Kimi no Iru Machi: A Town Where You Live

Kimi no Iru Machi is a shonen slice of life manga wrote by Seo Kouji. To be honest, I thought it was a shojo from the way it read. The series follows Haruto Kirishima, Yuzuki Eba, Akari Kaga, and other friends as they grow up.

The story centers around Haruto and Yuzuki’s turbulent romance. Yuzuki ends up staying with Haruto during their high school years upon request by her family. Yuzuki and Haruto’s parents were friends. Haruto doesn’t really care for Yuzuki at first; he only has eyes for Nanami Kanazaki. The story focuses on Haruto’s changing love interests as he grows older and how it creates an on-off relationship with Yuzuki. Thankfully, Yuzuki isn’t another tsundere character.

Being shonen, it is no surprise the manga has plenty of eye candy and hot spring scenes. As the character age, more nudity and related scenes creep into the story. Their concerns also change. They begin worrying about work, pregnancy, death, and other adult themes.

Jokes tend to center around misunderstandings and word play. Japanese language really lends itself to both considering a single word can have such a range of meanings.

There were times that I didn’t like Haruto. He wasn’t exactly a player, but he is a good guy who is (typically shonen) ignorant of how his actions are understood by the opposite sex. Many of his choices end up hurting those closest to him; he lands himself into thorny situations because of his desire to always help people. Haruto’s selflessness comes off as being selfish.

In a particular arch with Asuka Mishima, I particularly did not like Haruto. [Some vague spoilers are ahead.] He acted so poorly toward the forgiving and compassionate Asuka that I almost stopped reading the manga out of disgust. I never felt much toward Yuzuki as a character, perhaps because her personality type tends to get on my nerves. Asuka, on the other hand, was the type of character that I enjoy. It riled me how the arch progressed. I didn’t like how he treated Nanami earlier in the series as well.

Over time, I began to enjoy Haruto as a character as he showed signs of growing up. Although, I never did quite forgive him the Asuka arch. My reaction to the arch tells me how well done the characters in A Town Where You Live are. They are very human.

The artwork for A Town Where You Live is crisp and detailed. The artist has a great feeling for layout and framing a scene. Rich blacks provide a nice rhythm to the reading, and the way the artist handles the eyes for expression is excellent. Many frames are subtle; sometimes only the eyes of the character moves between panels, but the shift speaks more than the dialog.

So what are my thoughts? The characters of Kimi no Iru Machi are well done and enjoyable. They are not entirely stereotypical; although many of the girls have the ditzy aspect to them. The manga doesn’t shy away from difficult discussions and how life changes.

Some of the most touching scenes are between the childhood friends Haruto, Takashi, and Akari. For being shonen, the series is laced with deep emotions. It is refreshing to see the series show the characters growing into adulthood and taking on the rather routine and boring aspects of meeting rent and other obligations. If you enjoy slice of life, romance, and stories about people growing up, you should read Kimi no Iru Machi.