Othello

I've always thought that Othello would make an excellent name for a black tomcat (okay, so I'm weird), and obviously Toui Hasumi thought it'd make a nice name for a manga. I mention this because, as far as I can tell, there's not much that's Shakespearian about Othello. (Oh, except the identical twins. That bit is Shakespeare all over.) So why the story is called Othello I can't quite tell, but then again it sounds cool, so maybe I shouldn't question it too much.

Othello, like all of Juné's titles, is very nicely produced: large format, colour dust jacket, and good quality. The cover art is damn nice too. As for plot, this manga has an interesting story, and is, largely, well written and translated. It does have a few flaws though. The main arc of the narrative is that of the main character (Ayumu) discovering his "true self" through his relationship with the tall, dark, and handsome Kirishima. The romance is a secondary concern to this "self-discovery", but sadly it's this psychology which lets the story down.

Othello begins with Ayumu, a high school student, moving back in with his mother after the death of his twin brother. Ayumu takes this as a chance to redefine who he is. He moulds himself in his twin's image and hides his "bad boy" persona behind the mask of his "perfect" twin. Or so he tells us in the introduction. Sadly, the signs we see of this "bad boy" persona are restricted to Ayumu sleeping with a man once, and smoking. Ayumu then worries about this internal conflict and how hard it is not to show his "true self", which just seems rather unconvincing, as it is talked about as existing without ever really being shown.

Aside from the duff psychology, the plot and the romance are really rather sweet. Othello follows Ayumu finding who he truly is and finding love, and his relationship with Kirishima feels real and engaging. There's not much more you can ask. My only other complaint is that the story ends rather abruptly half-way through the book, almost before the story gets going, so it's ever so slightly un-satisfying. The other half of the book is filled by three unrelated short stories (one of which revolves around a life-changing misunderstanding between two characters which I sincerely hope is more convincing when worded in the original than it is in English), which are all perfectly readable.

Despite weaknesses in plot, Othello is definitely strong in its artwork. The four short stories in the volume demonstrate versatility in the artist's work. In so many mangas the style is so uniform that individual characters are only distinguishable by hair, clothes, and perhaps a pointy nose. But here the main characters all look appropriately different in build and facial structure. Most importantly however, they are all beautiful and very well drawn: the semes are handsome and boyish; and the ukes are pretty and stay (mainly) on the male side of androgynous.

Othello is a perfectly decent manga with a lot going for it, but it is definitely not as satisfying as it could be, so if you like a nice long fulfilling angsty romance then this is probably not for you. The criticising done, I still enjoyed it, and it is head and shoulders above a lot of the nonsense out there.