Review: "On Their Frontlines" by Marina Lisa Komiya

On Their Frontlines by Marina Lisa Komiya
Published September 2026 via Takumigraphics
★★★★

Japan in the 1940s: Haru and Yoriko are would-be lovers, kept apart by convention (the 1940s is not an easy time to be a queer woman) and circumstance (their entire lives have been torn apart by war). The war never ended for me, says one of the women, and never have truer words been spoken.

I found this line in the preface really valuable context while reading: As you read this story, you may find yourself vexed by certain elements. This is not a story of strong, independent women, but one where the female characters find themselves having to rely on the kindness of soldiers from the winning side in order to survive. Those who come into this story hoping to find a narrative about female empowerment, where all the women stand on their own two feet, may find themselves especially disappointed. However, the characters I wanted to depict were those unremarkable, vulnerable people who were forced to bear the brunt of the overwhelmingly dismal state that Japan had fallen into in the wake of losing the war – those people who never had the chance to live their lives as they pleased.

As somebody who of course always wants the women in a story to be able to stand on their own two feet, and who also wants stories to make sense for the time and place they're set in, I really appreciated having that commentary right up front. Because it's true: These are not particularly independent women, but they're also not women who have ever had the opportunity for much independence. Neither of them is looking for a prince in shining armor (or a prince at all), but at some point they both realize that they might have to settle for something they don't particularly want in order to get, or stay, out of an even worse situation.

This is volume 1, and I'm curious to see how many more volumes this story might have and whether Haru and Yoriko might eventually cross paths again. I don't need a perfect happy ending for them (see: stories that make sense for the time and place they're set in), but it'll be interesting to see where their stories go.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.