Author: Hara Hidenori
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1997 Hara Hidenori

Hara Hidenori usually writes about love stories. They may take place around getting into college, or becoming a professional photographer, or a musician putting together her own album. Or they may be based on the story of a young man trying to become a professional manga artist. This is what ITSUDEMO YUME WO is about.
This is one of Hara's better manga. It seems to start out pretty simply: Tadano Ichiro, our main character, is a rather introverted high school student with an over-active imagination. He is not very good at sports or schoolwork. He has only two joys in life—reading manga and Kisaragi Michiru. She is like a real manga heroine to Tadano; she has looks, attitude, everything. She even likes him back, albeit as a friend. The major problem, as Tadano sees it, is that she is the girlfriend of his best friend Kakei. The three of them frequently hang out together. Actually, it is more like Kakei and Michiru drag Tadano along. Kakei is extremely outgoing, good at sports and he does not seem to worry about his schoolwork that much.
One day, Tadano and Kakei are on top of the school's roof. Tadano is absorbed in his manga, and Kakei comments that it must be nice to find such pleasure in reading manga. Tadano is unsure how to respond. Suddenly Michiru scrambles up the ladder and finds her boyfriend from whom she demands some money. Later that day in class, instead of listening to the lecture, Tadano sneaks peeks at Michiru and draws her in his notebook. Noticing his attention, she smiles and waves at him.
On his way home Tadano is intercepted by his friend Kakei. He convinces Tadano to come over to his apartment and watch a new H-video (porn). While watching it, Kakei steps out to get some cigarettes, leaving Tadano with a box of kleenex. He is suddenly surprised from behind as Michiru grabs him and asks why is he watching these unrealistic H-videos again! By the time Kakei returns, Michiru is at home on the couch and Tadano is on the other side of the room. It turns out that Michiru came over because she has tickets to a concert and manages to drag Kakei out to see it with her. They leave Tadano in charge of Kakei's apartment.
Left alone in the apartment, Tadano sees all the things showing Kakei and Michiru's relationship. After he finally goes home, he wonders why he is no good. Why does Kakei deserve Michiru? With those thoughts filling his mind, Tadano begins to draw his manga. Looking over one of the weekly manga magazines, he notices a contest for new manga talent.
The beginning of ITSUDEMO YUME WO is extremely deceptive. You think you may have it all figured out. Either Tadano gets Michiru, or he does not. He will probably become a great manga artist while working his way through his relationship. If that were all to it, then this story would be over in two volumes and not the six it actually took. This is a bit of a spoiler, but I need to say that Hara is not known for his happy endings. This story, being one of his best, should help put that in perspective. By the time you get to the end of the story, you know exactly how you got there. However, if you go back to volume one and re-read the beginning, you will have to pause and wonder how the story got from this beginning to the finish you just read.
Hara's most powerful assets are his stories and his ability to tell them. The art itself, while strong and accomplished, is really only a media for his ability to tell a story. Hara knows how to twist the emotional knife very well. Usually his protagonists are losers of one sort or another, people who do not make the cut. These characters are typically reaching for something beyond their grasp—a college, a beautiful woman who is someone else's girlfriend, a career they are not qualified for.
More subtle than the story, though, is his way of telling these stories. His placement of frames on a page ranges from very standard to amazing. Few artists use the position of the frames themselves to convey emotion. When a character is stunned and confused the whole page breaks apart showing their internal state of mind.
If you are after a story about an underdog trying to make his dream come true, but at a very high cost to himself and the people he loves, then you may enjoy this story. If you want to see a happy ending to offset all the angst you go through while reading a series, you are probably better off not picking up ITSUDEMO YUME WO.

Published by Shogakukan (Young Sunday Comics)
6 volumes, completed
202 ~ 238 pages, b/w, ¥500
Vol. 1: ISBN4-09-151621-1
Vol. 2: ISBN4-09-151622-X
Vol. 3: ISBN4-09-151623-8
Vol. 4: ISBN4-09-151624-6
Vol. 5: ISBN4-09-151625-4
Vol. 6: ISBN4-09-151626-2
Available now in Japan.
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