Customer Reviews

All My Darling Daughters

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I really, really love this mangaka. I first discovered Yoshinaga Sensei through the delightful ANTIQUE BAKERY (which, if you haven't read, hurry up, it's a treat as delicious as any whipped up by the pastry chef "gay demon" of that series!) and the funny and touching and totally fun FLOWERS OF LIFE (which I had to pay extra to get the later volumes, as they're a bit hard to get in English now, and has my absoloutely fave plotline including the cultural festival, so funny). Her manga artwork is distinctive. Once you see it, you know it's Yoshinaga Fumi--which differentiates her from some of the by-the-book-bishie-mediocre stuff out there. While she may be known also for her yaoi stuff, I find the non-yaoi is really where she shines. She's positively genius in using manga style to showcasing relationships, be they at work in a bakery, in a Japanese high school, or at home with family.

But what really makes this mangaka stand out for me is how she delves into the daily life and emotional workings of characters and brings them to life and makes you laugh and cry and feel strongly for these interesting, often recognizable, very human 2-d creations.

In ALL MY DARLING DAUGHTERS you get a series of stories, in some way connected to the others by characters, if not a continuation of story situations. A daughter who lives with her mom has to deal with mom marrying a young host-turned-actor. A professor deals with the wacky-desperate sexual blackmail of a dorky student (this one made me laugh A LOT, but it is a bit bawdy in storyline and some of the art--nothing overly graphic). A woman agrees to arranged dates in a marriage quest, and an unexpectedly suitable suitor triggers a life-changing decision. (This one made me feel great admiration for Yoshinaga's Sensei ability to delve into a character deeply to come to a surprising ending that makes perfect sense in retrospect.) A woman reconnects with old classmates (in flashbacks and letters) and we see how their youthful dreams did or did not pan out. A daughter's hatred of her mother leads the grandaughter of the former to seek insight about the relationship, and we end up learning how what may seem like villainy is motivated by love and the trauma of old emotional wounds.

Yoshinaga Sensei often gives us those twists in relationships that offer endings that make sense, offer more character insight and drama than a conventional one would (ie, conventional happy romance ending). I sometimes WISH for a more conventional ending, but then it would not be Yoshinaga Sensei's work, which is fresh because it surprises. But it's not cheap, shallow twists. It's twists motivated by real characterization.

Her artwork can be amazingly sensitive (in facial expression panes without dialogue) or crazy funny (like the ones that use the exaggerated manga style to provide humor...love, love her way of making a character eating funny).

These are very sensitive stories (even the funniest one), and there is such a sense of the bonds and frailties of humans here that you feel both saddened by the weight of what we bear and refreshed by the virtues and love that make life worth living.

A terrific volume that is worth buying.

Thank you, Yoshinaga Sensei. Please...MORE!

I purchased this manga based off of some great reviews on various sites and Fumi Yoshinaga does an excellent job in this single manga, examining relationships and especially identifying the complicated issues between mother and daughter. I thought it was appropriately mature and hilarious when it needed to be and the artwork was stunning on its own. Her other work, Ooku the Inner Chambers, got me hooked on her work and this just continues to solidify her as one of my favorites.

Yoshinaga Fumi is one of my favourite mangaka and this is a brilliant manga to showcase her talent for character. There's not exactly a plot, per se. There's no gundams or special powers; just a story of an ordinary family with their own troubles, dreams, and history. I quite love it, especially with the mother-daughter plotline. It's actually quite rare to find decently written stories for females, but Yoshinaga-sensei actually does it quite often, with a huge focus on it. This is a short, one-volume story, but it's powerful and very, very lovely.

I picked this up without much expectations, but it's fantastic, centering around a woman and her family/friends. This is not a BL manga, but about women and their lives.

I am a manga fan and I saw this on the "new" shelf at the library so I picked it up. I'd seen Fumi Yoshinaga's name before because of Antique Bakery and Ooku but I'd not read either manga series as yet.

Since All My Darling Daughters appeared to be a one-shot volume, I figured, "What the heck? Its not like I have to invest a boatload of time since its not a series."

But wow, it stands out so much that when I turned the last page, I wanted to know more. And proof as to how much dI loved it was that I bought it a copy after I had to return the library's copy.

The manga begins with a scene of a teenage Yukiko and her mother, Mari, arguing over cleaning her room. Its a very normal, ordinary scene of an ordinary mother and daughter relationship. It quickly cuts to the present when Mari comes home to announce that she has gotten married. After surviving a bout with cancer, she's decided that she needs to do what she feels so she got herself married. The catch? He's younger than Yukiko and she met him at a host bar and he's an actor to boot.

Yukiko, who is in her 30s, is understandably upset but as with life, her mother's decision prompts Yukiko to make changes too as they both struggle to find their way into a change in their relationship.

And that's what this manga is about: Mother and daughter relationships.

Yukiko and Mari are the anchor but other chapters deal with the stories of women in their circle who are all dealing with coming to terms with decisions of their lives. One is of Yukiko's cousin who can't quite commit to any man. Another is of a friend who is finding that the dreams of youth are difficult to attain.

But its the last chapter that elevates the manga to something truly special. It is absolutely amazing. It centers on Mari and her fractious relationship with her own mother. It has resentment and misunderstanding. Love and the damage that it can do. It is about forgiving but not forgetting and all the nuances in between.

All My Darling Daughters is a gem of a manga. It has humor and melancholy. It celebrates the absurd with a dash of wisdom. And it is wonderful.

And when you get to that last page and read Yukiko's words to her mother, you get fully the love between mother and daughter.