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Paper short abstract

Applying Joanna Gilar’s ‘Rewilding Cinderella’ model to 'My Happy Marriage' (2019-present), this paper will explore the absence — of nature, hope, and the sakura (cherry blossom) tree — within Akumi Agitogi’s light novels, manga (2022–present), and anime series (2022–5).

Paper long abstract

Applying Joanna Gilar’s ‘Rewilding Cinderella’ model to My Happy Marriage (2019-present), this paper will explore the absence — of nature, hope, and the sakura (cherry blossom) tree — within Akumi Agitogi’s light novels, manga (2022–present), and anime series (2022–5). Responding to this absence, this paper will argue that de(con)structing Cinderella’s relationship with nature can be just as effective, in ‘rewilding’ a narrative, as its restoration. Though this approach contradicts Gilar’s methodology, framing Agitogi’s text as analogous to a ‘de-wilding’ of ATU510a, the consequent trauma and narrative derailment engendered by the loss of the sakura tree, and its eventual symbolic recuperation, reaffirm the centrality and necessity of ecological exchange in the ‘Cinderella’ tale.

In 2021 Gilar launched the ‘Rewilding Cinderella’ project and library, gathering storytellers and artists from around the world to ‘rewild’ ATU510a. Most overtly, Gilar’s project centres the heroine’s symbiotic exchange with nature and the escape from persecution it engenders. Contrasting Gilar’s project, My Happy Marriage offers a Cinderella severed from both nature and magical donor, posing the question: ‘What happens when Cinderella’s tree is cut down?’ Echoing the Grimms’ ‘Aschenputtel’, where the mother’s grave is marked by a tear-watered hazel tree, Agitogi’s Miyo finds solace from the cruelty of her stepfamily through her mother’s sakura tree. When the tree is abruptly cut-down, Miyo is severed from both the joyful memories of her childhood and the hope of escaping her family’s persecution, rendering the expected narrative of ‘Cinderella’ inert as the tree’s felling prompts further trauma for Agitogi’s protagonist.