Author's Notes

"Okay," you're saying, "what's Kim up to this time?" (I'm assuming that you must know me in some capacity. Possibly we're related.)

To make a long story somewhat shorter, my husband and I discovered a delightful and slightly baked teen romance tv series, much like Dawson's Creek or Felicity. This one, however, is slightly different in that it:

A. comes from Japan.
B. is a cartoon.

Now, some people might find this a bit odd. But in Japan, a fair amount of the content on television and in movies is animated, and it's not just limited to children's and teen shows. Animation, or anime as it's known in Japan, works well as a meduim for many reasons. In the case of Marmalade Boy (yes, that's the romances's name) you don't have to worry about actors quitting, or the teen heartthrob going through an awkward stage.

Marmalade Boy (note: this paragraph contains spoilers for the TV series), the TV series, starts when the two main charecters' parents (all four of them) meet on a cruise, fall in love with each other's mates, and decide to exchange partners (each divorce their spouse and then remarry). Furthermore, it's decided that rather than split the childern between parents, they will all rent a single house and live in it together. As I said, the premise is slightly warped. Eventually, it's revealed that the parents actually knew each other in college and that through a major misunderstanding ended up marrying the individuals who they were not truly in love with. (This all is explained better in the TV series)

Tangled Skein is based off the brief explanation given in the television story and tells the story of the four parents when they were in college. It should be easy to read even if you have no knowledge of the TV series. As I have never attended Japanese college or lived in Japan, I'm likely to get some things wrong, but have you ever seen a romance which didn't?

As a final note, in Japanese culture, individuals write their family name before their given name. Also, your familiarity with a person determines what you call them. Most people call each other by their family name. Only close friends and family call each other by their given names. In addition, certain suffixes are used to show familiarity.

-san Formal
-kun Less formal (can be used with either first or last names)
-chan A very cute derivative, often used for and by children
-sempai Means upperclassman

Here's the name of the four main charecters (and I will also have relationship charts in each of the chapters)

Koshikawa Jin (male)
Matsuura Youji (male)
Namuki Chiyako (female)
Yamashita Rumi (female)

Enjoy and email me at kim@smuga-otto.com if you have questions, comments, etc.