Hitorimi Desu 60-sai Lesbian Single Seikatsu (ひとりみです: 60歳レズビアンノシングルセイカツ). is the newest project from Morishima Akiko-sensei. This chapter-by-chapter series looks at the lives of senior lesbians who are single.
Chapter 1 begins with Imamura Miyuki, celebrating her 60th birthday. She’s known she was a lesbian since she was young, and has had lovers, but at this point in her life, she is alone. She’s not unhappy about it, definitely the positives outweigh the negatives. When her sister has her over her parents’ to clean up a few boxes, going through them reminds Miyuki of her dear friend, a girl she now considers to be her first girlfriend. She finds something that connected them, and starts to read a book from Renon.
In Chapter 2 we meet Renon. She is 59 years old. Life threw her a curveball when a year ago, on the day she planned on her big gay bar debut in Shinjuku she was struck by a truck and injured. She uses a wheelchair to get around, mostly, is a little ambulatory, but her life is less thrilling than she hoped. Renon lives with her elderly mother and appears to have few hobbies except going out and eating cake. Upon returning from meeting an old friend who is getting married, Renon realizes that she had fallen for that friend thinks about how realizing that she had fallen for her friend changed her life, for good and bad.
This chapter starts on a hard edge. Renon is not a very happy person and we can see that she has given up to some extent. Having had her hopeful gay days taken out of her plans, she just kind of…stopped.
In Chapter 3, we learn more about Miyuki and Renon’s realationship. Renon receives that loaned book back from Miyuki, only 43 years late. Upon reliving her childhood memories of how they met, Renon finds the energy to write her old friend and invite her out. It is clear they were close friends, and felt deep affection for one another. When they meet up at last, they talk of the old days, but when the new days come up, the conversation lags. Maybe they don’t have anything to say anymore? Then the conversation starts up again – they both agree that each other was their first girlfriend….which crosses the hurdle of coming out to each other. The conversation comes more freely now and Renon pours her heart out.
They part, agreeing to see each other again. Miyuki wanders off thinking about the future for the first time in a while and Renon finds the motivation to return to physical therapy. Maybe this reunion will spark something new for both of them.
As our favorite manga artists are ageing up (most of my fave artists are around my age – I have been following many of them for 20+ years now), it is not surprising to find that stories of older women are hitting harder for them, and me. ^_^ In her notes. Morishima-sensei says that she was wanting to write about lesbians who were single and also older lesbians, so this series came out from those desires.
Morishima-sensei is self publishing these chapters through Blic’s Cross Folio label. Blic is the same printer used by Galette Works. All three chapters are available on Amazon JP Kindle, Bookwalker JP and Amazon in English where you can get Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 in English as THE SINGLE LIFE: The single lives of 60-year-old lesbians.
Ratings:
Art- 9
Story – 9
Character – 9
Service – 0
LGBTQ – 9
Overall – 9
I hope she keeps working on these chapters. I love her art and the characters. She’s got a really solid grip on how people actually think. It’s always motivating for me to read her work. I definitely hope you’ll all take a look at this short story by an amazing storyteller and artist.
