Just So Happens

Accomplished British (and Japanese expat) artist, writer, and animator Obata makes his American debut. Yumiko is a Japanese-born graphic designer now living a perfectly normal life in London. When her father passes away she suddenly returns to Japan and becomes an observer, and then a participant, in the highly structured rituals she’d left behind. While trying to navigate the cultural divide she now embodies, the memory of a long-ago Noh performance haunts her, relentlessly confusing her ability to make sense of her place in the world. By book’s end, she’s come to terms with her relationship with her father and the Noh player’s symbolism, but a meeting with her mother changes her attitude yet again. Delicate lines and vivid watercolors create bold and flowing scenes, as well as a slow, ethereal Japanese summer. The ending feels like it could use a little more, but this book can easily be appreciated by anyone torn between two cultures or fans of the late Satoshi Kon’s (Paprika) works. (Mar.)