{"id":1905,"date":"2014-12-22T20:36:24","date_gmt":"2014-12-22T12:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/?p=1905"},"modified":"2014-12-21T06:55:26","modified_gmt":"2014-12-20T22:55:26","slug":"36-in-clothes-called-fat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2014\/12\/22\/36-in-clothes-called-fat\/","title":{"rendered":"36. In Clothes Called Fat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Anno,<\/a><\/p>\n

It was a big mistake to read In Clothes Called Fat<\/em> on the train home. I was excited to read the book. I knew exactly what the book was going to talk about and I wanted to see how Moyoco Anno would pull off this fragile title about women and their body issues.<\/p>\n

To be honest, I wanted it to fail. How could someone like Moyoco Anno understand what big women go through? When the entirety of Japan is going through a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153forgiving\u00e2\u20ac\u009d chubby trend, I honestly didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel that Moyoco Anno, the blessedly beautiful and sexy Moyoco Anno, would ever understand how obese people think and feel. To a degree, I was the spiteful plus-sized woman who thought Moyoco Anno would treat this like one of those \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fantastic\u00e2\u20ac\u009d cases that was too out of this world that it would make a good story for manga. In the end, my spitefulness left me in tears. I had forgotten that Moyoco Anno was a woman and she is not privy to matters that we women go through. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brutal honesty In Clothes Called Fat<\/em>. I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ready to see that in a manga.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Untitled\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In Clothes <\/em>Called Fat<\/em> is the story of Noko and her life on the brink of falling apart. Things haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been going well at work. Nor are things going well with her boyfriend of eight years either when she discovers he was cheating on her with one of her officemates. When things outside of her \u00e2\u20ac\u0153control\u00e2\u20ac\u009d falls apart, she finds comfort in the only thing that was always there: food. As things piled up on her, so did her consumption and her waistline. Eventually, her carelessness got the worst of her as she finally gets affected by all the things said about her and her weight. Afterwards, she started caring, making efforts to lose some weight. Towards the end, she cared too much that it left her asking \u00e2\u20ac\u0153was it worth it?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\"Untitled\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to encapsulate In Clothes Called Fat<\/em> as a story that captures current social issues that surround women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s body image and their mental health. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like Helter Skelter where it shows you the dark side of women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s image issues, particularly obesity and people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reactions toward it. However, unlike Okazaki, Anno leaves no moment for discernment. Instead, she immerses you in the brutal reality of people who treat fat people like trash and the emotional turmoil a fat person goes through as she makes an effort to make herself happy. Nothing about is glamorous or dreamy and she shows no illusion of perfection or beauty. I am not sure if there’s a likelihood of having a shitty yet beautiful workmate like Mayumi and a shitty boyfriend like Saito in your life. They’re too unreal in mine but some friends have admitted to meeting Mayumis and Saitos in their lives.<\/p>\n

\"Untitled\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There are moments in Noko\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s struggles that I truly sympathise and understand what she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going through. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a fucking shitty day, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m gonna eat something. Nothing satisfies but me food so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll stuff my misery with something good. Fuck, nothing\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s working in my life as I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m too heavy to move and too bloated to think, well, what the fuck, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to eat.<\/p>\n

I get it, Noko. I totally do.<\/p>\n

\"Untitled\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I think my younger self will never understand Noko’s misery, but now, I find a friend in Noko. In fact, Noko\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s struggle immediately connected to me when she described her fat like a leotard of flesh. Something so close and tight that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like second skin. Anno\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s depiction of Noko\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s changing body was brutal and unforgiving. To a degree, as she continues to sink in her sorrows, I realise how much her fat has become her armour and in fear of breaking apart, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s taken measures to protect herself. And I get that. How often have I taken comfort and confidence in my fat as if it was one that identifies who I am.<\/p>\n

Of course, I realise this was not the healthiest solution. Unfortunately, Noko doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t realise this. Not even with her diet.<\/p>\n

In Clothes Called Fat<\/em> does tackle the darker world of obesity and even pushes itself to capture the complexity of an eating disorder. Nothing of it was healthy nor were there people in place to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153save\u00e2\u20ac\u009d her. Everyone was just out there for their own selfish reasons. Even Noko\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s existence rides on her own selfishness, which looks like a coping mechanism to survive her difficult life. In seeing Noko, I remember my weakest moments and my hardest times. And for a moment I wonder if I had a disorder and if my life now is actually a measure of how I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m coping.<\/p>\n

I read and re-read In Clothes Called Fat<\/em> often in reflection of my own life and my own struggles. It has left me bothered and pensive. For once, a josei manga actually caught a fraction of my life. Whoever said women’s manga was all about fantastic escapes? In Clothes Called Fat<\/em> tried, yet no fantasy could save Noko from her reality. I wonder if I managed to escape mine.<\/p>\n

Series Information<\/h3>\n

In Clothes Called Fat by Moyoco Anno
\nSerialized in Shufu to Seikatsusha
\nPublished by Shodensha (JP) and Vertical (ENG)
\nBuy in Amazon<\/a> and Bookdepository<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I knew exactly what the book was going to talk about and I wanted to see how Moyoco Anno would pull off this fragile title about women and their body issues. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brutal honesty In Clothes Called Fat. I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ready to see that in a manga.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Not the cheeriest of holiday reads, but Anno's In Clothes Called Fat has left me quite pensive this season.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[344,473,545,80],"class_list":["post-1905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-moyoco-anno","tag-josei","tag-shodensha","tag-vertical"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p26e5y-uJ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1686,"url":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2014\/02\/26\/the-silence-on-josei-manga\/","url_meta":{"origin":1905,"position":0},"title":"The Silence on Josei Manga","author":"khursten","date":"February 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"So Ed Chavez posted a really interesting question on twitter the other day. 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Honestly, even if he said that it isn't a retelling, scenes from the movie can be easily pinpointed to scenes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1905"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1906,"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1905\/revisions\/1906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}