In Clothes Called Fat

Product Information

Understanding cultural context when consuming media created in other countries is a concept I’ve really learned to keep in mind in the past few years.

Their god, Yahweh, disallowed physical representation of deity (we even see this carried forth into the Islamic antipathy toward the visual expression of Moses, Jesus, Mohammed—and really, any of their prophets). As with several other of Vertical’s recent josei manga releases, this is for adults only, given the drawings of naked women used to drive home the subject. Noko finds relief from the pain of the endless hate spewed at her by her coworkers due to her size in Saito, despite his refusal to progress their relationship outside of a few routine visits within the walls of her apartment. I couldn’t help but compare it to Okazaki’s Helter Skelter as that deals with plastic surgery addiction and touches on similar themes. The subject matter, the darkness of human nature, and even the composition of scenes are reminiscent of her former employer–and yet very much all her own.It made sense for a culture to have a god different from that of a neighbouring culture—after all, if you wished to war with and then absorb a neighbour, it didn’t make much sense to pray to a god you both worshipped and/or served. It has clear influences from a great women’s manga creator, but also it’s obvious that Anno learned a lot and built on that knowledge, particularly when it comes to constructing the main character. While the art style is fairly consistent with Anno's later works, it lacks some of the polish she brought to those same works. Noko is introduced as a compulsive over-eater with a thankless office job and an unappreciative boyfriend of nine years named Saito. Noko, the main character, loses weight, but she never does stand up for herself or learn to see beyond her body as a source of happiness.

I don’t read josei very often – which perhaps should change – but I discovered Okazaki Kyoko in college, and was completely into her short work, “River’s Edge”. There was something distinct about it, that it was both something from the near past (mid-2000’s) and modern. To Noko, being 5 pounds overweight means being miles away from happiness in her love life and in her work-place. If Anno was trying to have a meta-message in her manga regarding social standards, it’s difficult to understand with how inconsistent the story is at portraying this message. For the most part, we follow an overweight girl, Noko Hanazawa, who is the constant target of workplace bullying and social ostracization.The first two weeks of July were insanely busy for manga fans—and publishers, and the press—with Anime Expo and Comic-Con International hitting back-to-back. At the end of the book, the sexual objectification and judgment are still there, but it has almost become resignation. Even the paneling is uncomfortably close at time, scrutinizing the cast just as much as the writing does.

As art the Mona Lisa is inherently an objectification—though not one we readily recognize as being harmful.Despite growing up being scrutinized for her weight, Noko learned to brush off the harsh comments, and uses food as a means of comforting herself from stress. This is her defiance in the face of a society that demands she limit her desires to keeping herself desirable; these are ultimately also the most satisfying scenes in the book.

Anno’s art is richer and more detailed than Okazaki’s, giving it a more polished look while still capturing the free spirit captured in the “sketch-like” style.The book revolves wholly around how the principal identity of a woman is founded in her attractiveness.