Shiroi Heya no Futari

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Shiroi Heya no Futari
Shiroi00 cover1.jpg
Cover of the 1975 compiled volume featuring Shiroi Heya no Futari and two other one-shots
白い部屋のふたり
GenreRomance, tragedy, yuri
Manga
Written byRyoko Yamagishi
Published byShueisha
ImprintRibon Mascot Comics
MagazineRibon Comic
DemographicShōjo
Published1971
Volumes1
Wikipe-tan face.svg Anime and manga portal

Shiroi Heya no Futari (Japanese: 白い部屋のふたり, lit. "Our White Room"[1] or "The Couple in the White Room"[2]) is a Japanese one-shot manga written and illustrated by Ryoko Yamagishi. Published in the February 1971 issue of Ribon Comic, it is considered to be the first yuri (female-female romance) manga. The story follows the relationship between Resine and Simone, two students at an all-girls Catholic boarding school in France.

Plot[]

The orphaned Resine decides, against her aunt's wishes, to attend the same Catholic boarding school as her mother. She finds it difficult to fit herself into the life of the school. Resine must also share a room with Simone, the beautiful and rebellious daughter of a famous actress. Simone does not make Resine feel welcome, and Simone takes advantage of every chance she gets to cause trouble. Simone goes out late with boys, copies Resine's homework, and teases Resine every time she cries. In spite of everything, the two girls become closer, although Resine cannot name the feeling.

The school puts on a production of Romeo and Juliet; Simone is quickly chosen to be Romeo, whilst Resine is chosen to be Juliet. Resine expresses some worry about having to kiss Simone, but she is told that she can pretend to kiss Simone. On stage, however, their kiss is "passionate – and real".[3] After the play, Resine and Simone go into the woods and kiss again. However, a girl who missed out on the role of Romeo saw them, and she begins to spread malicious gossip about the pair.

Resine tries to distance herself from Simone because of the gossip, and Simone tries to comfort her. First she tells Resine to ignore the gossip. Resine finds that impossible. Later, Simone takes Resine out on the town to find her a boyfriend. Resine throws her energies into dating her new boyfriend, and Simone becomes depressed. Simone and Resine have an argument. Resine runs away, going back to her aunt's house, and becomes sick. Some months later, after recovering, Resine learns that Simone died. She returns to the school to find out that Simone incited one of her boyfriends to kill her. Resine swears to keep on living, forever loveless and alone.

Release[]

Shiroi Heya no Futari was written and illustrated by Ryoko Yamagishi. It was first published in the February 1971 issue of Shueisha's shōjo (girls') manga magazine Ribon Comic, a spin-off of Ribon.[4] Shueisha collected the one-shot (along with two other short stories) into a compiled volume of the same name, published under the Ribon Mascot Comics imprint on September 10, 1973.[5] Hakusensha reprinted the volume under the Hana to Yume Comics imprint on August 10, 1975.[6] Kadokawa Shoten included Shiori Heya no Futari in volume 28 of their series of Yamagishi's complete works, published under the Asuka Comics Special imprint on March 4, 1988.[7][8]

Reception[]

Shiroi Heya no Futari is considered to be the first manga of the yuri (female-female romance) genre, portraying a lesbian relationship.[1][2][9] Manga scholar Yukari Fujimoto believes it influenced works by Machiko Satonaka, Riyoko Ikeda, and Yukari Ichijo, becoming "prototypical" of a common yuri story in the 1970s and 1980s which Fujimoto dubs "Crimson Rose and Candy". Here, "Candy" is a femme character who admires "Rose", a more butch character. The attachment between Candy and Rose becomes the subject of rumors or even blackmail, even while Candy and Rose grow to acknowledge their relationship as being romantic. Rose dies "almost without fail" in order to protect Candy from scandal. James Welker regards these stories to contain elements of "lesbian panic". Welker presents Frederik Schodt's view that melodramatic endings were "common" in "early shōjo manga", but also presents Fujimoto's suggestion that "patriarchal forces" were responsible for the tragic ending of the "Crimson Rose and Candy" stories.[10]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Brown, Rebecca (August 8, 2005). "An Introduction to Yuri Manga and Anime". AfterEllen. Archived from the original on July 19, 2012. Retrieved March 26, 2010. The very first manga involving a lesbian relationship was Yamagishi Ryohko's 1971 manga Shiroi Heya no Futari (Our White Room), which introduced a young girl named Resine who lives at a boarding school, and shares a room with 'bad girl' Simone. The girls hit it off, and become romantically involved, in a storyline much like Susan Swan's Lost and Delirious.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Bauman, Nicki (February 12, 2020). "Yuri is for Everyone: An analysis of yuri demographics and readership". Anime Feminist. Retrieved September 1, 2020. In the 1970s, the first yuri manga emerged, again targeted at young women and written by women. Some featured female-female relationships and attraction as a central element, such as Yamagishi Ryoko's Shiroi Heya no Futari (The Couple in the White Room), the first yuri manga.
  3. ^ Friedman, Erica (June 3, 2004). "Yuri Manga: Shiroi Heya no Futari (Review)". Okazu. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  4. ^ りぼんコミック 3(2). NDL Online (in Japanese). National Diet Library. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  5. ^ 白い部屋のふたり（りぼんマスコットコミックス）. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  6. ^ 白い部屋のふたり（花とゆめコミックス）. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  7. ^ レフトアンドライト 28. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  8. ^ レフトアンドライト 山岸涼子全集 28. Kadokawa (in Japanese). Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  9. ^ Fujimoto, Yukari (2014). Translated by Lucy Fraser. "Where Is My Place in the World?: Early Shōjo Manga Portrayals of Lesbianism". Mechademia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 9: 25–42. doi:10.1353/mec.2014.0007. S2CID 122076678. The earliest and most famous shōjo manga work portraying lesbians is Yamagishi Ryōko's Shiroi heya no futari (1971, The two of the white room).
  10. ^ Welker, James (2006). "Drawing Out Lesbians: Blurred Representations of Lesbian Desire in Shōjo Manga". In Chandra, Subhash (ed.). Lesbian Voices: Canada and the World: Theory, Literature, Cinema. New Delhi: Allied Publishers. pp. 156–184. ISBN 81-8424-075-9.

External links[]

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