Manga, Ties and Bonds

The main characters of the story: Rei, the KAWAMOTO sisters… and their cats!

Rei is a 17 year-old who has not yet found his place in the world.

1. See? You don’t have a place to call your own. 2. You don’t belong anywhere in this world, do you?

English Translation: Ajani OLOYE

Shogi is a big part of Rei’s life: he is a young wonder.

The action is set in the Tsukuda and Tsukishima neighborhoods in Tokyo.

Lonely Rei discovers the warmth of family thanks to the KAWAMOTO sisters: here he joins them in the Obon festivities, which honor the spirits of ancestors.

1. Oh. 2. That’s right. 3. This was the same smell. 4. Oh. 5. It’s lit. 6. Hey! 7. Don’t touch it, Momo! 8. It smelled like this all over town. 9. The eggplant horsies?

English Translation: Ajani OLOYE

Rei lost his entire family to a car accident when he was a child: this has profoundly marked his personality.

1. One day, my normal life abruptly came to an end as if it were ripped away from me. 2. When I returned from my school excursion, my dear father, mother, and little sister had become cold, stiff, and mottled masses of flesh.

English Translation: Ajani OLOYE

Constant doubts about himself and his place in the world besiege Rei.

1. How much love did they receive that year—From their friends, from their relatives, from their parents… 2. And how did they love me?

English Translation: Ajani OLOYE

The old, Japanese-style house of the KAWAMOTOS surprises Rei for its warmth.

1. It’s kind of strange. 2. Oh, this string is pretty convenient. 3. How is it that I can sleep so normally here? 4. In the house of a family I only just got to know. 5. Why do I feel so relaxed here? 6. Why did I dream of old memories like that? 7. How is it 8. that this old house…

English Translation: Ajani OLOYE

The bonds Rei develops with the KAWAMOTOS contrast with Tsukuda’s cold riverside.

1. Oh, I see. 2. That house 3. it’s kind of like a heated kotatsu table. 4. When I’m inside it 5. I feel so warm and comfortable 6. that I almost melt. 7. But once I leave 8. it makes me realize 9. that the regular life I thought was fine 10. is actually freezing cold in comparison.

English Translation: Ajani OLOYE

Rei’s relationship with his foster family (a friend of his late father and his daughter) is very cold.

1. A pond… 2. Why do they always pass each other by? 3. My foster sister and father. 4. Why do they do that, 5. when they’re both 6. so reluctant to cut the strings that hold them together?

English Translation: Ajani OLOYE

Rei will have to battle tough opponents in his shogi career.

1. The moment he left, 2. the sky broke open 3. and a heavy rain began to fall. 4. ZSHHHH 5. That’s who Mr. SHIMADA 6. HHH 7. HHH 8. is going to face? 9. Chapter 34 END

English Translation: Ajani OLOYE

Rei and his foster sister have a very complicated relationship in which contradictory feelings of rivalry, admiration, coldness, kindness and jealousy, among others, often enter into play.

1. That’s how it happened for us. 2. For both my sister and I 3. nothing has changed. 4. And as long as we’re unable to change, 5. we continue to be neither siblings 6. nor strangers to each other. 7. I’m so sorry 8. for coming late. 9. Oh, it’s not a problem. 10. Huh? 11. Did you run over here?

English Translation: Ajani OLOYE

Rivalry between the foster brother and sister begins at an early age, when they both start playing shogi.

1. Good luck. 2. TAK 3. Hey… 4. Could you stop being so obvious about trying to score brownie points? 5. It’s our mom, you know? 6. TAK 7. I hate him! 8. He’s just so creepy! 9. He’s like some kind of robot!

English Translation: Ajani OLOYE

Despite Rei's lack of social skills, his bond with KAWAMOTO Hinata keeps growing, especially after they shared with each other traumatic bullying events they both suffered in school.

1. At that moment, 2. she spoke with conviction through her sobs. 3. And seeing that felt like being hit by a bolt of lightning.

English Translation: Ajani OLOYE

Some of the shogi scenes are visually very impactful.

1. Loose Rock Trap!! 2. PWAP 3. But if I take that, he’ll drop a pawn at 4-2, and if I responded by moving a gold general up to 4-2, he’d drop a bishop at 9-7. Even if I moved my rook to 8-9 and promoted it, he would move his bishop to 4-2, promote that, and then crush me. 4. Hmm. 5. In that case, I’ll just move my rook to 8-9 and promote it… 6. I see… 7. Then I’ll go with the Falling Rocks Special!!! 8. KRMBL KRASH

English Translation: Ajani OLOYE