disability

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Lenni Reviews: “Run on Your New Legs” Vol. 4, by Wataru Midori

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Kikuzato has to find new ways to train since the pandemic forced schools to close. But being home also means he has to deal with his indifferent and unsupportive father.

Okay yes (spoiler) I’ll give the dad a little break. He learns but he was really pissing me off.

While it was interesting to see how Covid made all these athletes try new things and adjust to losing out on events, I’d like to move on and see Kikuzato progress with his running. We do get a new character, Rin, who is in a wheelchair and is a fan of the parathletes but I need the plot to move forward. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Love’s in Sight!” Vol. 1, by Uoyama

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Morio is the local delinquent and his reputation – as well as the scar on his face – make it hard for him to find a job. But when he meets Yukiko, a visually impaired girl who attends the local school for the blind, he instantly has more motivation to get his life together as Yukiko doesn’t judge him based on his appearance.

This story is told in these quick slice-of-life shorts and it’s really sweet how Morio just instantly melts the tough guy act the second Yukiko comes into his life. The tone of this is like a more upbeat and comedic version of Perfect World, telling a story while also informing the reader about how to help someone with impaired vision. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Run on Your New Legs” Vol. 3, by Wataru Midori

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Kikuzato hasn’t spoken to his old teammate and friend, Takekawa, since his accident and Takekawa has been struggling in school and on the soccer team. and watching Kikuzato throw himself into running makes it harder to repair the rift in-between them.

I think it was a nice tough to include how COVID had an impact on sports, not to mention how important it is for Kikuzato to find ways to keep training and adjusting his prosthetic.

Going in depth into the friendship between Takekawa and Kikuzato and how it clearly needs to be fixed after Kikuzato cut everyone off after losing his leg as well as Takekawa struggling to reconnect. After such an accident, it’s hard to know what to say to the person who was hurt without sounding pandering and while I am loving the running story, I do want to see these two friends find some common ground again.

Also, Kikuzato’s father is a jerk and wouldn’t mind seeing less of him. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Run on Your New Legs” Vol. 2, by Wataru Midori

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After racing in Shibuya in front of a huge crowd and cameras, Kukizato is getting tons of attention from his classmates; including his old soccer teammate, Takekawa, who hasn’t spoken to him much since he lost his leg and stopped playing soccer. His mother finds out what’s being going on and Kukizato joins the school’s track and field team.

Kukizato is finding he enjoys being around people again despite the coldness of Takekawa. I can understand Takekawa not understanding how to talk to a friend after such an accident but it looks like Kukizato isn’t giving it much thought. He’s just enjoying having something to do other than sit around and regret losing his leg. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Run on Your New Legs” Vol. 1, by Wataru Midori

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Shouta Kikuzato had dreams of joining a famous school’s soccer team but loses his leg in an accident. Feeling useless, he doesn’t interact with other students until a man named Chidori happens to see Kikuzato run and offers to make him a running prosthetic.

As a first outing, this had all the signs of a great series. I don’t usually read sports manga but the main character having a sports prosthetic intrigued me. I like stories with a unique and interesting hook and I like running so, I had to pick this up. Chidori is teetering on the edge of annoying quirky rather than entertaining quirky but Kikuzato’s more neutral personality balances him out. Kikuzato isn’t too angsty about his injury but you can see it affects him. We’ll see how things develop. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Perfect World” Vol 12, by Rie Aruga

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In this final volume, we see how Tsugumi and Itsuki are handling being the parents of a young boy names Koki; a very energetic child who doesn’t think anything is ‘wrong’ with his father. He’s just a happy child and they have mostly normal parenting stresses. Since the main couple is firmly established, we have other side characters stepping in for a few asides like how wedding planning would go for a couple in wheelchairs.

All in all, this is a great series with some important information delivered with a good story. If you like romantic drama, this is a sweet series. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Perfect World” Vol. 11, by Rie Aruga

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Now that Tsugumi and Itsuki are married, they have tried every way possible to have a child of their own. When all else fails, they decide to adopt a child. They have to take classes, prove they can be good parents, and one of them has to take parental leave so they have to decide who will be the one to leave their job.

I’m on the fence about how “easy” the adoption process was. On one hand it’s good that the agency wasn’t automatically against one parent in a wheelchair but at the same time it was such a non issue that it messes with my suspension of disbelief. Not because I want something bad to happen, this couple has been through enough but I can’t imagine so many people being so nice all the time. Just goes to show what I expect from life if I have an issue with there not being enough assholes in a story. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Perfect World” Vol. 10, by Rie Aruga

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After all their trials and tribulations, Tsugumi and Itsuki start their lives together s husband and wife. And as most couples do, they start to think about having children.

We do get a quick nod to show how a couple would be intimate if one of them is paralyzed from the waist down. This isn’t a hentai so its quite tasteful and very short. It’s something a reader would no doubt wonder about.

The meat of this volume are the fertility struggles so here’s your trigger warning if you have trauma associated with that.. It’s a little by the numbers in order to cover all the feelings swirling around wanting a family and trying to get pregnant in a single volume and I chalk that up to trying to get to a certain amount of pages. We’re in volume ten now, so we gotta get things moving to the conclusion. It’s still emotional and real but fast paced. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Perfect World” Vol. 9, by Rie Aruga

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Itsuki is determined to get Tsugumi’s father to understand him but the old man’s health takes a steep decline, giving the couple doubts as to if they will even have the chance to get his blessing before he dies.

This volume is the heart tugging, tear jerking one so if you’re a softy, maybe grab a tissue. Here it’s more straight up love story and life drama, which is fine. The reason why this series works is because it doesn’t rely on Itsuki’s disability to carry the story. It’s about people who have to deal with these circumstances as a part of their lives. It’s easy for a story like this to fall into bad tropes of become overly preachy but that’s not the case here. 5 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Perfect World” Vol. 8, Rei Aruga

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After the earthquake, Itsuki and Tsugumi fumble their way back together. However, Tsugumi’s father still is against their relationship; wanting his daughter to have a “normal” partner. Itsuki vows to do his best to change his mind so he can get his blessing to be with his daughter.

Yeah, we knew these two were gonna get together and seeing how the house for Keigo and Kaede is done and they get married; it’s right in their face that a happy ending is possible. This series continues to blend a tender love story with the harsh reality of a person with a spinal chord injury without one thing feeling clumsily slapped on the other. Aruga is doing a great job with this. 5 out of 5.

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