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Roaming is a graphic novel by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki, chronicling the adventures of three college students in New York City during spring break.

What I liked:

• I have never been to New York and it was a lot of fun touring the city vicariously through the eyes of the characters in Roaming.
• The soft and fluid lines of the drawings, as well as the subdued palette, made the visual experience of this book an extremely comforting and oddly nostalgic one, even though I have little in common with the people and places depicted. At the same time, shifts in mood were instantly evident, bringing an emotional immediacy to scenes where tensions ran high. I was reminded of R. Kikuo Johnson’s work. It would be fascinating to read a nikkei-authored scholarly comparison of his work with that of the Tamaki cousins.
• Although I can’t say I know any nikkei, young or otherwise, who are similar to Zoe, I hope the representation of her personality, behavior, and dreams on the page provide encouragement and support to any nikkei in need of someone to say, “this is another way to be nikkei and it’s ok, it’s just as good as any other way.” It’s somewhat surreal to see such a body of nikkei-authored, young adult/new adult literature featuring nikkei MCs popping up in the last several years, when there were very few options just a decade ago. I’m glad the nikkei youth of today have access to these options if they are looking for them.

What I learned:

• If indeed this story is a faithful representation of being a first-time tourist in New York, I think it cemented my determination to only ever visit New York if I already know someone there who can show me around.

Questions I had:

• I’m curious about the romanization of Zoe’s name. Kitigawa, specifically “Kiti” and even more specifically “ti” is not a sound typically expressed in Japanese except when pronouncing a non-Japanese word. I suspect “Kitigawa” is some version of the name Kitagawa. Is this a Canadian variant? A mistake by an immigration official? Or a choice made by the family themselves? I’ve heard some interesting stories about how immigrants choose to write their names in English, a phenomenon that is not exclusive to Japanese people.
• Is Fiona white? At one point, she describes her family roots as “American,” which I interpreted in line with the way many white people in the US self-identify, but before that I had a few moments where I wondered if she was Asian with bleached hair.
• How do the relationships in this story turn out? Do Zoe and Fiona start dating? What happens to Dani? At the point where the story ended, I felt kind of bad for Dani because she seemed to end up on the ‘outside’ even with the tension between Zoe and Fiona. I hope things work out for her.

Follow-up:

• I’m not sure what the Tamaki cousins will publish next, but I’m excited to find out!