Iguana Girl (Daughter of Iguana, Iguana no Musume, イグアナの娘), 1991, Hagio, Moto, Petit Flower

STORY: 6

Meet a handful of people, going on with their own situations and trying to understand each others. Iguana Girl is a collection of five short stories with slices of life and a topping of surrealism. Nothing epic, just some adequate feelings.

ART: 6

A fine art from an author that was already quite experienced at that time.

POLITICAL POTENTIAL: 6

Characters are trying to overcome their problems within the short time of each story. They have some empathy and are not too self-centered, lovely.

FEMINISM: 7

Get ready: one story focuses on a middle-aged woman with compassion. Another story depicts a painful mother-daughter relation, but the abuser is not just depicted as a villain. A third story has a boy who suffers, and, instead of turning to cynicism and desires of revenge, like so many characters, he tries to express his emotions in order to heal!
There’s even the ‘young boy and girl alone in the room’ situation, and, it’s not turning into that manga trope where the boy looses control and assault the girl! 🥳

CONCLUSION: 6

A nice, heart-warming, short read that is deeper than you expect.