Otakuism

Story: Hanako, a student, confesses to her teacher, Mr. Makao, that she loves him. Of course, he can’t accept such a thing, but she’ll wait until she graduates to be with him. She gives him a santa hat as a present. The story then takes an abrupt shift. Hanako wakes up after two months in a coma and meets Makao again, who is now her husband. However, it is clear that Hanako has been in a coma a lot longer than two months, and due to the illness destroying her body she has just three more days to live. The story of the lengths a man will go to to give a present to the woman he loves.

Impressions: Another one-shot by Boichi. Instead of an epic sci-fi tale that spans millenia, here’s a very personal story about love. Though, there’s still an element of science fiction to the work. Technology plays an important part in how the ending comes together, but it’s more of a plot device than a statement in its own right. Certain aspects of the story are very predictable; you’ll probably figure them out in a few pages. But once again the strength in Boichi’s stories is how he brings these predictable elements together into something beautiful. Present ends in a powerful and emotional way, just like HOTEL. Boichi shows more range in artwork here. While his detail is great, his character’s expressions can be downright comical. Overexaggeration to the max. Kind of hinders the more serious moments. Overall, my admiration for Boichi’s storytelling continues to grow. Here he’s crafted a story almost completely opposite in scope to HOTEL, yet just as perfect. According to manganews there’s just one more story of his translated, an h-comic. Hopefully there will be more stories of Boichi’s, if indeed he wrote anymore, in the future. You can download Present here, or use the torrent here.