comic ageha: "Sayaka. Hostess. 23."

Sayaka Araki is 23 years old, works in a hostess club, and is Koakuma ageha's No. 1 ranked model. This manga, drawn by Momoka Kou (Oujisama to watashi) for the first issue of comic ageha, depicts her Secret Origin.

IN THE BEGINNING...Sayaka was never really meant for small town life. "I thought I was just a normal girl, but maybe I stood out." She had a nice boyfriend and a circle of pals had a thing for brand bags. It was an OK way to pass the time. But still, she gazed off into the horizon. "I wondered what Tokyo was like." After graduation, Sayaka tells her parents she is going to move to the big city and attend nail school there.

Soon after arriving in Tokyo, Sayaka goes down the rabbit hole. She gets harassed by one of those scout guys working the street and has her designer handbag stolen by someone wearing a baseball hat and a hoodie. From this point on, there is no more mention of ever going to nail school...

Instead, she breaks up with her old boyfriend and starts to feel bored. That's when one of her friends suggests working as a hostess in a Kabakura. "I think you'd be good at. You're not that busy now and you'd make lots of money."

"At first, I didn't feel right about it. It was like entering a different world." Her new boss tells Sayaka, "Why don't you call yourself Riko while you work here? Here is your personal assistant." His name is Yamashita, and he's gorgeous! "Let's work hard together!"

Although it takes Sayaka/Riko a while to master mixing cocktails, "Little by little, I tried my best. Every day I was busy and made new friends." Her boss tells her she's in the running for the coveted Number One spot at the club. "Even though I wasn't at the top yet, I finally felt some kind of fulfillment doing mizu shobai work."

Then one night in Kabuki-cho, Sayaka has her bag stolen by someone wearing a baseball hat and a hoodie *again*. But this time she bravely fights back and her assailant winds up getting arrested. The street people say, "Wow, you're so strong! You could have gotten stabbed!" and Sayaka knows she's leveled-up. "That was the moment I realized that to live and survive here, I have to be strong and protect myself."

"After drifting from store to store in Kabuki-cho with the name Riona, I took a break. I ended up working in Roppongi. Finally, I started seeing something new that I never saw before." A Wise Old Customer tells her, "It seems like you’ve been enjoying your job recently. It’s been fun to come here to see you."

It may not be on par with the climax of Watchmen, or even the Infinity Gauntlet, but it will have to do: "So many different people come here and I get to see into so many different worlds. This job is so fun! From this day on, I’m going to continue to wear a dress."

THE END

Comments

[Gen Kanai]

This comic is basically read only by other people in the kyabakura industry, right?

Clennell's documentary paints quite a different picture.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493420/

[Marxy]

Multiple purses getting stolen? I am naive to think that this doesn't happen much in Tokyo.

[Patrick Macias]

Since both purses appear to have be brazenly snatched in Kabuki-cho, we can safely assume that a Japanese person would not be responsible.

[名無し]

Maybe she had some limited edition Yamato model sticking out of the top of her Gucci tote.

(Although I guess that would only explain the theft if the 犯人 was Patrick or a member of his crew)

Do you have scans? I'd like to take a look at it if you have a link handy.

[Minami no Teiou]

That's funny.. "a different world" indeed. In Osaka it took me a while to understand why 'straight' Japanese people would start to look uncomfortable when I would unwittingly mention that most of my female friends/ex-girlfriends were hostesses or kyaba-jo. It too me a bit to realize the sort of 'stigma' that goes along with 'mizushoubai.'

Re: The Great Happiness Space, I actually knew Isseikun while in Osaka. He is exactly in person how he appears in the flick. One time I asked him if he sexes his customers - he was like "If I feel like it." What a life.

[Logan]

Wow...pure gold.

What do you think, is this to boost the morality of working girls everywhere or paint a fantastic life for those thinking of making the plunge?

That last line at the end is officially the required High School Yearbook quote for every child I ever father.

[Patrick Macias]

It's really hard to figure out exactly what ageha's real agenda is. They play their cards so close to the vest...Do they want to bring people in, or make themselves feel better about where they are, or both? I really don't know. As for people who are inside of that world now, or have already passed through it, everyone seems to have had a radically different experience that can only be speculated at by outsiders. That seems like such a "no duh" thing to say until you realize that the real story here isn't just about hot girls, magazines, or manga, but actual human beings who have to commodify themselves in the most literal sense to make money and earn a living.

[Minami no Teiou]

As an American, my initial gut reaction when first exposed to the Japanese female experience was a sort of pity for these girls, especially for mizushoubai girls, and their seemingly hopeless and limited role in society there.

After getting closer in however, I began to notice just how deftly Japanese females actually play Japanese men, and I don't even mean just hostesses. They, the women, have basically accepted the limits placed on them, e.g. in most office settings, etc., and in turn work around it, through other facets of society.

Once a hostess eventually snags a rich dashing salaryman or shachou into marrying her and giving her a few kids (if that's what she's gunning for), I've found them to be much happier in general than the typical American female who strains to find her 'soul-mate' , only then to spend the rest of her marriage disappointed that reality isn't like one big romantic comedy.

[cvn]

Hi does anybody have more scans of this manga?
I really would like to see it
please e-mail me at chobits_girl12@hotmail.com if you have scans

[Patrick Macias]

I'll trade you for chobits scans.