That's Not Love 5

Two female friends from middle school reunite as adults in this hard-hitting and personal drama manga. What begins as idle reminiscing leads to painful revelations as they heal the reopened wounds of their past in this highly-anticipated first print release from the creator of 1122: For a Happy Marriage.

Drawing on real events and the Japanese #MeToo movement and Watanabe’s own reflections on friendship and womanhood, That’s Not Love won a place on the industry insider poll Kono Manga ga Sugoi! as one of the best manga of the year.

Forty-year-old Akane attends the opening of a new art exhibit by her former cram school teacher, Mr. Imai, who has now become a sculptor. Akane notices that Mr. Imai’s new sculpture bears a striking resemblance to her middle school best friend, Yukari, who she remembers suddenly transferred out of the school. It even has a distinct scar that Yukari shared with Akane privately. Wondering what this could mean, Akane reaches out to her old friend, and learns that there was something else going on when they were children that she only partly understood. Was Yukari just a muse? Or something with more upsetting implications?

“I began thinking about situations where violence might not be recognized as violence, where it might be permitted for the sake of art or because of someone’s talent, and about the hierarchies that exist between people in small, tightly-bound businesses.” –Peko Watanabe

Japanese title: Koi janee kara