The Garden of Words by Shinkai Makoto is a wonderful coming-of-age, slice of life, shoujo manga centers around a young first year boy, just starting high school, and a woman who has started to give up on life. Once these two meet, they start to change each other, preparing themselves for what lies ahead in their lives. I had to reread this manga to remember the details, like the characters' names, since it's been a while from when I last read it. The story is superb and it really moves you, making you sympathize with the characters and feel as though you're them.
"Shinkai has often been hailed as the next Miyazaki..." -Variety
I feel as though this is true, but that's only my opinion. I've watch nearly all of Miyazaki Hayao’s films and fell in love with the characters and the stories. Most of the time when I watch his films, the story literally drags me in and I imagine myself in the story, fighting alongside the characters that he's developed, and caring for them in the long run. Shinkai Makoto has the same feel for his work as well. I watched two of Shinkai's films, 5 Centimeters Per Second and Voices of a Distant Star, and they pulled me in just like Miyazaki's do, but in a different way. Shinkai's stories make you think and wonder about life and the future, never really knowing what's in store, but fearing the abyss all the same. That's how I felt when I read all three of Shinkai's works, the two mentioned above and the one I'm currently talking about. I begin to ponder about the future, like "what would happen to me after I graduate school?" or "what if I don't end up becoming what I wanted to be?" These are questions that I had, particularly when I was reading 5 Centimeters Per Second. I feared for the future and what would happen to me.
(SPOILER WARNING! START)
In The Garden of Words, the main character Akizuki Takao is in his first year of high school and longs to become a shoemaker, even when he knows there's no guarantee of him succeeding in that profession. During his first semester, Takao plays hookey on rainy days, missing out on morning classes and on one of those days, he meets a mysterious woman at a gazebo in the park. When they first meet, she's drinking beer for breakfast and he's just drawing in his sketchbook, both silent until he drops his eraser and she picks it up or him. Finally the silence is broken by her as she hands him back his eraser, then he asks her if they've met, which then she replies as she leaves that perhaps they had and parts with these words:
"I wish there would be a clap of thunder as the sky is clouded, bringing rain, then I would keep you from leaving."
These words act as a sort of promise for them to keep meeting on rainy mornings. Through out the rainy season Takao keeps meeting this mysterious woman, who he still knows nothing about, not even her name, sharing food and, most of all, words. He starts to slowly fall for this woman and vice versa. And remarkably, throughout the story, Takao is passionate towards what he loves, shoemaking, and tries his hardest to become better and even looks into a shoemaking college along with going to special classes because he doesn't want shoemaking to be "just a hobby.” On the last rainy days that they meet, before summer starts, Takao tells her all about him wanting to be a shoemaker and she doesn't laugh at him like others would, instead she repects his resolve, though it doesn't outright say this. She also lets him measure her feet and he asks if she'll wear them when they're done, to which she agrees, but doesn't believe she'll be able to live up to that promise. Then the story jumps to after summer vacation, Takao has gone back to school, then lo and behold, the mysterious woman is there! Soon Takao finds out that she is a teacher at his school, Yukino-sensei, and will be quitting due to harassment by her students. Afterwards, Takao finds the tanka, that is quoted above, in his literature textbook and finds out that there is a response to it because it was originally written as a two part tanka.
Soon realizing the meaning of the tanka, Takao rushes to the gazebo on a day that's not rainy, finding Yukino-sensei there, and reciting to her his response:
"Even when no thunder sounds and no rain falls... If you but ask me, then I will stay beside you."
After that, it starts to pour and the two of them head for Yukino-sensei's apartment, where Takao cooks, Yukino-sensei lends him some clothes while his uniform dries, and when Takao confesses his feelings to Yukino-sensei. At first, she rejects him by telling him that after she quits, she's moving back to her hometown and that she's planned it for a while and apologizes for not being able to uphold her promise. Angrily, Takao storms out and Yukino-sensei chases after him after realizing that she too had fallen in love. They have a big shoujo moment and then the story flashes forwards to when Takao has finished Yukino-sensei's shoes and she puts them on, walking out of her house, and to her new job, which is incidentally, teaching, encouraged by Takao's determination to not give up on his passion. In the end, they get together, only to be in a long distance relationship.
(SPOILER WARNING! END)
A lot of the stuff I was rambling on about above connects to the story's theme which is to not give up on something you're passionate about, despite its setbacks, because if you do, it'll become "just a hobby" and that is something I totally refuse for my writing to be. I had absolutely loved this story and recommend it highly for those who are looking for a quick and sweet read. I'm not going to do ratings for my manga and anime reviews. It's the simple fact of if I like it or not. On a side note, this manga does have a film to accompany it if you prefer to watch instead of read, some of my own friends prefer this route, and it’s available on Netflix right now as far as I know. I hope you guys liked my review, see you all next week! And please comment down below, I wanna hear what you guys think: does this sound interesting enough for you to want to read it? Have you read this book before and if so, what did you think of it?
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