Everyone in the world needs love, both for oneself and from others. In this volume, a number of characters show a clear yearning for love, from Anna’s desire for Shuichi to more openly show their love for her, Taiichirou’s lack of self-love, or Makoto’s absence of both. These characters’ lack of this basic human need is heart-wrenching. Some needs are filled before the end of this chapter, but others are left painfully unmet.
The clearest and most well-expressed of these is Anna’s constant desire to have Shuichi more actively express their love for her. In the first issues of this volume, she notices how regularly Shuichi compliments other girls on how beautiful they are, and how little that Shuichi says similar things to her. While it has likely been expressed long ago off-panel, Anna is clearly distressed by this, going so far as to forbid Shuichi from complimenting other girls. It leads Anna to question whether Shuichi truly cares for her. This is a major contributor to Anna and Shuichi’s relationship seems to be on the rockiest ground that it’s been on throughout the series. At the same time, Anna is becoming a rising star at the talent agency, more regularly appearing on TV and becoming busier and more famous in her own right. One cancelled date too many leads Shuichi to ask Anna if they should break up. This blindsides Anna, who promptly meets up with Shuichi outside his house to ascertain what is going on. The two talk through their issues openly, and end their meeting with a tender kiss that leaves both of them blushing. Anna’s need for Shuichi’s love is left fulfilled, and the two appear to have navigated through the rough times in their relationship to a point where they both seem to be content and fulfilled.
Less fortunate is Taiichirou’s quest to love himself. He appears to be having success receiving love from others, with the bond between him and his potential arranged engagement partner building and his family still clearly loving him deeply. However, the crushing pressure of society that was evident throughout last volume has not relented. In the first chapter of this volume, he is so ashamed of wearing women’s clothing that he throws out all of his paraphernalia related to it, most notably the wig that he wears whenever he does so. When co-workers belittle a local man who dresses up in a woman’s sailor’s costume, Taiichirou goes through an internal crisis of identity. Taiichirou believes that if society looks down on the sailor despite acknowledging his singing talent, they would utterly reject Taiichirou, as he believes that he has no redeeming features. This inability to find value in himself shows a clear lack of self-love. Taiichirou is deathly afraid of sharing his love of wearing women’s clothes with anyone other than his daughter, who has promised to keep it as their little secret. Until he can express his true self to his family, co-workers, and even potential lover, Taiichirou will likely continue to wallow in self-loathing. Hopefully he will find the motivation within in the pages of the final volume of “Wandering Son”.
While Anna and Taiichirou both have absences of love in their lives, the character with arguably the biggest void of love in this volume is Makoto. His family is very supportive, with his mother even being sympathetic when he tells her that he wants to be a girl. She even recommends that Makoto begin to wear makeup if he wants to look cuter, or even resort to plastic surgery if that doesn’t work. She loves him dearly, and only wants happiness for her son, whatever that may mean. Despite this, Makoto suffers from an identity crisis similar to Taiichirou’s. He believes himself to be nowhere near as cute as Shuichi (which prompts the mother’s advice on how to be cuter) and therefore unworthy of being a girl. If he can’t be cute, there is no point. His will is most broken when Okay, after spotting Makoto briefly dresses as a girl, later declares that he simply could never picture Makoto as a woman. Makoto constantly puts himself down and declares that he is a failure at being a girl, despite it being his most constantly-expressed wish. Following closely behind this in terms of Makoto’s desires is his string of crushes on boys, all of which are unrequited. Rarely does a volume of “Wandering Son” go by without Makoto falling in love with a classmate, teacher, or person that he meets on the street. This lack of both internal and external love leaves Makoto with a large void within him that the events of the final volume of “Wandering Son” will struggle to fill completely.
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Throughout “Wandering Son”, all of the core cast of characters have searched for love and acceptance in one form or another. In this penultimate volume, the struggles of Anna, Taiichirou, and Makoto have been highlighted. While Anna’s need for Shuichi’s love has been met for now, both Taiichirou and Makoto are still longing to be made complete. Perhaps the final volume of “Wandering Son” will wrap everything up neatly, with everyone left happy and loved. Personally, I think that it’s far more likely and realistic that some characters are left wanting, and it’s simply a matter of who these will be when the final page is read.
As mentioned above, next week will see us discuss the final volume of “Wandering Son”, from chapter 116 to chapter 123. With how enrapturing the series has been, I am both sad to be reaching its conclusion, but also eager to see how it all ends. I hope that you are as eager as I am, and I look forward to talking about “Wandering Son” one last time next Sunday. See you then!
