Tramps Like Us, Volume 5

The title Tramps Like Us could refer to the fact that the main character, Sumire - a girl in her late twenties, offers to take in a homeless young man for a night as a gesture of goodwill ... but I prefer to think it refers to the characters's quest to find their place in the world. All the characters in this series are "homeless" as they are looking for their place to belong, whether it be at work or in a relationship. Normally in stories featuring a twenty-something girl, like Bridget Jones, the main character deals with problems such as looking slim and trying to cope with work. However Yayoi bravely gives us a main character who is so attractive she resembles a model, is highly educated, and, apart from a few hiccups, has a successful career. Yayoi shows us the inner thoughts of this "perfect" woman, who is actually very insecure and lonely. She has to cope with her workmates misinterpreting her shyness with being an a cold hearted [...]. Women dislike her because she is so goodlooking, while men feel threatened by her high education, tallness, and career success. After being dumped by her boyfriend, when he makes his secret girl-friend pregnant, she makes a vow never to date anyone who is shorter than her, makes less money, or is not as qualified as she is. One night she finds a young man living homeless outside her house. After letting him stay one night and, in a bid to make him leave and as a joke, she offers him the chance to live in her flat as long as he agrees to be her "pet." And to her surprise, he agrees! Sumire names him Momo, the same name as her childhood dog, and treats him exactly as she would a dog. She gives him a home, feeds him, and tells him her problems. As she does not think of him as a "man" she is completely at ease to be herself and does not feel the need to pretend to be "perfect" as she does with the men she dates. However, because she thinks of him as a pet, she does not think of the possibility of a relationship with him. Before she realises it, he becomes her confident and her emotional support. Problems arise when she meets up with her first boyfriend/crush, the goodlooking, successful, and really nice guy Hasumi. Her relationship with him in college ended prematurely in college and they both see this as a second chance. However she cannot admit to Hasumi that she keeps a young man as a pet. Yayoi gives us three dimensional, very human characters. Both Hasumi and Momo, while being completely different in looks and personality, are both sweet, attractive and considerate. Sumire is also very likeable. She is only truly comfortable in jogging bottoms, smoking, playing playstation games, or watching trashy tv. These are her secret vices that only her best-friend and Momo can see. It is a welcome change to read a romance with older characters, from the normal high school stories, and Yayoi delivers honest believable three dimensional characters, attractive art, and a very addictive romantic (and often funny

I was hooked on this series halfway through volume one. The sheer depth of the characters is astounding. Despite the title and the basic plot, this is NOT a trashy story about a beautiful, dominant woman and an equally beautiful young man whom she keeps as a pet. It covers an amazing variety of issues--loneliness and the basic need for companionship, love and infatuation, the impact of being betrayed, and the difficulty of being a strong, well-educated, successful career woman in a world that is still not entirely receptive to independent women. Although Sumire keeping Momo as a pet may initially sound weird and sketchy, nothing objectionable takes place between them. For Sumire, because Momo is her pet, that means that she doesn't have to put up a front of being strong and perfect around him, as she does with everyone else in her life, including her boyfriend. For Momo, who has a dependent, somewhat stray-cat personality, it means that he can stay with someone who needs him without ever feeling trapped. The characters of this story are really wonderful. Another good quality is that it is very often extremely funny. It has an incredible variety of moods to it. I'm already six volumes in and the story has yet to feel stale. Although there isn't tons of action, but there's always more to find out about the characters--the plot is more about peeling back the layers of their personalities than about external events. As a side note, the art is just lovely.

I've been trying not to judge any manga by it's cover, because I find I am almost always pleasantly surprised. Tramps Like Us was the same. I was waiting for my boyfriend in the local book store, and I wanted something to keep me busy, so I grabbed it on a whim. The cover and the name had always turned me off for some reason. It seemed a little trashy, and the art style was different than what I was used to. Tramps Like Us opens with the lead girl meeting up with her ex boyfriend. It's obvious that they just broke up, and she's giving all kinds of inner monolouges- like, "I'll never let anyone see my cry..." or the like. And she is really strong and rude to the guy. Which is deserved, he had been cheating on her, and got the girl pregnant, so it's understandable she's bitter. You learn that she's been demoted at work because, she has no friends, and everyone is gossiping about her love life. So at the end of a terrible day she is walking home and she finds an adorable boy in an alley in a dumpster. At that point, I was hooked. For some reason she allows him to stay, on the condition he be like a pet. She even names him Momo (the name of her now dead dog). Momo is a crazy character. He reminds me a lot of Shuichi from Gravitation. So maybe it will get cliched from here on out, and he'll rejuvenate her, and make her a better person- but the road will be fun, and I can't wait to read it. Tramps Like Us is incredibly fun and a unique addition to shojo manga.

Love the book, but others have reviewed it better than I could. Just a quick comment: this is not a shoujo manga, it is a josei manga. Shoujo means girl, and shoujo manga is aimed at pre-adult girls. Josei means young woman, and josei manga is aimed at college age and young professional women.

I bought this book at first because I was intrigued by its title. I'm glad that I bought it & I was not disappointed by this manga! I think older teens or young adults could relate to "Tramps like us". It is about a woman named Sumire who is smart, beautiful, educated & has a high paying salary. She sound perfect, any woman would love to be like Sumire. The problem is that she is "too" smart, too educated & has a higher salary than her boyfriend that her boyfriend cheated on her & she got demoted from her job. Sumire crosses path with a young, homeless guy & she decides to take him in. Somehow this homeless guy, runaway guy knows how to heal her disappointment in life, read her feelings, understands her like no one else does...so Sumire decides to adopt him & treat him like a pet, she even names him Momo. Momo brightens Sumire's life. That was how Sumire & Momo embark on their relationship----a relationship across platonic & a pet & its owner. Sumire feeds, bathe, & give Momo a home. In return Momo gives Sumire friendship, amusement, company & comfort. This manga is a romantic comedy, each chapter shows how Momo & Sumire's relationship develop, people's misunderstandings of Momo,etc. Momo is deffinitely an interesting, off beat character that makes the manga interesting. What's great about this manga is that it also has a serious side as Sumire tries to understand herself as a woman, her growth as a person & in her career. Sumire struggles through out the book trying to somehow fit in & being accepted despite the fact that she is better than her peers. Then there's also Momo who has a mysterious, unknown past that Sumire doesn't know much other than his talent in dancing. Overall,"Tramps like us" is a more sophisticated shoujo, well rounded in plot, each character has more depth & complex dimension, realistic, yet funny & entertaining. A Great read!