail in the coffin. After being enclosed on all sides, even Jesus, whom Alan had faith for and prayed to even after all the pain His devout apostles (his parents and the priest, though he really shouldn't be included) gave him, had failed in Alan's eyes.

His entire life was practically dictated by people and things that didn't come from his essence. Simultaneously, there is a breathless feeling of denying who you are to escape the punishment of sin. Despite having Hayden, a runaway of memories, even that was fleeting in the end too. It is poetic that their end was met at the palms of the ocean, the primordial source of life and the material used to relinquish sin in the hopes of a resurrected one without it.

I express all this, but the genuine emotional movement I had could only be attributed to the approach the story took and the execution to traverse the plot. Were it to be more fleshed out, were more avenues to have been explored, were it to have been more than a trauma dump and a flash-to-pathos, maybe I would have had sufficient room to move as the author's stringed puppet play. Nevertheless, it was a good experience overall, and I am not discounting its loyalty to its themes and the resolute gestures to paint a melancholic work.
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