Wandering Son Hardcover by Shimura Takako

Product Details

• Publisher: Fantagraphics (2012-01-02)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 200 pages
• ISBN-13: 9781606994566
• Item Weight: 567.0 grams
• Dimensions: 0.0 x 0.0 x 0.0 cm

Our heroes enter the sixth grade in volume two of this legendary series.

In the second volume of Shimura Takako's superb coming-of-age story, our transgender protagonists, Shuichi and Yoshino, have entered the sixth grade. Shuichi spends a precious gift of cash from his grandmother on a special present for himself, a purchase that triggers a chain of events in which his sister Maho learns his secret, and Shuichi inadvertently steals the heart of a boy Maho in interested in.

The “woman” who showed so much interest in Yoshino (when she was wearing a boy’s school uniform) in volume one reappears with “her” boyfriend, and becomes a mentor and friend to the two children. And the kids go on a class trip that is a rite of passage Shuichi would rather pass up. Shuichi is called a “faggot” by another boy, and the dramatic nature in which Saori comes to Shuichi’s defense leads the two to discover a shared fondness for Anne of Green Gables. But despite his propensity to cry (a propensity noted repeatedly by his more outgoing sister), Shuichi finds strength and courage he didn’t know he had.

A sophisticated work translated with sophistication by veteran translator and comics scholar Rachel Thorn.

About the Author

Shimura Takako lives in Tokyo, Japan.

Rachel Thorn is from in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. She is a cultural anthropologist, writer, and an associate professor in the manga department at Kyoto Seika University. Her translations include the New York Times Best-Seller Nijigahara Holograph by Inio Asano and Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.