Synopsis
Ibuki and Kippei have known each other since they were small and are the closest of friends. They live next to each other, go to the same school, and spend their free time together; but one day, Ibuki kisses Kippei, and their relationship starts to change into something more than friendship.
The Good
A Long & Short Love Story tells the story of Ibuki and Kippei in a series of short chapters that show small glimpses into their intertwined lives. With this limitation, it could be hard to tell a story that adheres together and keeps the attention of the reader. I feel like the artist Kei Ichikawa did well in weaving together a genuine and realistic story about two people that meet as friends and then become partners. Reading A Long & Short Love Story is like looking at a photo album as it leaps between small-but-significant moments in the couple’s life: from Christmas, to Valentine’s, to life moments like deciding whether to move in together.
I feel like the relationship between Ibuki and Kippei is the sort where two people meet and decide to start walking down the same path together. While not the most flashy, it’s much more realistic, even if there aren’t many big “cinematic” moments of romance. I found the last story to be the perfect bookend to their relationship. Ibuki and Kippei’s struggles of wanting to be independent first, before possibly moving to the next stage of the relationship, felt really personal to me, having experienced that kind of crossroad in a relationship before. While they do end up eventually going to different schools, the fact that they can still be together is a testament to working on a relationship. Rather than just letting it be held together by a series of coincidences, sometimes being together in the long run means being apart—that’s one of the parts that really stood out to me, and it shows up multiple times in conversations between Ibuki and Kippei.
Somewhere In Between
From the artist’s afterword, the project was conceived to be a series of short stories with color covers in a magazine, which is what led to the manga’s fairly unusual format. If you’re used to reading stories that are continuous, this might be a bit of a struggle, but I liked how different it was to tell a story only as short glimpses. Because each segment is so short, it allows for the story to skip to the important parts of the relationship. It definitely feels like I’m an intruder into this romance between Ibuki and Kippei as they go through high school and post-secondary school, but it also feels really intimate to be able to take a peek into all the moments that make up their relationship. On the flip side, because each chapter is only a few pages, there’s not a lot of room to get to know what the chemistry is like between Ibuki and Kippei, if that’s important to you. It also requires you to accept having to fill in the story gaps for yourself, as each chapter is light on dialogue. A lot of the characterization hinges on the short conversations, so it’s hard to get a good grasp of what makes the two characters similar or different from each other.
This review is based on the digital copy, and there are color pages that have full illustrations, with spots of color on some of the in-story pages, as well. The color illustrations do a lot to add to the world of Ibuki and Kippei. I did find the spot color pages really strange, but not too distracting.
The Verdict
The biggest barrier to recommending A Long & Short Love Story might be its unusual chapter lengths, but it was honestly refreshing to only read what the manga artist considered the most important snapshots into the relationship between Ibuki and Kippei. I wouldn’t consider this something you would reach for when you want something particularly romantic or heart-pounding, but it is a touching story with a sense of realism, especially in terms of acknowledging that relationships are something you have to work on. Being “together” doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing for everyone, and I’m happy this manga is an example of that kind of relationship. Readers might be a bit confused at the time jumps, but if you can get into it, this is an interesting storytelling format and experiment with nice color insert pages to enjoy.
A Long & Short Love Story is available in print and digitally from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kinokuniya, and Indigo.
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Credits
Story and Art: Kei Ichikawa
Translated by: Katelyn Smith
Letterer: Aila Nagamine
Published in English by Yen Press
Thank you to Yen Press for providing a review copy. Receiving this copy did not affect the reviewer’s opinions as expressed here.
Article edited by: Cynthia Caraturo
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