Could a manga have nerdier roots? Husky and Medley began as a series of threads on 2ch. The protagonist is "Medley", a supposed high school student who falls in love with her seemingly perfect classmate "Husky." She starts out by creating a thread called, "I wanna expose my perfect classmate's weak point!" Another poster challenges her to find Husky's weakness by becoming her girlfriend, which leads to some text-flirting between the two, which leads to real life flirting, which finally leads to them becoming a couple, with Husky gushing and worrying about their relationship to 2ch. This description might make it sound like Medley's using Husky, but she isn't. (As far as she's depicted.) She's excited about getting together with the girl she likes (complete with an adorable coming out scene), and wants to share it with the internet. The replies from the other posters range from serious attempts to give Medley advice and encouragement to the expected inane commentary.
So...it's about two girls becoming girlfriends, with the twist that the story was chronicled on a forum and may or may not be true. The romantic in me really wants to think that this was posted by a teenage girl who found a nice girlfriend instead of the alternative. Even if it isn't true, maybe this story has moved someone who was homophobic or resonated with a questioning teenager who read it. Setting its validity aside, it's really sweet and the 2ch angle adds a uniquely contemporary twist to a story that has been told many times.
The HasuMedo threads (which were posted in July 2008; back-ups of the thread are around online) was adapted to manga format by the pixiv artist Kurosada, whose account includes the Husky and Medley manga as well as some other drawings of his(?) image of Husky and Medley. The art isn't going to blow anyone's mind, but it's uncluttered and easy to follow.
So yup. Very cute, realistic-enough-to-be-plausible high school love story that addresses queer identity. (And you get nerd-points for even understanding the entire origin story.) Recommended.
Story: My inner romantic wins, although my inner cynic put up a hard fight. B+
Art: C+
Overall: B+
Husky and Medley have inspired fan art as well as a Vocaloid song. (Its tune is stuck in my head!)
Note added a little later: Husky and Medley was hard to review in the sense that it was really cute and realistic enough to remind me of a high school crush, but the very real possibility that it isn't real made me reluctant to invest myself too much in the "This really happened!" aspect. But goodness, it's cute.
6 comments:
I didn’t place that much value on the whole “oh god mod this is a true story!” element. It’s something I was aware of going in but ultimately never a real draw of the series - though it is a nice and surprisingly moving at the end. I was very powerfully moved by Husky and Medley, in terms of yuri I think I probably have only ever had a stronger first reaction to Aoi Hana. To me, it is simply the cutest yuri story out there. My favourite description of H&M is a shot gun to the face full of yuri goodness!
A term coined by myself of course lol.
I think Husky and Medley’s strength is it’s realistic portrayal of first love, or rather just young love and how exciting it is. For those who did not have a girlfriend in highschool… whoever they are…. it’s really that ideal we can look upon and think how wonderful it must have been. Like the NanaxHitomi stories and Hanjuku Joshi I think it blends the joy and happiness of being young and in love as well as the realities and social implications but without feeling depressing - infact it’s the opposite. You witness their resolve and how it strengthens their love and in turn helps me believe in their love and root them on.
H&M is just a favourite of mine, I love it to bits!
“Setting its validity aside, it's really sweet and the 2chan angle adds a uniquely contemporary twist to a story that has been told many times.” - Absolutely!
1000: If I’m >>1000 then I loved this review!
"1000: If I’m >>1000 then I loved this review!" <- ^__^
"I think Husky and Medley’s strength is it’s realistic portrayal of first love, or rather just young love and how exciting it is. For those who did not have a girlfriend in highschool… whoever they are…. it’s really that ideal we can look upon and think how wonderful it must have been. Like the NanaxHitomi stories and Hanjuku Joshi I think it blends the joy and happiness of being young and in love as well as the realities and social implications but without feeling depressing - infact it’s the opposite. You witness their resolve and how it strengthens their love and in turn helps me believe in their love and root them on." <- THIS.
"H&M is a shot gun to the face full of yuri goodness!" <- Amazing metaphor.
Small point: 2ch and 2chan aren't the same website. The former is a text board, on which the saga of Husky and Medley unfolded, the latter an image board. There's more info on Wikipedia if you're interested. Other than that, I agree with your review.
@Anon- I know about http://www.2chan.net/ (ふたば☆ちゃんねる) and http://2ch.net/ (2ちゃんねる)- just goofed up the two when typing. Corrected. (From "began as a series of threads on 2chan" -> "began as a series of threads on 2ch" and "the 2chan angle" -> "the 2ch angle.")
https://twitter.com/mesdorei
Medley twitter!!!
@Anon- Oh, nice! Thanks for pointing it out! ^^
Post a Comment