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nighttimeebony · 2 years

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Hey, so I just watched The Stranger By The Shore and I'm prepared to make it your problem.

8/10

Oh my God, relationship development instead of intangible pining! And communication?! Truly this can only be the work of witchcraft!

Like, the only gay anime ever to actually discuss LGBT related topics and struggles like homophobia (externalized and internalized), family disownment, cover marriages, and found family.

It's surprisingly really funny?? I laughed out loud several times. Especially at Shun's sibling bickering with Eri. And just Eri in general

I went in not knowing that there was going to be a sex scene and was equally surprised at how not fetishized it was. It was expectedly awkward (as it usually is the first time you have sex) and just..... really cute??? I don't know how you managed to make a sex scene cute, but you managed it and for that I applaud you

Yes, it was short, but I thought the pacing was low-key and it didn't rush.

The setting and atmosphere as a whole was very relaxing and charming

Mio is my favorite character and I love him and Justin Briner does his English voice and I am GONE

Also, Yuuri's English voice actor voices Shun, too, and that's just perfect

I find that the balancing act between talking about LGBT issues and struggles while still keeping the story light to be a tricky one to walk at times, but this movie handled it really well. The best kind of drama is the interpersonal kind, and the best kind of angst is followed by hurt/comfort and fluff.

Also, I feel I should mention that I am not really a fan of BL or Yaoi, as I feel there's a lot of problematic tropes and even potentially damaging things in there that seem to be a staple of the genre; namely, a boatload of consent issues and fetishized violence. To quote Cellspex from her 2021 animated film ranking YouTube video, historically, the venn diagram between representation and entertainment for same-gender romance in anime seems to overlap very rarely, if ever. And this movie is literally the only one I can think of that falls more into the former category than the latter. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with an LGBT romance being more about entertainment than representation, it's just that Japan's track record for making good ones is not great.

I did think that the thing with Shun's ex-fiance was weird, but it served to further Shun's development and flesh out his backstory, so it's not like it was pointless

The flashback scenes with Mio and his mom were fucking adorable and reminded me a lot of my own mom

I seriously cannot stress enough just how fucking cute this movie is

The romance as a whole was very sweet and adorable. I've read reviews where people call this a breath of fresh air for the yaoi/BL genre, and from the few pieces of media I've seen in that genre, I can't help but agree

Overall, nothing ground-breaking or amazing, just a really sweet romance in a relaxed, low-key environment

#the stranger by the shore #stranger by the shore #stranger by the beach #the stranger by the beach #anime #bl anime #yaoi anime #anime review #anime recommendation #anime reccs #anime recs

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tanenigiri · 2 years

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Review #11: Seaside Stranger (Volume 1: Umibe no Etranger)

Japanese title: 海辺のエトランゼ (Umibe no Etranger)

Story and art: Kii Kanna

English publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment

Number of volumes: 4 in English, 5 in Japanese (ongoing)

A tidal wave of emotions.

(This review contains story spoilers.)

This is the third of three series in this project where I first watched the anime before reading the manga, the other two being Given and Sasaki and Miyano. This is a lot closer to the former in terms of what it aims to do, but even if I found Given’s tragedy to be heavier, I thought Umibe no Etranger was sadder? I don’t know if it’s because there’s a lot less humor and light-hearted scenes to go with the main plot - though those are definitely still there - but there was something about the movie that leaves you feeling emotionally drained by the end (in a good way, of course).

I got the same feeling while reading the first volume of Seaside Stranger, which encompasses almost everything that the movie covers. But more than anything, the manga filled in so many blanks about the movie that I ended up appreciating the story a lot more. There were some parts of the movie where I thought I didn’t have enough context to fully understand what was happening, and each of them made more sense here - and on that merit alone I already think this was worth the read for me.

But even without that, this is still a really great story about two characters who have different ways of dealing with their inner turmoil and how that ultimately affects their relationship. And we get this right from the very first pages, where we’re hit with the doozy of a reveal that Mio, a high school student, has already lost both of his parents. Since he doesn’t seem to be getting along well with his adoptive family, this leads him to spend a significant part of his day alone in a bench and staring out in the ocean, which catches the attention of a number of people in the island. Most notable of these people is Shun, a novelist who’s revealed to have moved to the island to live with his aunt after a falling out with his parents, which involved a discontinued marriage and his coming out to them as gay.

It’s with those inner demons where the two of them meet and develop feelings for each other, but it’s very telling that all of this happens within the story’s first chapter - when they both have these new feelings to contend with while still in the middle of dealing with their respective conflicts. While the rest of the series focuses more on Shun’s internal conflict, this first volume gives just as big of a spotlight to Mio’s own struggles. And while he’s implied to have made significant progress with his own battles in the three years he spends away from the island, I think the manga does a better job than the movie in reminding us that his conflict is far from resolved.

One of the reasons why I think that’s so is a manga-only scene that shows Mio actually fulfilling his promise of calling Shun once he’s settled in the new orphanage, but is instead seen talking to Eri, Shun’s close friend who has lived with him and his aunt for quite some time. As she is shown to be in a relationship with another woman, Eri and Shun share a solid connection even if they get on each other’s nerves, and it’s this friendship that leads Eri to warn Mio not to be hasty with his feelings, especially since Mio isn’t really sure with how to feel about being in a relationship with another man.

This was honestly one of those big “Aha!” moments for me, as it recontextualizes so much of what happens in the movie when I reread them here. While we get from Mio himself later in the story that he wanted to make sure he was ready to live alone and make his own decisions before moving in with Shun, the above conversation with Eri tells me that Mio also spent those three years away from Shun as he needed all that time to think about whether or not he was ready to be in a relationship with him. We actually get a sneak peek in the movie of what he does during this time - and I find out later on that this is taken from a future volume - but what we are revealed in Volume 1 is that Mio has slept with a woman, which I think happens within these three years. So when Mio says in the end that he does like women but finds himself being able to fall in love with Shun anyway, it’s a truth about himself that took him several years to figure out.

It’s also telling that Eri is the one who invites Mio to be Shun’s new roommate after she moves out, as for me, this implies that Eri and Mio have been in contact ever since their first call. I’d like to imagine that Eri’s been helping Mio about his feelings for Shun as well, as they’re shown to become pretty good friends in the few scenes they share together. And her funny reaction about Mio suddenly professing his love for Shun when the former moves in suddenly takes on a whole new meaning, as it also means that Eri now sees Mio as someone who’s ready to be in a relationship with her friend.

Of course, three years of soul-searching might have been good for Mio, but it took a toll on Shun. He is shown to be a lot more hurt about this specific issue in the manga compared to the movie, and I think that’s pretty justifiable. He is, after all, coming from a place where admitting he likes men has only brought him pain, and we even find out later in the story that Mio is the first man that he’s ever admitted his feelings to since he’s always scared of the repercussions that would come out of his confession. Mio ghosting him for three years (apart from a postcard) gives Shun the impression that he’s once again made the wrong decision, so to suddenly be hit with an “I like you too” from Mio after three years is something that Shun isn’t prepared to handle.

We initially see most of this struggle from Mio’s perspective, and while it seems to culminate with their night in the hotel room, it’s given another twist with a visit from Shun’s childhood friend and ex-fiancee, Sakurako. I was slightly dreading that this was gonna go down a “win him back” type of plot, and while we do find out that Sakurako hasn’t moved on from Shun in the same way that he has moved on from her, what she does bring to the table is much more interesting. Shun finds out from Sakurako that his father is gravely ill, and she encourages him to go home before it’s too late. This turns out to be an issue that Shun and Mio see from completely different sides, as while Shun is still very much hurt over his falling out with his parents, Mio knows all too well the pain of losing a parent.

What I didn’t expect to see from the manga, though, is how Mio is actually not as 100% supportive of the idea of Shun leaving to go to his family as I thought. While he still encourages him to accept Sakurako’s decision, the manga adds some dialogue where he does admit that he doesn’t want to be apart from Shun yet again. I think it makes his stand on the issue a lot more realistic, as while he still loves Shun and wants to make up for the three years he spent away from him, he loves him enough to know that this trip is a lot more important for him, even if the novelist doesn’t see it as so.

It makes Shun’s insistence of Mio going with him to the trip in the end a lot more meaningful, as it sees Shun come to terms with quite a lot of things he’s been bottling up at that point. He realizes that he does want to see his family and maybe even get some closure out of it, but he also realizes that he cares for Mio just as much - and, more importantly, he doesn’t want to run away from either of them anymore. So when Shun sees the opportunity to still have both of them by his side, he takes it.

While it may seem like I enjoyed Seaside Stranger more for how the manga executed things when compared to the movie - and I admit that’s a big part of it, specifically for this volume - my initial thoughts of it having a gut-punch of a story still remained, and it’s perhaps even amplified after reading this. It really succeeds in exploring Shun’s and Mio’s internal conflicts and eliciting a lot of emotions out of them, which makes the few moments where things do work out a lot more rewarding.

Random thoughts that I couldn’t fit elsewhere:

I also wanted to point out how Mio being ready for the relationship doesn’t mean that he suddenly has the relevant experiences for it, and I think the story did a good job in portraying that. While it was often played for laughs, I still noted it as something that Mio was actively working on, and this is thankfully a plot point that future volumes continue to address.

I should mention how unique the setting is - this is one of only two series I’m covering for this project that’s primarily set outside of a city, the other being Restart After Coming Back Home. There’s obviously the whole factor that this is somewhere that Shun escapes to after what happens between him and his parents - which can be compared with how this is somewhere that Mio returns to - but I think how quiet and laid back the island is makes for a nice contrast with how the story’s conflicts are anything but those two descriptions. It was also nice to see the whole “everyone sorta knows each other” vibe in the early chapters too.

Where is the Eri x Suzu spinoff??? I really want to know more about them and their domestic life. This is one of the few volumes I’m covering for this project that doesn’t have any bonus chapters, and I 100% believe that if it did, it would focus on the two of them.

Thanks for reading! This is one of those cases that makes me glad that I decided to go through with this project, as there were several points about Seaside Stranger that I only realized as I was writing them down for this review, which only deepened my appreciation for the series even further. While I do have copies of the first three volumes of its sequel, Harukaze no Etranger, I'm still deciding whether or not I should cover them for this project.

#Seaside Stranger #Umibe no Etranger #Stranger by the Shore #Stranger by the Beach #Kii Kanna #Shun Hashimoto #Mio Chibana #Eri #BL manga #manga #manga review

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