Hafu. That’s Japanese for anyone who’s half-Japanese. It can either have an “exotic” or negative connotation depending on the person and situation. It’s not pleasant being a hafu in Japanese. Christine Mari experienced this reality and shared her experience in her comic “Halfway There: A Graphic Memoir of Self Discovery.”
Christine Mari is half-American, and half-Japanese. She moved to the US from Japan when she was five and has been called mixed race or half by everyone growing up. It got to the point where she felt like she didn’t belong in the US but in Japan. So she decided to move to Japan when she became an adult, thinking she’d fit in. What she got was similar treatment as in the US.
Many mixed-race people face this problem. They feel like they don’t belong to either race and feel like outsiders, even to their relatives. Mari does a fine job of showing certain events in Japan where, even though she’s half-Japanese, she’s viewed as an outsider. It also doesn’t help that she speaks beginner Japanese (her parents never talked to her in Japanese.) Mari also does a great job of showing us her slowly descending into depression as her time in Tokyo goes on.
What’s surprising is that her time in Tokyo could’ve been much worse. It probably was but she decided not to show that. In either case, some people would say she had it easy and got depressed too easily. This is one of those if you never lived it you’d never understand instances.
The artwork is mainly in purple, black and white. We do get red whenever it is necessary. Mari is talented in that she can portray how a character is feeling and bring a scene to life. While the backgrounds are minimalist that isn’t that big a deal since the main focus is Mari and her interactions with people.
“Halfway There” is a fine memoir comic about one’s experience living in Japan as a hafu with some nice art. Some people will not understand the struggle Mari had to endure and may have a negative view of her because of that but in all the comic brings its point across well.
Categories: Comics
Tags: Christine Mari, comics, halfway there
Sanrock Reviews 