is a Japanese josei

Josei

also known as or , is a term that refers to the target demographic of manga created mostly by women for late teenage and adult female audiences. Readers range from 15-44. In Japanese, the word josei means simply "woman", "female", "feminine", "womanhood" and has no manga-related connotations at...

yuri manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 by Nanae Haruno

Nanae Haruno

is a josei manga artist. She made her professional debut in 1979 with Kyupiido Beibi in Seventeen. She was a steady writer for Young You magazine, until the magazine stopped publication...

. It was originally serialized in the manga magazine Young You, published by Shueisha

Shueisha

is a major publisher in Japan. The company was founded in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The following year, Shueisha became a separate, independent company. Magazines published by Shueisha include Weekly Shōnen Jump, Weekly Young Jump,...

. The chapters were collected into two tankōbon

Tankobon

, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...

volumes, the first released on April 19, 2000 and the second on May 19, 2000. The second volume also contains a sequel short story, "A Week at the Beach," showing the main characters at a later time.

The word "pietà" is Italian for "pity" or "mercy".

Plot

Rio Sakaki is a high school girl who cuts herself and has attempted suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

 few times. She is unloved by her family—her stepmother is especially abusive, and her father, while aware of the abuse, does nothing to stop it. At the beginning of the manga, Rio meets Sahoko Higa, a classmate who spent two years as a hikikomori

Hikikomori

is a Japanese term to refer to the phenomenon of reclusive people who have chosen to withdraw from social life, often seeking extreme degrees of isolation and confinement because of various personal and social factors in their lives...

. They fall in love and begin spending a lot of time together, but Rio's inner demons, especially those that involve the gaps in her memory and her deceased baby sister, threaten to cause Rio to relapse into a suicidal state.

Characters

Due to being neglected by her family, Rio is withdrawn and depressed

Clinical depression

Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...

. She has few hopes and ambitions for the future, and at her stepmother's insistence, she lives in a different house, away from her family.

A classmate of Rio, although she is two years older. Before the manga begins, she went through a period in which she refused to come out of her room. As a way to relieve her stress, she does not live with her parents, but she still has a decent relationship with them.

Rio's psychologist. He and his wife first met Rio seven years before the manga begins. He has high hopes for Rio's recovery, but worries about the negative influence of her family.

Like her husband Shoumitsu, she is a psychologist. She was the one who oversaw Sahoko's treatment during her hikikomori

Hikikomori

is a Japanese term to refer to the phenomenon of reclusive people who have chosen to withdraw from social life, often seeking extreme degrees of isolation and confinement because of various personal and social factors in their lives...

 stage. Like her husband, she cares greatly about Rio, but she fears that they cannot help her.

Rio's stepmother. She has two children of her own, one by a previous lover and one by Rio's father. She hates Rio and emotionally abuses her. Rio's father does nothing to stop the abuse, as he claims that he cannot seem to love Rio because he is uncertain if she is really his biological daughter.

Manga

Pietà was serialized in the josei

Josei

also known as or , is a term that refers to the target demographic of manga created mostly by women for late teenage and adult female audiences. Readers range from 15-44. In Japanese, the word josei means simply "woman", "female", "feminine", "womanhood" and has no manga-related connotations at...

 manga magazine Young You, published by Shueisha

Shueisha

is a major publisher in Japan. The company was founded in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The following year, Shueisha became a separate, independent company. Magazines published by Shueisha include Weekly Shōnen Jump, Weekly Young Jump,...

. The chapters were collected into two tankōbon

Tankobon

, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...

, which are out of print as of 2009.

External links

• Review by Erica Friedman
  Yuricon
  Yuricon is an anime convention geared toward fans of yuri anime and manga. The first Yuricon event was held in 2003 in Newark, New Jersey with about 200 attending, although Yuricon has existed as an online entity since 2000. The event was organized by Yuricon, LLC., which continues to run...