I think this is the most beautiful story I've posted so far.
Yes, I recognize that really isn't saying much. My original intention for this scanlation project being to translate guromanga, I didn't necessarily think I'd be working on stuff like this after a few months. But after deciding that translating stories from the doujinshi mangazine Cybele would be of some value to the anglosphere otaku community, I've become a little preoccupied with cuter stories than those written by mangaka like Jun Hayami.
Originally released at Comiket 14 in the May 1980 issue of Cybele, the magazine's fourth edition, "Dream Girl" shows the legendary bishoujo mangaka Hideo Azuma (writing under the pseudonym Gurihon) at his most cryptic. Baring some resemblance (in my opinion) to experimental gekiga styles which were in 1980 represented most notably by Garo magazine, and particularly to the "dream" stories written for Garo by gekiga master Yoshiharu Tsuge some ten years before this one-shot's premiere, the story carries an impressively solemn tone for a work of only five pages.
I chose this story for translation not only because it was in Cybele, but also because it reflects in an innovative way Azuma's desire to "erase himself" from his lolicon manga--something I elaborate on in my post on Azuma's first Cybele story, "Little Red Riding Hood in Wonderland." While that story aims to accomplish the erasure of what scholar Patrick W. Galbraith called the 'heroic male inserter' by replacing human male characters with Fritz the Cat-esque funny animals, "Dream Girl" instead effaces the wandering protagonist by depicting him in silhouette. Though his outline indeed resembles the scruffy design Azuma would typically use to insert himself into his manga, the shadowy figure has a greater capacity for the vicarious fantasy of readers. Though this may sound similar to the often faceless, oblique perverts so common in hentai today, Azuma instead uses this technique to offer a more self-aware--and self-critical--perspective on hentai and lolicon consumers.
After originally appearing in Cybele, resources like Wikipedia suggest that the story was first included in Gansaku Hideo Hakkenden (Counterfeit Hideo Hakkenden) in 1985, but I've had some trouble verifying that information. However, I can confirm that it was for a fact included in the 2006 volume In a Veil of Darkness (in Japanese, Yoru no Tobari no Naka de). The raw scan I used for this upload was taken from the Cybele version.
Though it's certainly not for everyone (as nothing I translate is), and certainly not to the taste of the forum-dwelling masturbators most likely to stumble upon this (as is probably the case with most of what I've translated), this wistful manga attests to why Hideo Azuma was--and remains--so highly respected by otaku, manga critics, and historians.
P.S.
I've had a few people reach out to me with very kind words, including comments specifically about the Cybele translations. I'm incredibly thankful to any and all who are reading, and I hope you continue to enjoy the things I share!
