Mind Distance

Author: Hashiba Rinta
Imprint: Hanaoto Comics
Publisher: Honbunsha

Reviewed by Lynda

Mind Distance is a story about two doctors, Matsuyama and Yanasegawa, and Matsuyama's guardian spirit. Yanasegawa is a resident at his father's hospital and destined to inherit it someday. He's described by the children at the hospital as scary and angry, and by the nurses as humorless, disagreeable, and unapproachable. Pretty much no one likes him, though they all agree he's good at what he does and works hard. Matsuyama is a pediatrician from Hokkaido and plans to return there someday to open a clinic. As the story opens, Matsuyama imposes on Yanasegawa, moving in to his apartment and taking over household chores and cooking in exchange for living space, placing demands on him at the hospital, and generally being a cheerful, bossy, interfering roommate.

The patients in Mind Distance exist to further the character development of Yanasegawa and Matsuyama. One patient shares her hopes and dreams with Yanasegawa, causing him to reflect on his own hopes and dreams. Another one is a little boy, who allows Hashiba to illustrate the caliber of Matsuyama work and personality. This boy is one of those outgoing kids who will happily talk to anyone and everyone. The boy develops an interest in Yanasegawa, much to Yanasegawa's discomfort, describing him as the doctor that looks like 'this' and making a face. (See the image on the right.) The boy is the catalyst for a lot of funny moments in the story at Yanasegawa's expense.

Matsuyama and his patient both have an interest in constellations and stars, and share that with an unwilling Yanasegawa. Matsuyama's favorte star is Sirius, the dog star, and it's companion white dwarf. Matsuyama likens the white dwarf to a guardian spirit, invisible but always there by Sirius' side. Little does he know he has his own guardian spirit. Yanasegawa's opinion, as always, is that it's all pointless drivel and he's getting back to work.

Itabashi and Professor Akatsuka form an interesting pair. They clearly have a relationship that goes beyond professional, and right from the start it's clear that Itabashi is up to no good. Itabashi is also the only source of sex in the story, both graphically and verbally, and none of it's friendly. The other doctors in the story are primarily background characters.

Both Yanasegawa and Matsuyama have a multiple layers of personality that make them interesting. Yanasegawa is crabby and humorless and all his interactions with other characters demonstrate that. Matsuyama is bossy, friendly, and sympathetic. When they act otherwise, it's for reasons that make logical sense for their characters. On the other hand, it would have been nice to see more character development for both Itabashi and the professor. While both their characters make sense within the context of the story, their motivations seem too pat in contrast to the main characters.

Mind Distance is a relatively early title (1997) for Hashiba Rinta as can be seen by the somewhat uneven artwork. The characters are standardly skinny with pencil hips, but once in a while they are normally proportioned, which means they look short and stubby in comparison, and on rare occasions, limbs are drawn too thin making them look spindly. The other thing that catches the eye is an occasional action scene that looks like a static pose rather than reflecting movement. The image below is an example of an action scene that looks oddly static.

In spite of the above problems, when the character designs are good, they are really good. Character designs and proportions are attractive, poses and positions show are both expressive and forward the story, and the mini and child characters are lively and spirited. The introductory image to this review is from the color plate included in the bound volume and the images below from the side story show how good the character designs can be.

Unlike BL authors who make expressive use of white space, Hashiba Rinta provides reasonably detailed backgrounds for a great many panels. The backgrounds are primarily of the hospital and other buildings and are relevant to the story. The story and backgrounds do not, however, illustrate detailed medical procedures at a level that a knowledgeable reader might catch errors in. Hashiba also illustrates the constellations in the night sky in a recognizable fashion.

Mind Distance is unusual in that the side story isn't related to the main story but uses the same characters. Another title that does this extensively is Koori no Mamono no Monogatari. In the case of the Mind Distance side story, Matsuyama is the host of a nature show and the topic of the show is wild Yanasegawa foxes and their natural habitats. The side story features what I consider some of the most appealing character designs in the book.

Mind Distance is one of those titles that stands up well to repeated reading. The characters and depth of emotion are engaging, the dialog sensible, and the characters personalities and their changes are clearly laid out in progression. The story itself follows a logical path, has a happy, feel good ending, and should be a reasonable picture read. I look forward to getting my hands on later titles by Hashiba Rinta.

Characters
Yanasegawa Takao - resident doctor and heir to the Yanasegawa Hospital
Matsumoto You - pediatrician from Hokkaido
Yorii Kaname - doctor, friend of Matsumoto
Itabashi Hijiri - doctor, recently returned from a research stint abroad
Akatsuka - doctor, professor at Yanasegawa Hospital