"A-A'"

Hagio Moto, 1981

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Summary: The story A, A' raises a troubling question: How would you feel if your lover died - and was replaced by a clone? Could you recreate your relationship with someone who was physically exactly the same but didn't share any memories of your life together?

My comments:

First story: Adelade was a young woman of a rare species dubbed 'unicorns' because of their unique hair pattern, who was working on the planet Proxima when she was an in an accident and died. All team members had clones made and put in cold storage for such cases, and her clone is sent back to work, minutes three years worth of memories. We see the team members go from excited that she's back to realizing that she's also back to square one, seeming cold and distant.

This was such a poignant story, this is my kind of tragedy (that feels weird to say). I mean sure the occasional bawl session can be cathartic but stories like this are very touching in a way and so thoughtful. For instance, when Adelade realized she didn't have her scars from when she lost Pony. Yeah it was a tragedy and the scars were a reminder of it but they also were a way for her to remember Pony, and the loss was greatly disturbing to her.

I couldn't decide if Adelade's clone actually remembered anything in the end and why if so but I didn't mind not knowing. I just know clone Adelade and clone Regg will be okay even if things won't be exactly the same.

Adelade and Regg are the two on the cover.

Second story: Mori is part of an experiment on telekinesis. He lost full control over his powers after being kidnapped as a child for having a genetically modified 'kaleidoscope' eye. Trill is a maladjusted girl of the unicorn race who somehow makes Mori's powers stable.

Since unicorns were made specifically to handle space and work with computers, they supposedly don't have much emotion. As we can see from the first story, they just show and feel emotions differently, and those willing to be patient can become close to them.

Mori and Trill resonate with each other, and Trill's emotions flow freely again. The doctor taking care of Trill was using her eggs to try to make more like her, because he believed people should get rid of their emotions. He didn't like when she got her emotions again and hurt her. In her rush to get back to Mori, tragedy strikes.

Sadder than the first story but again, very poignant. I didn't like the story much at first but like any good story, it was good at making me invested over time. Mori forcefully grew up a lot by the end, it's just a shame Trill wasn't able to live on and continue her own growth journey.

Third story: Tacto is a unicorn who finds out that he has female sex organs. He isn't much bothered by it and immediately decides to get them removed, but his current guardian An-An wants him to fully develop them to become a woman and get pregnant.

When Tacto was young, his mother committed suicide, and it traumatized him so badly his father erased his memories before age 7, causing Tracto to have to relearn everything. Tacto later left to work on a project and the two are estranged, but An-An thinks he can convince Tacto to become a woman.

On Mars Red, Tacto's team runs into kite flyers - and one of them is Mori! It's been four years since Trill died and Mori is still feeling the loss. Having another unicorn with the same hair and eyes brings it up again.

I was really worried this was going to be like 'Tacto falls for Mori and changes his mind about being a woman' but not at all. It turns out Tacto's father made something that can change genders by accident and used it on himself, temporarily turning himself into a woman*. His colleague really wanted to try it, but it seemed to permanently change him, then the two got married and had Tacto. Something about being pregnant made him change back into a man, that and the father cheating made him so depressed he committed suicide. Tacto was born with the same makeup, he too will change into a woman soon.

At first, Tacto was with a girl named Merimé because 'he liked her red hair' (it was dyed but the same color as Tacto's hair marking). She wanted to be with him for prestige. Mori won him over with his kites, saving him and resonating with him. If the relationship is going to work in the long run, they're going to need to learn patience and how to communicate properly.

The art is very much my thing. The characters are so diverse. I want to know a physical English copy of this so bad but it costs...a lot. I've added a few other things by Hagio to my TBR but I'm afraid nothing will measure up to how much I enjoyed A-A'! I'm giving it a 10/10 not because it was perfect or because I liked everything but because there were so many aspects of it that touched me. This is how you write situations and characters that aren't necessarily likeable but that win you over.

I can be picky about humor and while this isn't a comedy or anything, I loved the bits of humor in it.

I really want to read more stuff like this. Space, genetic modification, terraforming etc.

* Obviously changing into a body with different sex organs doesn't mean you're suddenly a man/woman
Content warnings:

-Death of lover including finding their body later
-Cloning, human experimentation, genetic engineering
-Death of a pony (not shown, but the grief is there)
-Attempted rape (on top of the 'taking Trill's eggs and inseminating them' experiment)
-Suicide, alcoholism, cheating, dysphoria (Tacto's mother)
-Attempt to make a character transition into a woman because they're discovered to have ovaries
-Childhood trauma
-Death & grief