Content warning: talk of suicide, depression, homophobia, sexism, xenophobia, racism.
A sophisticated, beautiful and intricately-written-and-drawn historical fiction yuri manga, set in England in 1900.
'Goodbye, My Rose Garden' (how I love these yuri and yaoi titles) is a story of forbidden love between Hanako Kujo, a young Japanese woman who has just moved to England to follow her dream of meeting a famous novelist and becoming a novelist herself, and Lady Alice Douglas, a noblewoman who appears charming and well put together, but is in actuality severely depressed to the point of planning her own suicide.
This is brought on by living in a society that won't accept her for who she is; that views her as a sin and a disease. For Alice, being herself, loving whoever she loves, is not only shameful and disgraceful for a woman in her position, it is dangerous. She and her family could wind up dead, one way or another.
She has another secret as well, which society will scorn and criticise her for, but that's a major spoiler, not to be disclosed carelessly here.
Hanako, Alice's new maid whom she had picked up outside of a publishing house, fervently believes that love should be free. She is a woman ahead of her time, and for one who is surviving purely on luck in a foreign country in 1900, I think she is remarkably brave, underneath her naïve and flustered demeanour. She is boldly determined, no matter her goals.
You know where this is going, and it would be evil of me to give away any more information about these two great, revolutionary women, and their relationship with one another. Experience their struggles, their hardships and their loves through reading the volume yourself.
(Although, admittedly, Hanako and Alice's worlds-apart class and power division is only slowly deconstructed in the first volume.)
'Goodbye, My Rose Garden, Vol. 1' is also a love letter to bibliophiles. It loves libraries, bookshops, writing, and the experience of reading books that make you happy; that make you momentarily forget about the world and the present. Or not, as every reader is different. There are references to Oscar Wilde (very significant), and other authors.
It goes without saying that the manga is well researched. Sexism and homophobia are explored more than xenophobia and racism, but each issue is touched on suitably in relation to the story being told (religion? The English monarchy? They're blips on the radar at this point). It is as authentic as it is delightfully drawn. The range of character expressions, for example, is astounding.
There is a darkness to the manga's gracefulness, and an intriguing mystery that is interconnected to the main LBGTQ relationship. It's there to heighten the dynamic substance, to keep readers coming back.
'Goodbye, My Rose Garden, Vol. 1' - it is rosy, all right. The "black spots" only make it even more enticing. Nothing and no one can be perfect, after all.
Here's to another awesome recently published yuri manga that's checked off my list.
Final Score: 4.5/5
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