SHY emerged in Weekly Shonen Champion back in 2017 as the winner of the Grand Prize in the 2nd edition of Next Champion. The one-shot was simple but it explored the idea of heroism through the main character who became a hero by accident. The one-shot touched people with its clear presentation and smooth story flow, alongside a pinpoint focus on the theme of becoming a hero.
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| SHY One-shot - Akita Shoten |
The one-shot left readers wanting more but they would have to wait for a long time since it was only serialised two years later. When the full series finally came It followed on from the one-shot in many ways in that the presentation became even better whilst the story had to reframed into a wider setting. In this new setting, the world has been expanded to include many countries with each technically having their own representative in the form of a hero. However, it is clear that the series takes place in an age of peace, however, conflicts of a different nature still exist.
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| SHY Chapter 1 - Akita Shoten |
This new expanded setting goes hand in hand with the theme of the series 'kokoro' which is similar to the ones from the one-shot but it is significantly more detailed. The theme of 'kokoro' emerges first as a social critique, after all the 'kokoro' is not just a word that signifies one thing in japan. It instead has a profound meaning as symbolic word in Japanese culture that refers to the embodied self of oneself both emotionally and physically. The 'age of peace' refers to conflict that are physical in nature such as the the absence of warfare. However, the series makes it clear in the first chapter that emotional conflicts continue to exist and this is how the kokoro is relevant.
These emotional conflicts can be interpreted in a Freudian sense in that they are inner unconscious conflicts held within the kokoro of each individual. The heroes are not immune to these and early on the series establishes this and their inner emotional conflicts drives the story. The reason for this is that Stigma and his group Amalareiks can take advantage of those unresolved inner conflicts through their power, and this was particularly shown in Koishikawa-san case. Stigma and his groups are the catalyst as they seek to free people from these emotional conflicts but not by solving them but by having people instead accept the negative feelings emerging out of these conflicts.
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| SHY - Chapter 3 - Akita Shoten |
This stands out in this setting because in a sense there is ambivalence about Stigma and his group. Their group seems to be closely linked to the underlying emotional frailty of the heroes. In a sense they feel like a mirror that reflects the weakness of the heroes themselves. This add a layer of complexity to every conflict between the heroes and stigma since the fight is not just against an enemy but against their own weakness.
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| SHY Chapter 24 - Akita Shoten |
However, this source of weakness if overcome can be a one for strength instead. The power of the heroes originate from their own kokoro as well. Heroes that unconsciously hold weakness in their kokoro have shown to be powerful but once this weakness is exploited like with Spirits their frailty is exposed, but once the this knot in the kokoro is resolved, the hero becomes stronger. SHY has grown stronger through this way as she has overcome some of her own doubts of herself throughout the series.
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| SHY Chapter 25 - Akita Shoten |
The 'kokoro' of the individual is a theme that allows the series to cleverly explore emotional conflicts and at the same time by solving them it can develop characters and justify strength gains. The strength of SHY appears in these moments because the author Miki Bukimi knows exactly what the series is and the themes and setting all play together in fine tuning because of that.
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