When a Character Disappointingly Changes: Akihito in Finder

On Votaries, I write about how a specific set of illustrations can form the audience's view of a character. I also write about feeling betrayed by an author re: changing a character. 

Both issues express my reaction to the later volumes of Finder by Ayano Yamane. 

Finder was one of the first yaoi series I began reading. It's Rider Haggard meets BDSM and, for the first few volumes, mucho fun. A total fantasy! The characters, Asame and Akihito, were quite distinct. Asame is the manga-version of a yakuza (see Dangerous Convenience Store for a more bittersweet take) while Akihito is the reporter/everyman who becomes his lover. 

Up through Volume 8, I was along for the ride. I'm less enthusiastic now.

First, the plot kind of went off the rails, leading, currently, to an amnesia plot. In truth, I once came up with an amnesia plot of my own for the series. I'm not too fond of the current version because what I wanted to see was Akihito returned to his regular life with Asami watching him from the shadows. Would Akihito still find his way back to Asami, despite his "hey, I'm just a normal guy who takes risks" photographer shenanigans? 

That's not what is happening. Instead, it is international villains and bombings and Stockholm Syndrome or something, blah blah blah. 

That is, Akihito is no longer that touchstone for everyday life. He's Mr. Victim or Mr. To-Be-Rescued.

Volume 9

Around the same time, Akihito suddenly got MUCH younger in appearance (and not in a funny chibi way). 

Now, I'm not one who criticizes manga series with child-looking adult heroes. Such illustrations are a form, a language. They have their own purpose.

Volume 6

But one thing I liked about Akihito, as well as his snark and his everyman morality, was his rangy, twenty-something build and face. 

Asami is in his early thirties (I believe that within the universe of Finder, they are both now about a year older than when the series started). The age-gap was wide-enough. Akihito didn't need to look any younger. 

I wonder if I'm the only one to complain--in the latest volume (which, yes, I purchased; I'm just no longer "collecting" the series), the color insert provides the older version of Akihito. 

Again, it isn't the underlying politics or social implications that bother me. It is that Akihito was a certain way, and I liked him that way. 

Now--he isn't Akihito anymore. Not as much, anyway. (There's a separate post here about when characters undergo necessary change through growth--which I will address at a later time.)