Futari Monologue: Manga or Live-Action?

Futari Monologue, translated Two-Persons Monologue, is a girls’ love web-series manga by Yuu Tsunamino. A story of two girls, Hinata Omimura and Mikage Mikuriya, trying to rekindle the lost friendship they had as kids, but various misunderstandings make things very complicated and often gets the two into hilarious situations. “Manga are comics or graphic novels created in Japan or using the Japanese language and conforming to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century.” “Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation.” as stated by Wikipedia. I’ve chosen to write about Futari Monologue because I found it very interesting that despite its small audience, the fact that they made a live-action before the series was even printed says a lot more to the appeal of this comedy.

Hinata Omimura is an introverted geek girl who is quite docile and usually has negative thoughts about herself. She is described by Mikage to be “the most adorable girl in existence”, though this is most likely her own bias statement. As a child, Hinata was very outgoing and tomboyish, making friends easily and always smiling. Currently, until the series’ raws have been entirely translated, it is unknown as to what changed Hinata greatly, though it is hinted that it has something to do with losing Mikage’s friendship. Mikage Mikuriya is a gal, or gyaru, who tries her best to act cool and impress Hinata, though she comes off as extreme unintentionally. “Gyaru is a Japanese transliteration of the English slang word ‘gal’ used to define a fashion subculture in Japan.” as stated by Wikipedia. She is described by Hinata as a delinquent gal who is very cool and kind, probably another bias statement. As a child, Mikage was introverted and somewhat weird, preferring to play by herself and watch(stalk) Hinata. Her view on losing Hinata’s friendship as kids affected her growing up into becoming more cool and fashionable for Hinata’s sake, thus she became a gyaru.

Comparing chapter one of the manga and episode one of the live-action series gives more insight into who Hinata and Mikage are as characters, as well as gives input into how the other views each other. Hinata and Mikage’s introductions are almost exactly the same when comparing the manga and live-action, but there are a few differences, such as the manga only explaining the entire plot into ten pages, while the live-action gave a more lengthy feel of eighteen minutes(including ending theme). The art of the manga gives a more cartoonish and often cringeful feel with the over exaggerate facial features, while some of this does apply to the live-action, I must give props to the actresses who portray Hinata and Mikage for using that cringe-like feel into extreme facial features. Despite the overall cringe art, not saying that its bad or anything, the story is somewhat typical with the extreme features taking into account making this a very interesting series, even for the yuri genre!

When I finished reading the first chapter of Futari Monologue, I thought, “Dude, this is seriously a weird and freaking cringetasic work!”, and laughed so hard my sides hurt. Although I figured a manga with only four-pages per chapter wouldn’t be that popular, I was honestly shocked when I found out there was a live-action in the works, even the creator was surprised as well. Only a year after the series was created in 2016, was it announced about the production and creation of the live-action series, which was then released in 2017, also around the time the English translations were being released. I’ve watched the first episode of Futari Monologue and found it to be hiliariously cringy to the point of looking away several times because I just couldn’t take the cringe. Not saying it was bad or anything, in fact, I very much enjoyed watching the entire episode from the opening theme to the ending credits. I usually don’t give cringe manga that much credit because I look for either a good story or good artwork, but Futari Monologue was able to meet and dismiss both of those criteria!

In conclusion, Futari Monologue is a very good work for anyone who wants to binge watch the live-action or read through the translated pages. There are a few problems in the fact that neither the live-action nor the manga have been fully translated into English, but I would still recommend others to give it a try. In my personal pursuit of quality girls’ love(yuri) stories and artwork, I have found a simple but very interesting comedic work in Futari Monologue and highly recommend for anyone else that needs a good laugh or loves yuri as much as I do.