Manga Review: Pieta volume 2

 Volume 1 of Pieta (reviewed here) left us with a pretty grim scenario.

Thankfully, the jump does not kill Rio. It turns out that she will be able to recover fully,  but Sahoko and Rio's psychologist Minori-sensei know that she'll try to commit suicide again unless what caused her to do it is actually dealt with.

They figure out that it was Rio's stepmother's doing. She owns up to her culpability and makes it clear that she'll do whatever it takes to remove Rio from the Martha Stewart fantasy of a life she wants by committing Rio to a mental institution as soon as possible. Even Rio's father is disturbed by her, and he tells Minori-sensei the truth about what his wife told Rio. Minori-sensei clears things up for Rio, and she decides to divorce her family. In one of my favorite scenes, Minori-sensei tells Rio that he and his wife have wanted to adopt her as a daughter for a long time. Even if she doesn't want to be adopted, they're still there for her if she needs anything.

As Sahoko continues visiting her in the hospital, Rio gets over her fear that she'll hurt whoever she loves. We also learn more about what caused Sahoko to become a hikikomori for a full school year. While Rio has a truckload of horrible family reasons for her issues, Sahoko comes from a perfectly functional, loving family. The explanation for her withdrawal from society works because, well, you don't need to have a traumatic childhood to have problems interacting with people. Some people are just like that. While Rio wore her problems on her sleeve and acted out when we first met her, Sahoko was that girl who hides her problems desperately in order to create normalcy in some sphere of her life. After she gets over that by opening up to Rio, she's able to actually feel relaxed and happy instead of just pretending to be. In short, both of their behavior from the beginning of this series makes sense.

Let me go on a small tangent. When Pieta was published, it was still popular to link mental illness to lesbianism in manga. Pieta subverts that by making its characters' issues have absolutely nothing to do with their sexual orientations or who they like, instead making Rio and Sahoko's love what helps them overcome their problems. You'll find thematic similarities in the recently popular Blue Friend by Eban Fumi, which seems pretty clearly influenced by Pieta, if you're looking for something similar in yuri. I also recommend Fuyumi Soryo's Mars, a non-yuri shoujo title that feels similar as well.

Rio's stepmother tosses out Rio's things and moves her own things into the house Rio occupied, but in a delicious bit of irony, the house catches on fire. Rio's possessions stay safe and out of the dumpster because of Sahoko picking them up and storing them at her house.

After leaving the hospital, Rio moves in with Sahoko. This series addresses the issues that could, realistically, come with Sahoko already deciding that she wants to spend her life with Rio by having Minori-sensei and his wife discuss them- satisfactorily, I might add.

Rio and Sahoko help each other study for their entrance exams and start college, looking forward to their lives together

We get a bonus chapter showing them spending a week at Sahoko's aunt's beach house, where they send an omiyage to Minori-sensei and his wife.

A sweet conclusion to a roller-coaster ride of a series.

Story: A

Art: A-

Overall: A

A popular, but unfortunately out-of-print yuri classic: Pieta volume 1

Haruno Nanae's Pieta is an excellent choice if you want something dark, but not without a light at the end of the tunnel- a compelling mixture of realism and idealism about two broken people who meet by fate and, rather than drag each other even farther down, provide each other with salvation.

Sahoko is a recovering hikikomori living with her aunt. She seems well-adjusted at school, but she isn't able to completely open up to her gossip-loving classmates because she's self-conscious about her past. She comes from a loving family with no problems, but has a hard time interacting with them also.

The most popular (and infamous) girl at school, Rio, comes from starkly different circumstances. She lives in her family's big house while her father, stepmother, and two younger stepbrothers live in an apartment because her stepmother absolutely doesn't want to be around her. (Rio's father doesn't care either way, and her mother walked out on them years ago.) Rio's stepmother is a dark mirror of society's traditional ideal of the perfect woman: one who lives to maintain a catalogue-worthy household decorated with saccharine trinkets and, above all else, look like a flawlessly "normal" mother whose children lead flawlessly "normal" lives. Even though her first child resulted from a possibly unplanned pregnancy by a man who may not be Rio's father, from before she and Rio's father married (the story intentionally leaves it vague), she zeroes in on Rio as the one person in her family life who doesn't fit her Leave It To Beaver-like ideal. (Haruno Nanae loves skewering conventional expectations for gender roles and family life. See: Her depiction of Fujiko's family and "fiancee" in Double House.) When Rio was a child, her stepmother stuck her in a mental hospital at the first chance she got. No wonder Rio has issues. Thankfully, the psychologist Rio has been seeing since she was a kid and his psychiatrist wife both think of her as a daughter and look out for her as much as they can. Their presence provides a much-needed balance among the adult characters.

Even though Rio is normally cold and apathetic, she finds herself drawn to Sahoko and tries to befriend her. She only sees Sahoko as a security blanket/attractive girl at first, but starts to genuinely love her as they get to know each other more. Rio's jealous girlfriend tries to scare Sahoko away by telling her about the cutting scars on Rio's arms, but she only ends up getting dumped by Rio. Rio and Sahoko open up to each other more than they have around anyone else, and Rio's psychologist happily notes that "the ice around her heart has melted." One of my favorite moments is when Sahoko tells Rio about her past problems and finds that, now that someone outside of her family knows, her secret isn't nearly as dark and awful as she thought it was.

The downside to Rio opening up her heart to Sahoko is that she's vulnerable again. Her stepmother takes advantage of this, resulting in Rio jumping off a building right after Sahoko remembers how they first met.

What will happen!? Dun dun dun. Until next time~ More analysis will come with the next volume's review.

Story: A

Art: A-

Overall: A

Manga Containing Adult Yuri Characters: Version 2.0

Huzzah!! ^^ I've finished the list.
(Extra comment after posting: ...damn. This is a long list.)