Translucent: Can You See Right Through Her? Volume 1
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July 25, 2007
by: James Jursudakul
A unique take on the romantic-comedy / drama with a focus on the adversity faced by adolsecents in their middle school years.
Manga Description: Eight grader Shizuka Shiroyama is an introverted girl, dealing with school woes, bossy peers, and a medical condition--the mysterious Translucent Syndrome--which causes her to periodically turn semi-transparent or completely invisible. One classmate, the hyperactive Mamoru Tadami, is falling for Shizuka despite her problem, and his dogged determination and unconditional support brings hope into her life. As Shizuka struggles to overcome her difficulties, her illness becomes a metaphor in the ordinary lives of her classmate and friends, as they try to work their way through life and relationships.
Teen-centric, quirky, and romantic, Translucent will appeal to shojo fans who like a little twist with their schoolyard drama! Writer and artist Okamoto knows how important surfaces are to people, especially at such a pivotal time in one’s life--when dreams are meant to be chased, despite all hurdles.
This collection is translated into English but oriented in a right-to-left reading format, as originally published.
Manga Review
Content: (This section may contain spoilers.)
Translucent: Can You See Right Through Her? by Kazuhiro Okamoto is a unique take of the romantic comedy / drama genre. The story focuses on Shizuka Shiroyama, a meek and timid, eight grade adolescent girl. Shizuka is the kind of girl who doesn’t stand out in a crowd; in fact, at times she can’t be seen no matter how hard one may try to look for her. She has “Translucent Syndrome,” a medical condition without a known cause nor cure in which parts or all of her body intermittently turn translucent or even invisible. But it is not merely the Translucent Syndrome that makes this manga standout. Translucent doesn’t just feature a mere story about a boy who tries to court some girl with a unique illness and throws in some occasional bits of comedy; rather, it features a focus on the immense pressures that society places upon Shizuka, as well as other students her age: namely the expectations from one’s elders and peers that have been formed by preconceived notions mainly based on one’s appearances -- that is to say, one‘s image. It tells of Shizuka and her peers during a time when they may be conflicted in doing what they want to do because they don't want to distort their outward appearance or fail to live up to expectations. In Shizuka’s case, she is “a translucent girl” in both the literal and metaphorical sense; her body is translucent but even if she wasn’t she’d still be hard to notice -- she doesn’t do anything that would have her stand out. Translucent: Can You See Right Through Her? follows the story of this young, translucent girl and her encounters with love, society’s pressure, and self-discovery, and it does so with just the right medley of drama, romance, and comedy.
The story starts off with Mamoru Tadami, Shizuka’s anomalous classmate, telling Shizuka how cool her translucent arms are. Unlike many other hero characters in the romantic-comedy genre, Tadami is a character who is upfront with his feelings. He loves plastic models so he’ll play with it, such as with an airplane one, even making the “vrunn!” sounds, as well as various other sound effects -- all while in class. He also comes up with some weird and silly games sometimes such as pretending his leg is a machine gun while in class or pretending that the center of gravity has shifted so he’s falling sideways. . . And this character - Tadami, who seems to have no concern for his outward appearance to society, has fallen for Shizuka, and he doesn’t try to hide it. Later on, Shizuka gets a bit down because she can’t use foundation to keep her translucent parts visible, and since she’s in the drama club, should she become invisible when she has to perform a play, the club would have no choice but to use a replacement actor in her stead. Tadami goes out of his way and spends an entire night trying to come up with a foundation color that resembles a woman’s skin color so Shizuka wouldn’t have to worry. And though it’s effective, Shizuka soon becomes wholly transparent and then stops attending school. Shizuka feels as if she won’t be remembered and has already been forgotten; however, when Tadami shows up in front of Shizuka’s door and confronts her, she is able to regain her visibility after a touching exchange of dialogue between the two -- which also serves as Shizuka’s first step into confirming that there are people that care, support, and will remember her, even if her body was to ever disappear completely.
The second chapter introduces Okouchi-san, a fellow classmate of Shizuka and Tadami’s. Okouchi is pretty, smart, athletic, and seemingly perfect in everyway. She even comes from a wealthy family and has a fan club group that follows her around! But because she is well-known for her qualities and affluent heritage, the adults and her peers expect the utmost out of her at all times, but all she desires to be is a normal girl without any extra attention. She desires it so much that she wants to catch Translucent Syndrome and beseeches Shizuka for help in doing so. And though she can’t get it from Shizuka because it’s not a contagious illness, Okouchi is desperate enough to ease the expectations on her that she’ll seek other means to do so. . . The rest of the manga further explores the difficulties Shizuka faces with her illness and the problems it causes for her in not only living a normal life, but also in heading down the path of life that she desires.
Translucent was definitely a great read for me; I liked the well-defined characters and the good balance of humor and drama. The oddball character Tadami is quite interesting -- everything he does is in earnest with sincerity -- and because of that he is quite a refreshing lead character in this genre. And though Tadami’s feelings and intentions may be well conveyed, he is anything but translucent -- he’s such an anomaly that it’s hard to tell what he will do next, much less what he‘s thinking. Yet by the end of just the first chapter it’s already clear what Tadami wants most: to make Shizuka happy. And the things he does for her, as well as the support he provides is quite heart-warming, such as searching all over the city for her while she's invisible to ensure she might not have been harmed. And sometimes it's. . .funny, such as introducing Shizuka to plastic model airplanes and pretending to fly them around like a child. Similarly, Okouchi also becomes quite a likable character later on in this volume, and becomes a strong support character for both Tadami and Shizuka. As for Shizuka, she doesn’t start as an appealing heroine character. She lacks the good qualities of a strong lead-heroine and is filled with diffidence. But she also has the most character development throughout this first volume, and the author does a great job of gradually depicting how the supporting characters, especially Tadami, instill her with confidence in place of her diffidence -- thereby making her a stronger and more appealing character by the volume’s end.
 Click on the image for more examples of Translucent's art, courtesy of Dark Horse Manga.
Translucent © 2005 Kazuhiro Okamoto / Media Factory. All rights reserved.
Art: The art in Translucent isn’t all impressive, but it gets the job done. The characters are simply designed with but a few small details present in their appearance. Some folds can be noticed in the clothing of the characters here and there, but the overall details are quite minimal. Though what the author does effectively well is the use of a varied grey scale to depict Shizuka’s Translucent Syndrome -- it gives her a sort of ghostly look at times and it's interesting to see clothes and various apparels being worn / handled by a translucent or sometimes invisible girl. Backgrounds aren’t incredibly detailed, but they do look good, especially the various building structures, and are present in a fair amount of panels throughout the volume.
Translation: (Translucent: Can You See Right Through Her? Volume 1 is presented in a right-to-left format and contains/retains the use of: Japanese honorifics w/o the inclusion of an honorific explanation page, and the original Japanese sound-effects w/ small translations of the effects placed nearby.)
Dark Horse has done a great job on the translation of Translucent, although it is not without some few small oversights / errors: the “ji” sound effect on page 6 is left untranslated, page 21 contains two untranslated signs, page 70 similarly contains an untranslated sign, page 182 has a grammatical error with the use of “my” instead of “me” in the sentence, “gave my the ok,” and there is also an untranslated sign on page 183. Everything else is well-presented and easy to read. Bold text is used at times to indicate emphasis in some words in the dialogue and a more stylistic text is used to indicate screams during the more emotional dialogues. There are no translation notes included; instead, Dark Horse has opted to include small explanations and, on occasion, translations of the signs outside the panel frames ( but also on the same page) to not obstruct the artwork or clutter up the panels.
Extras include: six Omake One-Page Bonus Manga evenly divided and placed in-between chapters, a map of the city where the manga takes place - Nantara, a page that tells about the author - Kazuhiro Okamoto, and a one-page bonus manga promoting the next volume of Translucent. The extras are a welcome, especially the funny omake manga, and they definitely add value to the package.
The Bottom Line: Translucent: Can You See Right Through Her? is a funny and at the same time heart-warming take on the complexities adolescents face while on their sojourn to discovering themselves and trying to figure which path their life should take. The characters are quite likable and you may even find yourself sympathizing and cheering them on as they tackle the adversities brought on to them. This is a title fans of the romantic-comedy / drama genre should seek out.
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Content |
An enjoyable take on the romantic-comedy / drama genre with likable characters and a focus on the adversity they face as adolescents. |
8.5 |
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Art |
Characters designs are simple without much details. The backgrounds look nice but they're nothing impressive. The art gets the job done but doesn't venture far beyond that. |
7.0 |
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Translation |
A great job by Dark Horse, though there are some few errors / typos present. |
9.0 |
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Verdict
Fans of the genre will enjoy it. Pick this up!
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8.5
[not an average]
+ A good blend of drama, romance, and comedy.
+ Has a cast of likable and unique characters.
+ Great character development.
- The art isn't all too impressive.
- Some few errors / typos.
- The wait until the next volume.
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