The Heart of Thomas

In the 1970s, shojo manga was flooding the nation of Japan. Not only that, a new genre began springing up: shounen-ai, or boys' love. This is arguably one of the first and most well known shounen-ai manga, published in 1974, but it didn't reach this side of the Atlantic until 2013, more than forty whole years after it sprung forth into this world. It was inspired by a French film the author, Moto Hagio, saw, and found it to be the inspiration she needed to create this manga. Publishing it was quite a hurdle, but she managed to get it done, even though shojo mangaback then were mostly aimed at elementary school girls. However, according to the introduction at the end of the English edition, an audience outside of the target demographic--namely, older men--began devouring the story (sound familiar, bronies?) and telling people about it, passing it down from generation to generation. I finally found it in a library and decided to see what it was like. Unfortunately, however, I don't have the same nostalgia or fondness for it as other people do, and there are things about the manga that really confuse me, but this definitely doesn't mean I don't like it. The story starts with a boy committing suicide by throwing himself off a bridge. The boy is Thomas Werner, a popular student at a well known all-boys school in Germany. News gets around, and the only one who seemingly isn't bothered by the news is Juli, a boy who is also popular in school for his intelligence and calm demeanor, even though he's not well liked among his family for having dark hair from his Greek father. However, there's more to Thomas and Juli than meets the eye: Thomas was in love with Juli, but Juli rejected him quite harshly. Thinking his suicide is a means to get back at him, Juli doesn't want to be controlled by his death and wants to forget the whole thing...but then he meets a transfer student, Erich, who is nearly the spitting image of Thomas, but unlike Thomas, who was gentle, sweet, and kind, Erich is loud, audacious, and has a short temper. Erich is sick of everybody thinking he's Thomas, and Juli really wants Erich out of his life forever. But love isn't something that can be tamed. The art is extremely lush and very old school and shojo-y, so it might turn some people off. I thought the old school style looked nice and charming, and I normally don't discriminate when it comes to the era in which something is from, but I found the character designs for the child characters to be a little too thin and spindly, kind of like what CLAMP has been doing with Kobato and Tsubasa Chronicle. But the manga itself uses a lot of religious and angel imagery relating to the issues at hand in the story, and I thought they fit really well, especially considering the subject matter and the overall themes of the story. The characters are a bit meh. Juli is the cold, stone faced kid who has a dark past and learns to trust people, Erich is the hot blooded, loud kid, Thomas is the completely perfect mary sue character who is liked by everyone even after death, etc. There's only three volumes to this series, so we only get to learn about four main characters and their relations to various people. I do like that their flaws move the story forward and round the characters a bit more, but I really didn't feel much for them. Not only that, I thought Thomas was pretty much a big Mary Sue. Everybody worships the kid like he's God, he's beautiful, smart, quiet, friendly, is in love with the most unapproachable guy in school, and even after death, nobody stops talking about him. But then again, I think this might be intentional in regards to all the religious imagery in the manga. But even with that in mind, they could have made Thomas a bit more flawed. Well, the good thing is, at least the characters were interesting and actually developed somewhat. But one thing I found really odd was that at first, Juli and Erich absolutely hate each other, then out of bloody nowhere they suddenly like each other. I won't say much for the sake of spoilers, but I thought this transition was way too sudden. Plus, I didn't understand Juli's back story regarding a man he hates. But I definitely liked it when Erich boldly and publicly yelled at Juli's grandmother for talking bad about Juli to his mother. The story is relatively simple, but has a lot of complex layers underneath it, like Oskar's past, Erich's unhealthy love for his mother (which seriously turned me off), Juli's past, Ante's machinations, and the impact Thomas's death has on everyone around him. Everyone has secrets to hide, and eventually all of those secrets are revealed. I will admit, some parts of the story were a bit forced and melodramatic to me, like the whole fiasco of Erich resembling Thomas even though it's been explicitly stated that his hair and eyes are different from Thomas. The romances between some boys didn't bother me too much. I just wish they were a bit more gradual and subtle, and more built on mutual interest than hate turns into love in an instant. I definitely respect the manga as a historical piece and a groundbreaking work of its time, and I like it, but some parts of the manga could be improved upon. Not the best seventies manga in the world, but it definitely deserves a read if you're into shounen-ai, seventies shoujo art style, (No, there's NO X-rated stuff in it! Don't worry!) and a relatively decent story.

The standout feature of this manga is how beautiful and doll-like the art is. The characters look so fragile as though the world itself could crush them in an instant, which is fitting for the tragedies they have to endure. The story is like a slice of school life, but the bandaids are being ripped off to expose everyone's traumas. As the characters battle with Thomas' death, a shadow that hangs over the school long after his body is put to rest, the Catholic guilt that their school instills in them takes hold and the readers are subjected to much religious discussion as a result.This is where your mileage may vary. The chapters are long and, as such, the pace feels like a steady crawl at times, but the mystery surrounding Juli's inner turmoil is gripping enough that it is possible to binge all 8 chapters in one or two sittings. The reveal is somehow both expected (if you are paying attention) and wildly outlandish, which does seem to be the staple of old BL manga of the era. Also typical of the era, the characters all possess a fun variety of spunk that makes them entertaining to watch and maybe even root for. They can be melodramatic at times, but the ambience they create is emotionally gripping enough to propel readers through the story to find out if there really can be a happy ending waiting for them at the end. Truly, I don't think this is a story that can be so easily forgotten. Just be prepared for heavy discussions surrounding death, queer existence, Catholicism and Catholic morals, family (particularly parent-child relationships), and violence.

Heart of Thomas is one of two manga that could be considered the first BL manga ever published (depending on how you count). Unlike most early BL, Heart of Thomas is actually good. Sorry, that's mean. I love this genre and all of its history. What I mean, however, is that the BL genre was born from women's desire to explore topics and experiences through an outside lens. As a woman, I understand. However, I also believe this often leads to storytelling that is tacky at best and poor at worst. That being said, bad storytelling is certainly not an inevitable conclusion from this writing philosophy,and Heart of Thomas proves that. It's difficult to explain the genius of Heart of Thomas without spoiling it, but by God am I going to try. Heart of Thomas is set at an all boys school—the perfect explanation for why these male characters might have such intimate relationships, as situational sexual behavior is a real phenomenon. What's interesting about this is that the original plan was to set it at an all girls school. BL tends to feel like reskinned female characters, but with Heart of Thomas the ground for that accusation is much firmer. Despite that, the story does well justifying why it was about boys. What Heart of Thomas excels at is instilling a sense of dread in the audience. As you read, it becomes increasingly clear that something really bad happened before the events of the story—something that colors the atmosphere of the school and influences the way everyone acts. You have no idea what it is, but it can be felt severely on every page. The story opens with a suicide—always a strong start—and the way the story keeps you hooked is by slowly unraveling all of the events that led up to that point and the emotional turmoil all of the characters are feeling that both caused it and result from it. Yes, something very bad happened before the events of the manga, and it is something that happened because it takes place at an all boys school. However, the fact that something bad has happened is only one half of what keeps you reading. The other half is seeing what the characters are going to do from there. Heart of Thomas is a story about the intimate relationships between young men. It is not a story about romance. These characters feel so strongly for each other—feelings of love and affection so severe it may feel as though there is no point left in living—and it changes them. Sometimes these feelings result in irreparable pain, yes, but even more importantly, they change you for the better. Heart of Thomas is not about romance. Heart of Thomas is about love. It is about the pain, anguish, and shame love can cause. However, even more so than that it is about how love is what will heal that. Heart of Thomas is about how love is the most necessary thing in the world. The manga drives this point home by putting a bunch of quotes by famous artists about the importance of love at final back cover but even if it didn't, it would still be obvious. And that's the beauty of the story. Juli Bayard chose to love and something very bad happened as a result—something that filled him with an all-consuming sense of self-loathing and shame, something that led him to reject a love he thought he didn't deserve, something that caused him to lose his faith. Homosexual acts are a sin. This is something you cannot interpret out of the Bible, no matter how hard you try. But despite that, it is the love of Thomas, the love of Erich, the love of Oskar, that help put him back on path to God. That might be controversial, but I can only find it to be extremely beautiful. His faith is symbolic, more than anything, and it makes its point well. Love, spirituality—both things that fulfill you on a fundamental level. The most important kind of love, however, is the love you have for yourself. Juli did not think that was possible. However, because he knew the love of other people, he was eventually able to find it again, and that was how he rediscovered God. And that, sometimes, is where the story should end. Sometimes that is what someone needs more than anything else. All of the things that happened still happened. The love was there and it still is there. It's what brought you to this place of peace. And this is all without mentioning everything else about the story—the way every other character finds their peace, from Erich reconciling his relationship to his mother and the outside world to Oskar making peace with his familial situation. In the end, it is love that brings them all to where they need to be. Make no mistake, Heart of Thomas is precisely the essence of the Boys' Love genre. It is about the love between young men through a female lens, exploring "feminine" ideas and themes from an outside perspective by reskinning women with he/him pronouns. However, that is very much a feature of the genre and not a bug. It's easy to do wrong, but when done right, it carries a certain sensitivity and nuance that is immensely meaningful and profound.