Over the years, women's comics have been becoming more and more popular and meaningful. Of the numerous ones available, I found This One Summer by the pair of cousins, Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki, to be highly enjoyable and relatable to it's target audience.
This One Summer follows a young girl named Rose and is told from her perspective. Every summer, Rose and her family go to a cottage in Awago where she spends time with her summer friend Windy and her family. During this particular summer, they begin to explore their new growing interest in boys, as well as the emotional hurdles of both themselves and the adults around them. Most of the adults and teenagers shown are portrayed as sad and "burnt-out" role models.
The biggest issue that seems to persist is the various changes that come with childbirth and how it affects different people, as well how those particular people soon affect others around them. For example, the majority of the book follows Rose's relationship with her mother. Her Mother has recently become quite depressed whenever they visit Awaggo and refuses to even go in the water anymore, which begins to put a strain on the entire family, especially Rose. Despite some misunderstandings, it is later revealed that the mother's depression and refusal to go into the water is due to having a miscarriage the previous Summer. Rose was not told due to how early it was in the pregnancy stage. Rose also deals with pregnancy itself and how it effects people when one of the teenaged locals suddenly gets pregnant, and her boyfriend refuses to do anything. The relationship becomes so bad that it gets to the point that the pregnant girl wishes to commit suicide.
Despite being a guy, I found This One Summer to be very enjoyable. The art alone is amazing and simple, seemingly taking some inspiration from Japanese manga, making it feel very natural and relatable. I felt that it perfectly portrayed how young girls and women really are in life, and I enjoyed how it showed them handling such a difficult topic and their thought process. There is no doubt that pregnancy is a wonderful thing, but it is also one of the most stressful and life changing experiences that anyone could have, especially when one is a young child. This comic perfectly shows this topic from both sides, the side of life and the side of death, and how it effects everyone. Overall, I definitely recommend this piece to any young girl, or any woman for that matter, either just in general or dealing with similar issues. I even feel that guys would enjoy reading this as well, despite being aimed more towards women.
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