Comic Spotlight - And Another Lovely Day
Now, at last, time for something different on the blog, shifting focus from video games to the realm of comics! This is a comic I only learned about and began reading recently, but I've quickly grown to eagerly await every update.
And Another Lovely Day by Leehama is a slice-of-life comic that follows the lives of Nora Chesnut and Elliot Lam, two high school teachers who happen to be aromantic-asexual and co-workers with each other, as they navigate the everyday experiences of their lives, often entangled with the numerous lively people and humorous interpersonal situations around them. The comic is self-described by the creator as a "(non) rom-com", which I think is a perfect way to explain the tone of the comic, often comedic but at other times landing on slightly more dramatic story beats (but so far nothing way too heavy for my tastes). Leehama's art is also simply delightful, illustrated in full colour with a clean yet expressive style of line art. The comic also features a fun extended cast of characters, with clear and thoughtful effort put into weaving in a natural diversity of gender, sexual orientation, and race into the world that Nora and Elliot inhabit. I appreciate that this diversity is simply the fabric of the characters' everyday reality, rather than any particular exception, token, or spectacle. In other words, it's no big deal! This is just a comic about everyday people living their lives. But in the context of aromantic-asexual experiences and needing more good storytelling about them, it is a big deal and part of why I appreciate the comic so much!
What I love about this comic is that it is specifically a story about aromantic-asexual adults navigating their daily lives, showing the peaks and valleys along the way as they figure it all out. (In fact, the comic reminds me a lot of what is probably my favourite and one of the very few other media explicitly about aroace experiences, the J-drama TV series "Koisenu Futari"). As an asexual lady myself, I do appreciate whenever I catch wind of aromantic-asexual experiences being represented in media, but I find that many of them focus on coming-of-age or coming out narratives. I'm glad those stories exist, particularly for youth or people earlier on in their figuring-out-my-identity journeys, because we've certainly all been there when it comes to trying to figure out who we even are! But for those of us who have already gotten to that point, sometimes it feels a little like, "okay, now what?!" I find myself craving stories for when you already know who you are with certainty, but there aren't exactly a lot of examples for how to navigate continuing to be the kind of person that you are in this world. I guess in a way, that's what we all want: stories that simply affirm our existence.