I've told this story a couple of times before. It was New Year's eve 2015 when I first discovered Ake no Tobari. I was spending the new years alone and I was pretty bored, so I browsed through some Comico titles. And at the corner of my eye, I saw this cheerful demon smiling at me. Intrigued, I started clicking the first chapter.
The very first scene where this tiny girl asking a tiny demon to play together quickly establishes the theme of the series: coexistence. Then we cut to a bunch of demons picking up a fight with a priest. And then comes the tiny demon from before, now an adult yet still has that childlike innocence. His name is Tobari, a human-loving demon. He asks of his childhood friend, the girl from the very first scene. She had moved away and lived her own life amongst the humans. They parted with a promise to play again, like they used to.
The priest didn't believe him, for demons are hostile against humans, a generally accepted consensus amongst both their kind. Suddenly, a giant demon appeared, trying to attack both the priest and the demon. To prove his innocence, Tobari defended the priest with a swift kick to the giant's face.
The priest then takes Tobari to the house of his childhood friend. The priest told a story of a woman who befriended a demon. The demon wishes for coexistence between humans and demons. And that story inspired him. They arrived to the house. As he rushes towards the house, Tobari asks for the priest's name. His name is Reimei. Tobari opens the door. What he never realized was demons and humans have different lifespan, thus their perception of time is a little warped. What Tobari perceived as a childhood memory, was a lifetime for a human. Tobari sees his beloved childhood friend already on her deathbed.
He takes her hand and grants her an illusion. Suddenly, she was young and healthy again. They played like they promised they would all those years ago. After they are satisfied, they make another promise, to play again once Tobari fulfills his dream: to create a paradise where humans and demons can coexist. A promise that will never be fulfilled, as she drew her final breath at that moment.
He meets the priest again, as they wait for the sunrise. Reimei asks, "What now?" Tobari decides to build his paradise there, at his childhood friend's village. It is going to be along and arduous task. So Tobari asks for Reimei's help to be his partner to fulfil their dreams. As they shook hands, the sun rises, signaling a dawn of what is another dream.
That first chapter captivated me. I was charmed by Tobari's positive attitude and their ambition to create this paradise of coexistence with his partner Reimei. It's the way they support each other that draws me into the series. Tobari by himself is powerful, he can probably create a paradise by himself. But he sometimes gets carried away with his emotions, especially when his more demonic side appears. That's where Reimei comes in. He's there as the perfect foil. He keeps Tobari in check so he doesn't go berserk (also he's a great cook). They trust each other and their ability.
We skip to one year later, New Year's Eve 2016. I have just finished Fudekage and I was tired of translating Kawahara Masatoshi works. Then I looked at Ake no Tobari. The chapters are short and can give me a change of pace to break off the monotone. The original plan was to do Kawahara Masatoshi works while doing Ake no Tobari as a side project. Who would've guessed that Ake no Tobari became my main translation project and I decided to abandon most of Kawahara Masatoshi projects that I have?
I thought that this series could go on forever. And at a time, it was. Look at this current arc, it's been more than 50 chapters yet we're still dealing with Iwao and Tengenro politics. But then the announcement for the final arc came, and I thought, "Well, only 50+chapters left." Looking back, I might be huffing a tube of copium then. And finally, the final chapter arrived. So many congratulation messages on Momochi Dori sensei's twitter. I started reflecting on what Ake no Tobari means to me.
It was thanks to this series, I get to meet so many wonderful people. I made my first internet money by translating this, thanks to Patreon. And I used that money for other projects, which then lead to other thing, and now I am a mediocre Vtuber with a meager 380 subs at the age of 28. Most of my achievements and milestones can be attributed to Ake no Tobari. And I don't think any other series can replicate that feeling. Like I said on my manga 3x3 stream, "This series shape the way I am now. Without this series, there won't be Nanaten."
That being said, Tobari is far from over (cue massive copium). With Ake no Tobari being over, I can see the end of the tunnel of this long and arduous journey. 85 chapters left, that give me what? A full year, give and take? And there's Pocket Comics reader. Haven't checked on the app yet. At what chapter they're at currently? I'll do my best to keep the overseas fandom alive. And another thing: Momochi Dori sensei has gotten permission from Comico to post more Ake no Tobari stuff on their twitter. While sporadically, Momochi Dori sensei will post more Ake no Tobari stuff, such as illustrations and maybe short comics. And who knows, maybe Comico will decide to release physical copies in manga form (massive copium).
Anyway, this is a long post, and I don't think I've wrote everything I wanted to say. I haven't gotten into my stream archive yet. But you can just hop into my youtube channel by then. I did so much stream on my youtube channel lately, I only managed to find time to translate and typesetting last night. Yikes. But I do find it fun. Especially when there's people in the chat.
Speaking of that, I'll be doing another Anime 3x3 stream tonight where I sit down and talk about my favorite anime. This time, I'll be talking about my favorite YAOI series. It's been a long time coming, and I hope to see you there, because some of the stuff I'll be talk about might be spicy.
Anyway, here are the chapters. As usual let me know if you find any mistake or error in the comments below. Next week will be a Corseltel update. Oh, I even forgot to say Happy Indonesian Independence Day!!!
Ake no Tobari Chapter 252:
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Ake no Tobari Chapter 253:
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