She arranges a rendezvous with an elderly man in a hotel, who pores over her body while explaining his connoisseurship of superfluous flesh. Her pain and feelings of want are temporary, and if she can just push past them, she’ll obtain happiness. Her manga Happy Mania was made into a television series in 1998, followed by Hataraki Man in October 2007.

One day Noko channels her obsession with weight in a new way and beings to convince herself that all her problems will go away if she loses weight and becomes attractive. Flipping over to the Goodreads' description:" From the pen of Moyoco Anno comes a stunning tale of self-image and self-loathing.Previously, we’ve seen the dark comedy of a woman looking for happiness in Happy Mania, the magical kids of Sugar Sugar Rune, and the savage comments on beauty and popularity of Flowers and Bees. And while I do think this book is anti diet culture and does not set out to endorse bulimia it doesn't feel like own voices or the portrayal of a genuine experience.

They end up being caricatures, even if she does insert interesting motives and/or details to their lives. Unfortunately, Noko’s extreme circumstances twist the message into “losing weight is not a be-all, end-all to your solutions especially when your coworker is a sadistic monster and your boyfriend is an insecure jackass who doesn’t actually love you”. We shouldn’t expect that Moyoco Anno will change the world with this small graphic novel, but we might as well hope. In this scene, the difference between Noko and her female colleagues is severe in Anno’s hands: while her “normal” (thin, pretty) coworkers are drawn as Anno’s signature wide-eyed waifs, Noko is both inflated and flattened at once, as abstracted as the Michelin man.While not protecting Noko from the harm she is doing herself, or encourage or condoning the girls character, Anno lets her live her life. A story that wonderfully depicts the emotions of an overweight woman with low self-esteem surrounded within the harsh environment of slim and good-looking women. For the most part, these themes have been endlessly explored in media, and Anno doesn’t really stray from the beaten path, but sometimes she’ll hit a subtle note of insight that elevates this manga above other similar works. Anno delves into the experience and mystery of Japan’s cultural fascination with beauty through the unsparing episodes the readers get from Noko’s life. Mayuri's bullying becomes an obsession for her, as every psychotic thing Mayuri makes is done to spite Noko.

Noko is very relatable, especially as someone living as what is consider ‘plus sized’ in Japan and those struggles. Noko, in this regard, is a typical Japanese woman in her early 20s, save one factor: she is overweight.

I’m not certain of the intricacies of Japanese culture and how measured their reaction to an obese woman would be, but while the American reaction (probably) wouldn’t be outright bullying outside the cesspit interactions of YouTube and online forums, her measure as a woman would certainly be underlined and calcified by her weight. Size determines the ways in which women are perceived to the extreme: because Noko occupies too much space she must be sloppy, she must be the cause of mistakes at work, without question. I have no idea if this was in translation or not, this is the first story I've read by Moyoco Anno and I will definitely be checking out more. Even without that realization this book felt like a real game changer in my reading because I don't think I had ever heard of Josei before.