Mother's Song

Frontispiece with Misuzu.

**Mother's Song** ( お母さんの歌 ) is a full-lengh kashihon story by Fujio Akatsuka. It was released through Wakaki Shobo on November 25, 1958.

## Overview

A young girl named Misuzu lives a happy life with her family, but becomes concerned with how her older brother Ryohei has been hanging around bad company and becoming cruel.

At Ryohei's claim that Misuzu's parents aren't her real ones, she becomes distraught and decides to travel to Niigata to find her supposed birth parents, but learns a lesson about true bonds.

Misuzu's design could be seen in a smaller, prototypical form in the one-shot of *Sacchan* released earlier in the year. However, both she and Ryohei would be recycled as the siblings in the one-shot *Mimi and Iko-chan*, and Ryohei (plus Papa, and the Imagawa Shop owner and kids) would later be used as a cast member in Happy-chan.

A prototype to Yo-chan (of Matsuge-chan) can be seen as a nameless friend of Misuzu as well, and a brief minor character named Marbo would appear to be a prototypical take on some later mischievous younger brother type characters by Akatsuka. Caricatures of Osamu Tezuka and Shotaro Ishimori also appear in the one-shot.

## Characters

### Misuzu Yamada

(山田みすず)

Our protagonist, in search of answers about her brother's behavior and what might be the truth of her own past. She becomes secretly distrustful of her parents, and receives a letter one day from a couple in Niigata that gives her a clue of where she should head to find her "real family".

To the horror of her family and friends, they learn she's immediately boarded a train to Niigata. However, after spending time there and realizing she doesn't fit in with the family she assumed was hers, she returns home and the situation with Ryohei is resolved.

### Ryohei Yamada

(山田良平)

Misuzu's adult-aged elder brother, often seen with two suspicious friends named Yowai-kun and Noga-kun. Due to their influence, he takes up frequent bar-hopping as well as smoking indoors at home, and gets into fights with other men.

After being released from the town jail for getting into another fight, his rage peaks and he angrily storms out of the house after another lecture. At Misuzu's attempt to get him to come back inside, he spitefully declares to her that she's not even really a child of their family.

### Misuzu and Ryohei's Parents

A salaryman and housewife who head up the family. They attempt to lecture Ryohei and get increasingly concerned about his ways, but there is little they can do. The father in particular is enraged to learn the specifics of why Ryohei was jailed for fighting

### Ito-chan

(イトちゃん)

One of Misuzu's friends, seen briefly in the early portions alongside her sister. She plays much less of a notable role, other than Misuzu to meet up with her or learn more news at to what's going on.

### Kyouko

(京子)

Ito-chan's older sister, who has a crush on Ryohei. She is horrified to learn that Ryohei spends his time getting drunk and irresponsibly partying, however.

### Imagawa Shop Owner

A middle-aged man who owns a restaurant. His young son and daughter often distract him with their fighting, leading to chaos.

### Yaeko Mori

(森やえ子)

A small girl that Misuzu encounters while in Niigata. She turns out to be the younger sister of a "Misuzu", leading to her to believe that Yaeko is part of her real family.

### Misuzu Mori ("The Other Misuzu")

(森美鈴)

Yaeko's older sister, whose name is spelled in kanji on the opening pages to differentiate from "our" Misuzu (though in-story, her name is also spelled in hiragana). After seeing that this sister exists, our protagonist becomes baffled.

### The Mori Couple

A couple that Misuzu initially believes to be her parents, only to find out that they already have a daughter named Misuzu living with them. Seeing the close bonds they have with her daughters and that she doesn't fit in, she realizes that whatever the case, her real family is the one she grew up with.

The mother, Aiko, is shown to think deeply of Ryohei, and it is revealed that he was actually adopted from this couple by Misuzu's parents.

### Noga and Yowai

Two co-worker friends of Ryohei. Noga is the taller, slimmer man with pointy features and freckles, while Yowai is a short, stout man with a heart-shaped nose.

They aren't a particularly great influence on Ryohei, with encouraging him to get drunk and party and neglect his other duties.

## Chapters

1. "**Red Shoes**" (あかいくつ)
2. "**Regarding Friends**" (ともだちのこと)
3. "**Bad Friends**" (悪友)
4. "**Unexpected! Unexpected!**" (意外! 意外!)
5. "**Misuzu Goes to Niigata**" (みすず新潟へ)
6. "**Misuzu's Happiness**" (みすずのしあわせ)