Veil and Ineffable Love
He smokes Chesterfields and she has a smattering of fur coats
The manga’s title is apparently supposed to describe the “veil” of distance between romance and friendship the two protagonists share (though I couldn’t confirm a single source, not even one in Japanese). I think it works fine just being a pretty, elegant title, in the same way little black dresses are elegant. It would fit. This is not a manga where words matter heavily, and I do not mean that in an insulting way, but it’s more meant to convey a mood through the vignettes and lack of clear plot than to tell a riveting story. Imagine a dreamy Sunday morning with the steam of herbal teas and cigarette smoke filling the room, gazing out the window. The tiles are cool against your bare feet, and it feels like an eternal moment watching the gray world outside, dimly lit with the soft early morning light. Maybe you’re talking to somebody that you’re close with. You two are so close that you can talk about simply nothing at all and nothing worrying, and it feels good, just to fill up the space with chatter, though not necessary...
That is Veil. Its two main characters, Emma and Aleksander, don’t even get name introductions until their title cards at the end of the first volume. It doesn’t matter; they never use each other's names. She is blind and works doing desk work at the police station. He is a policeman at the same station. She is beautiful and has many clothes from her rich upbringing. He’s beautiful too, and he smokes (of course he does) and has a very anime-ish zany sprig of nape hair. To give you an example, a whole chapter can entail an incident of her losing her ring and him finding it for her. Like I said, it doesn’t matter as much as the visual component—the art.
Yes. It is fabulous. It is glamorous and it’s just like the fashion photo shoots. I do recognize this manga is not for everyone, but it seems perfectly tailored for me who loves simply staring at pretty people and see as they move around. I’m entranced by its colors, the indigo of his policeman’s jacket and the bright yellow of her hair, which is drawn elegant clean and effortless. Splashes of bright red-orange is saved for only the worthy moments, wisely.
It’s very wholesome and sweet all in all. They never seem to talk about anything that “matters”, but his view of her and her connection to him seem to deepen. At first he thinks of her more like a child, and flirtatious advances embarrass him. I think she plays more into it because some girls who are petite like flirting that way (“will you help me with this” turns into jumping into his arms and pointing out a way to go, as they get closer). But as time goes on you see they gain a mutual respect, and their guards go down as she broaches more serious topics, and his slightly taciturn nature is peeled away in the subtlest of strokes. She gets progressively more comfortable with him. It’s very cute and kind of sexy, though the entire manga is strictly SFW and the focus is on the whole vibe and mood and the beauty of the flow of the body and clothes, instead of specific parts. They do sleep in the same bed, but most readers think they’re not having sex. Multiple reasons.
Given the vibe of the manga, flirting could just be flirting. Everything is unserious and very cute, and a very strong case could be made for them just being friends.
They work in the same place.
He doesn’t want to risk hurting her, because she is blind, and if he crossed a boundary it could cause dissonance between them. This is extra risky because he is her only nearby support (it is assumed she is estranged from family).
There is also a part of me that doesn’t want it to be true. I know you’re supposed to root hard for couples to have that first kiss, for it to be really real. But for a long time, the idea of such strict lines on relationships has been confusing to me. Why can’t they be both flirtatious, sleep in the same bed, and still be friends? It annoys me that society likes slapping a simple label on everything to do with love and sexuality, though the reality can’t be contained so easily. I am also aro-ace, which means I don’t date and don’t have sex. In online communities I frequent for aro-aces, there’s frequent questioning of one’s own identity because maybe the poster had a crush. Maybe two, and that’s been it for two whole decades. Maybe they like watching porn. It frustrates me and is also infinitely relatable, this desire to want to fit neatly and be the most easily explainable queer. You are already queer, I think to myself sometimes, and that’s already a bit of a burden—so why’d you go and pick such a niche label? And how do you really know, huh? This want to be distilled, like freaking mountain water, is impossible.
This is a large part of why Veil is so precious to me. It is sexy (which I like) and also doesn’t have sex (which I don’t like!). I want an Aleksander to my Emma one day and I am horribly jealous of these fictional people because they are my perfect romantic relationship to a T! It is just glorious and beautiful and full of love and glamour. It doesn’t try to condense love but rather to portray it in an honest way, something that is so non-judgemental and gentle.⭒