How ‘Love! Love! Fighting!’ is Changing the Manga Game for Black Women

writer / artist: Sharean Morishita Black women who love manga and/or manhwa intimately know the struggle of finding any character that vaguely, maybe-if-you-squint-your-eyes-and-tilt-your-head resembles us (and don’t even get me started on the phenomenon of the Dark Skin, But Call Them Anything But Black character). If we are canonically present it tends to play out like in the manga Dramacon where Bethany was relegated to a supporting role and didn’t even show up until the second volume (exceptions to this rule are still too rare for comfort)! Needless to say, then, when I stumbled across the brilliant work of Sharean Morishita (aka S-morishita) while researching for my article on the AMBW romance, I was instantly smitten. Say goodbye to that tired old trope of the sidekick because Love! Love! Fighting! is here to change our lives for the better thanks to one of our own! Our story begins in an office where Oriana and her cousin Krisa work. We quickly learn that Oriana is in a bit of financial trouble and therefore must adopt a workaholic attitude to support herself. This part I appreciated personally because many manga/manhwa tend to center on people for whom money problems are a running gag if not ignored altogether. I’m broke! That’s not funny! However, this routine life doesn’t last for long as an uproar not only causes Oriana to be fired, but also allows her to be tricked by Krisa into returning to their family’s home in South Korea (I know, right? Black people in Asia, …