Originally posted Aug. 27, 2009
By REBECCA P.
In volume one we’re introduced to Takuya, Minoru and their father Harumi. We’re introduced to their daily lives not long after the death of Takuya and Minoru’s mother and Harumi’s wife, who struggle to deal with raising Minoru and moving on without her. Aside from the pain of loss, we see different aspects of Takuya’s life (and how much it has changed) as well as the effect Minoru has on all their lives. Japanese culture plays a huge role and we see pressures on the boy’s father to marry as well as how their relationships with others play a role in their lives.
My thoughts
Baby & Me is an interesting title to read. For one, there are very few manga that fall into the genre of raising children and babies (save for series like With the Light). That said, readers will find few if any manga clichés here. Baby & Me tackles serious issues in serious, realistic and fun ways. Following the lives of two boys and their father after the death of their mother creates a hard situation, and one that will be a continuing battle and growing experience.
Baby & Me is a hard manga to classify as to whether or not readers will enjoy it. I personally enjoyed it very much and plan on continuing to read the series. It’s not one I’ll immediately run to the store and get, but it is one I got my money’s worth from and has a high re-readability value. However, Baby & Me doesn’t have an easy target audience, but I felt it was aimed at young to older women (and even a selective audience in that respect) as opposed to a male audience. Yes, it is shojo, but with many titles there usually is some draw to a male audience. However this is not the case with Baby & Me, despite the fact the main characters are all male.
Those interested in Japanese culture will find Baby & Me very enjoyable because it’s filled to the brim with it. The art style is simple and cute, but the characters are very expressive. One thing that really will stick out in Baby & Me volume one is the emotion it creates. Reading along with Takuya’s struggles with his baby brother and occurrences in his young life, I felt angry, happy, sad and at peace alongside him (and though to a lesser extent, the same way with his father, Minoru and some of the other characters). Character-wise, the characters are authentic, very realistic and natural (something many manga lack) and the dialogue is crisp and well written.
All in all, this is an underappreciated series (just in reading volume one) and I do look forward to reading the rest of the series. If you’re looking for a series that’s realistic, cute and not what you’re used to reading in every other shojo, pick up Baby & Me. My only warning is unless you’re interested in babies or children, slice of life and shojo, Baby & Me might not be for you. But, coming from a girl going into education that enjoys more realistic and non-cliché stories, this is a hit.
