Another book from Book Riot’s 2019 Read Harder Challenge! # 11 is a book of manga, which I’ve never read before in my life. Graphic novels, yes; manga, nope. Both my son and husband have enjoyed manga in the past, but I never felt the pull to engage with it, mostly because I’m not a big series reader- I don’t like the pressure of having to hunt down the next book in the series, nor do I want to wait if someone else has that specific book checked out. (Which is stupid, because I’m perfectly fine waiting if someone has the standalone book I want checked out. My brain makes no sense sometimes.)

So with manga in mind, I checked out the stacks at a local library branch. The one I’d hoped to read wasn’t in, so I began to dig for another standalone and finally found I Hear the Sunspot by Yuki Fumino. The synopsis sounded lovely, so into my bag it went.

This is where you can maybe laugh at me a little. I did realize that manga read differently than the books I’m used to, so I opened what I would consider the back cover while sitting at my daughter’s gymnastics class and began to read, but pretty soon, I was confused. Thank goodness for smartphones so I could google how to read manga, because I honestly don’t know if I would have figured it out! I didn’t find the process intuitive at all. Maybe my brain just doesn’t work like that.

I Hear the Sunspot tells the story of two boys, students who attend the same school. Taichi is poor and doesn’t seem to have access to regular food. He’s on the hunt for work, because he’s desperately in need of money, but his circumstances don’t ever dull his outgoing personality. Kohei is struggling. Ever since he began losing his hearing, his social life has shrunk to almost nothing and he’s increasingly feeling isolated and depressed. Taichi answers his ad requesting a note-taker for class and the two begin a symbiotic relationship of sorts; while Taichi’s notes leave a lot to be desired, his friendship and understanding mean the world to Kohei, who returns the favor by bringing Taichi food that his mother has cooked. If you read closely, there’s a little bit of a love story there as well, one that’s gentle and sweet and utterly adorable.

The story was great. I enjoyed the budding friendship between Taichi and Kohei and the growth both characters experienced. The descriptions of Kohei’s mother’s food seriously made me hungry, too (I need someone to bring me lunch every day!). I really struggled with the format, though; I kept having to think back to the swirly pattern I saw when I googled how to read manga, and even then I often had to reread to make sure I was reading in the correct order. My husband and son didn’t seem to understand why it was so difficult for me, and I’m not sure either.

Any suggestions on what I could do to improve my ability to read manga? (Read more of it, obviously, but if I’m doing something wrong that you can pinpoint, I’m all ears!) I’m not sure if I want to read more, simply because I struggled with the format so much, but I’m leaving that door open, because hey, a book is a book, right? 🙂 I’m glad I did read this, as the story is so sweet and I’m always happy to try something new when it comes to books.

If you can read Japanese kanji (and lucky you if you can!!!), you can check out Yuki Fumino’s website here and follow her on Twitter here.