Last week, I reviewed Wandering Son volume 1. I have equally high praise for volume 2. Spoilers ahead, as I'm assuming that, by now, you have read both volume 1 and volume 2 of the great series that is Wandering Son.
In volume 2, I realize that the pacing of this series is incredibly slow. I didn't really realize this in the last volume or while watching the anime since I blasted through the anime at breakneck speed and reading the manga didn't really give me enough material to work with to make that conclusion. I'm not saying that the pacing of the series is bad. In fact, I praise it for being paced so slowly and keeping my interest like it's Fairy Tail or One Piece (which seem to go by really quickly when I'm watching or reading them).
Volume 2 does introduce a few new characters. Nakazawa-sensei, Nitori-kun and Takatsuki-san's 6th grade teacher. And it finally gets into Yuki-san and Shii-chan's story.
First, Nakazawa-sensei. You didn't get much of a look of her in the volume, but you can tell she's a little innocent and she's new at this teaching thing. She provides a good role model figure to contrast with Yuki-san, who is very relateable for Nitori-kun and Takatsuki-san, but maybe not the best role model. Past that, I can't really give much of a judgment on the character given how much screen time she had in the volume. I'm looking forward to seeing how she works into the rest of the story.
And, again, we finally get a look into Yuki-san. She is one of the best characters for Shimura-sensei to put into the manga. Yuki-san is a transgendered person who was born a male and had surgery to become a female. It's a little far-fetched at how they met Yuki-san (or, more accurately, how Takatsuki-san met Yuki-san), but go with it. Chance encounters and all.
What it does for both Nitori-kun and Takatsuki-san is give them someone who is going through the same or a similar thing as they're going through right now. Their parents can't really help them and the only people they have is each other. Yuki-san provides the teacher-figure for them in the story (or really the cool but weird aunt). It's really important for these kids to have someone like that that they can look up to when they're going through not only puberty, but gender confusion.
Now for the main characters. Chiba-san and the newly named Sasa-san realize they're kind of being ousted by Nitori-kun and Takatsuki-san. And Maho has found a new love.
But they're trouble in paradise, her new love has a crush on (wait for it)...you guessed it, Nitori-kun, who was dressed as a girl at the time. This is kind of a brilliant move on the part of Shimura-sensei. It shows that Maho is kind of dense (or at least slow on the uptake) and that Nitori-kun really does look like a girl when he's all doidled up. It also provides a little look into how shallow Maho can be at times.
But Maho isn't the only shallow character. Chiba-san has her own dark side. And she's a little peppy when it comes to defending herself and her friends. She dropped a tray of food on a guy for calling Nitori-kun a faggot. Granted, he called Nitori-kun a faggot. Still, what a waste of food. Sanji would be disappointed.
This volume also provides a little insight into Sasa-san. She's an innocent little girl, and a little scatterbrained. Not much is known about her yet, but from my recollection of the anime, she gets deeper and more interesting. Just wait for it, or watch the anime like I did.
But the main characters. Oh the main characters. It's been barely a few months and it feels like they're growing up so fast. Both Nitori-kun and Takatsuki-san are getting into the roles of girl and boy respectively so well. And they even made an adult friend in Yuki-san, who was fooled by their disguises and thought they really were a girl and a boy respectively. Oh, how the fleeting lives of youth do go.
What this, of course, breaks down to is a character study of gender roles and gender confusion, not only in Japan, but throughout the world. And specifically a character study of Nitori-kun and of Takatsuki-san. It's written beautifully and the content is still as fresh as it ever was. It's eye opening and amazing to be able to read about something this deep and this sophisticated in a manga format. It continues to touch on the subject of gender roles in a touching and innocent fashion while keeping a childhood naiveté and incorporating a little bit of puberty all the while. All of it is woven together into a beautiful narrative that I will continue to highly suggest to anyone willing to read or watch it.
To reiterate, Amazon and Right Stuf have the first volume for sale while Crunchyroll has the series subbed on its website. Check it out.
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