This is an adaptation of Marguerite Duras semi autobiographical novel of the same name.

In 1878, as the wave of Western culture spreads through Japan, in Nagasaki, Miyo, a girl orphaned in the Satsuma Rebellion works at a curio shop called Vingt. The dresses, sewing machines, binoculars, boots, and other items acquired at the Paris Exhibition by the proprietor KOURA Momotoshi have aroused her curiosity. Miyo accumulates experience in her job while using clairvoyant ability which she has possessed since she was very young. The story vibrantly depicts a new age that visits a Nagasaki thriving with merchants and prostitutes, centering on Miyo's changes as she begins to experience feelings for Momotoshi akin to the awakening of love, and Momotoshi's past, which gradually comes to light. Based on a... more>> thorough investigation of the history, things are depicted along with the colorful historical background of the period, and interesting facts about antiques that appear in the work are included as mini-columns. In these ways, the author's knowledge is well utilized, enhancing the manga's feeling of reality.

Winner of the 21st Japan Media Arts Excellence Award (2018) and the 24th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. <<less

An anthology of ten short stories, all done in the Nouvelle Manga style. Each story stands alone, the only things linking them all being the... more>> low-key slice-of-life settings and the fact that they all have a female protagonist including a young child facing the break-up of her family and seperation from her friends; a lonely divorcee managing a bar; an elderly art dealer in the process of retiring; a mistress and her lover rehearsing their mutual suicide; an adulterous wife; a teenage girl on the day of her graduation from high school and the author herself (appearing in a couple of autobiographical pieces). <<less