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21 March 2012 Leave a Comment

A Zoo in Winter

Creator: Jiro Taniguchi
U.S. publisher: Fanfare/Ponent Mon
ISBN: 9781908007049
Released: June 2011
Original release: 2008

A Zoo in Winter is the most recent work by Jiro Taniguchi to be published in English. Originally released in Japan in 2008, the English edition was published by Fanfare/Ponent Mon in 2011. Taniguchi, an accomplished artist who has been nominated for and has won a number of awards, has been on my radar for quite some time. While A Zoo in Winter is not the first manga by Taniguchi that I have read (that honor goes to his short story “Summer Sky,” collected in the anthology Japan: As Viewed by 17 Creators, also published by Fanfare/Ponent Mon), it was the first full-length work of his that I had the opportunity to read. Taniguchi and his work is the focus of March 2012’s Manga Moveable Feast. I chose to examine A Zoo in Winter more closely for several reason, but primarily because it is semi-autobiographical. Additionally, Taniguchi often collaborates with other creators, but he both authored and illustrated A Zoo in Winter. I also thought that as a single volume A Zoo in Winter would provide a good introduction to Taniguchi and his work.

Eighteen-year-old Mitsuo Hamaguchi began working at Watanabe Commercial, a cloth accessories wholesaler in Kyoto, with the hope of becoming a product designer. But because that work is now done outside of the company, he is never given the opportunity. Instead, he spends most of his free time drawing, frequently visiting the nearby zoo to practice his sketch work. After an unfortunate incident with the boss’s daughter, Hamaguchi finds that continuing to work at the firm would be uncomfortable at best. And so he visits a friend in Tokyo who happens to know Shiro Kondo, a successful mangaka who is looking for another assistant. Hamaguchi is quickly put to work and is soon swept into a new way of life with long, hard hours and perpetually looming deadlines. Under Kondo and the other assistants’ care and guidance, Hamaguchi’s skills continue to improve. Eventually he would like to strike out and create a manga of his very own, but he’s discovering it to be much more difficult than he imagined.

Although he is the main character, Hamaguchi is frequently overshadowed by the other, more vibrant people in his life. He tends to be quite and reserved, but this makes him charmingly awkward. He is easily embarrassed, deals with youthful jealousy and competitiveness, and regularly broods. Hamaguchi is still very much a teenager and still has room to grow and mature. One of the recurring themes in A Zoo in Winter is the need for a person to have drive in order to do well and that that drive may take on many different forms. For much of A Zoo in Winter Hamaguchi lacks that focus and intense desire. Although he is shown to be a hard worker and is devoted to what he is doing, it is not until he finds his source of inspiration that he finally comes alive and finds the joy in creation. Hamaguchi’s development as a person and as a character in A Zoo in Winter is convincing and is handled naturally.

A Zoo in Winter is a quiet story. Some people may even find it boring, but I think its realism is what makes it work so well. While there may not be thrilling action sequences there is still plenty of interpersonal drama as Hamaguchi finds his place in the world. His relationships with other people and his own self-discovery provide much of the driving force behind the story. Taniguchi’s artwork, particularly his backgrounds, is also realistic and detailed. His draftsmanship is really quite impressive. Reading A Zoo in Winter gives a genuine sense of stepping back into the Tokyo of the late 1960s. My only complaint about the English edition of A Zoo in Winter is with how it has been flipped. Some of the individual panels, instead of being mirrored like the rest, remain as they were originally drawn. This means that the flow of images and dialogue can occasionally be awkward or difficult to follow. But it’s fairly easy overlook this flaw because other than that, A Zoo in Winter is an excellent volume. It’s a wonderful tale of a mangaka’s early beginnings and personal growth.

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24 February 2012 Leave a Comment

Dororo, Volume 1

Creator: Osamu Tezuka
U.S. publisher: Vertical
ISBN: 9781934287163
Released: April 2008
Original run: 1967-1968
Awards: Eisner Award

Dororo happens to be one of my favorite manga created by Osamu Tezuka, so it made sense to me to review it for February 2012’s Manga Moveable Feast focusing on Tezuka and his work. Dororo was originally serialized in Japan in Shukan Shonen Sunday between 1967 and 1968. Vertical initially published the series in 2008 in three volumes, winning the 2009 Eisner Award for the best U.S. edition of international material from Japan. The individual volumes are now out of print, but Vertical’s omnibus edition will be released in 2012. In 1969, a twenty-six episode anime series based on the manga was created with an ending that provides a little more closure than the original. Dororo was also the inspiration for the 2004 PlayStation 2 video game Blood Will Tell. A live-action film adaptation of Dororo was released in 2007 and was very well received in Japan.

Thirsting for power, Lord Daigo offers the body of his unborn child as a sacrifice to forty-eight demons in exchange for their aid in conquering the country. The child is born missing forty-eight body parts and is abandoned. Rescued and raised by a kindly doctor, Hyakkimaru must eventually set off on his own, hoping to find happiness and to regain his body. Pursued by demons and dead souls, he is shunned by others, leading a lonely existence until he saves the life of Dororo, a young thief who is similarly reviled. Dororo, like Hyakkimaru, is also hiding a tragic past, but is surprisingly resilient and stubborn. Although Hyakkimaru is initially reluctant, the two being traveling the war-torn countryside together. Moving from village to village and confronting monsters and demons along the way, the two have each other and not much else.

Tezuka’s artwork in Dororo is wonderully cinematic and has excellent pacing. The battles and sword fights are varied and exciting; the demons and spirits Hyakkimaru must face are monstrous and terrifying. Although Tezuka’s style is somewhat cartoonish, the art can actually be quite gruesome. Occasionally the action isn’t entirely clear, but the overall effect is very engaging. Tezuka isn’t afraid to use extended moments without dialogue as Hyakkimaru and Dororo wander through the country. More emphasis is given to backgrounds and landscapes than in some of Tezuka’s earlier works, granting Dororo a solid sense of place. Tezuka draws visual cues and plot elements from samurai films and stories as well as from traditional Japanese folklore, legends, and tales. Mixing these elements together with his own ideas and thematic sensibilities, Dororo is a series that is uniquely Tezuka. The two downtrodden leads, carrying on with their lives under adverse and less than ideal circumstances, are very likeable and it is fascinating to watch their relationship develop.

If there is one thing that annoys me about the first volume of Dororo it’s that early on several characters make comments about dump trucks, space aliens, cyborgs and such which really threw me out of the story and setting. In many ways, Dororo can be seen as a transitional series, a bridge between Tezuka’s earlier and later works that expanded his audience and introduced darker themes and darker protagonists. Hyakkimaru, with his fancy prosthetics and gadgets, could be a feudal era Astro Boy but is even more closely related to and serves as a prototype for Tezuka’s later character and fan favorite Black Jack. While this is certainly interesting, personally I love Hyakkimaru for being Hyakkimaru. He is a complex character; cynical and world-weary, he continues to fight on despite persecution from demons and humans alike. I have reread Dororo several times now and I still love the series as much as I did the fist time and maybe even more. Tezuka is a phenomenal storyteller.

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22 February 2012 4 Comments

The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga

Author: Helen McCarthy
U.S. publisher: Abrams ComicArts
ISBN: 9780810982499
Released: October 2009
Awards: Harvey Award

The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga by Helen McCarthy has been sitting on my shelf since it won the 2010 Harvey Award for Best American Edition of Foreign Material. I had flipped through it several times but had never read the book in its entirety. Since February 2012’s Manga Moveable Feast focused on Tezuka and his works, it seemed an appropriate time to finally get around to doing so. The Art of Osamu Tezuka is a handsome volume published by Abrams ComicArts in 2009. It’s large red cover with the iconic Astro Boy is instantly recognizable. Also included with the book is “The Secret of Creation,” a behind-the-scenes DVD documentary of Tezuka at work. The Art of Osamu Tezuka is a combination of biography, art book, and catalog of major works printed in full color. Katsuhiro Otomo, the creator of the Akira manga and anime, wrote the foreword. Although Tezuka is a very important figure in manga, I actually knew very little about him and his work, so I was looking forward to reading The Art of Osamu Tezuka.

Osamu Tezuka was born on November 3, 1928 in Toyonaka to his parents Yutaka and Fumiko. Growing up in Takarazuka with his two younger siblings Hiroshi and Minako, Tezuka’s parents encouraged the creativity and imaginations of their children. Tezuka became an accomplished artist at a very young age. He attended medical school with the intention of becoming a doctor, but abandoned the pursuit with his family’s blessing when he realized it would mean giving up what he really loved—storytelling and art. Eventually moving to Tokyo, Tezuka became a very successful and very prolific mangaka, one of the first to coordinate teams of assistants to manage huge workloads. He also became involved with animation and founded his own studio, constantly experimenting with new techniques and developing innovative ways to produce shows more quickly and cost effectively. On February 9, 1989, Tezuka died of stomach cancer at the age of sixty, leaving behind a lasting legacy that has influenced generations.

After a brief preface, the first chapter of The Art of Osamu Tezuka follows Tezuka’s family history and early life. Tezuka’s “star system” is explained in the second chapter, something I never quite understood until now. Basically, Tezuka had a set of characters that he would use like actors, who would sometimes portray themselves and sometimes take on other, often typecast, roles. In chapters three through seven, McCarthy takes a look at Tezuka’s career and life decade by decade, beginning with the 1940s and ending with the 1980s, particularly noting developing themes and influences. Each of these chapters includes a section devoted to the major works that began their release in that decade. The only thing unfortunate about this is that some series with multiple iterations, like Astro Boy, end up appearing in several chapters without much cross-reference. The final two chapters are devoted to Tezuka’s unfinished works and his lasting influence, respectively. Also included in The Art of Osamu Tezuka is a bibliography, an index, and a list of works by Tezuka that as of 2009 had been translated into English, French, Spanish, Italian, and German.

The Art of Osamu Tezuka consists of numerous mostly self-contained summaries and short essays, generally only a page or so in length, accompanied by hundreds of images. The book is structured in such a way that readers can either peruse the volume from beginning to end, providing a comprehensive synopsis of Tezuka and his work, or simply pick and choose subjects, titles, or images that interest them without causing too much confusion. Compared to his total output, very little of Tezuka’s work is currently available in English. I knew the man was prolific, but I had no concept of just how astoundingly prolific he was until reading The Art of Osamu Tezuka. I also didn’t realize that he would revisit already completed works, often rewriting or redrawing them for later editions and republication. The Art of Osamu Tezuka is a fantastic introduction to Tezuka and a wonderful overview of his career, making the volume very easy to recommend.

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20 February 2012 2 Comments

My Week in Manga: February 13-February 19, 2012

My News and Reviews

Two reviews for you all this past week! I took a look at the penultimate volume of the “The Marches Episode,” The Guin Saga, Book Four Prisoner of the Lagon by Kaoru Kurimoto. The more I read of The Guin Saga, the more I like the series, so I’m sad to be getting close to the end of the portion of the series that’s available in English. I also reviewed Takako Shimura’s Wandering Son, Volume 2—my first in-depth manga review for February. I love Wandering Son very much and can’t wait for the next volume to be released by Fantagraphics.

This week is the Osamu Tezuka Manga Moveable Feast, hosted by Kate Dacey at The Manga Critic!  I’ve got a bunch of Tezuka quick takes for you here. (I was actually hoping to have more, but my folks came to visit me this weekend; I spent most of my time hanging out with them and eating good food instead of reading manga.) Later this week I’ll have reviews up for The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga by Helen McCarthy and the first volume of Tezuka’s Dororo, which happens to be a personal favorite of mine.

Quick Takes

Black Jack, Volumes 1-3 by Osamu Tezuka. Black Jack is one of Tezuka’s most beloved characters, and I have to admit I’m rather fond of the rogue doctor myself. The series also allows Tezuka to make good use of his medical background, having studied to become a doctor himself at one point. In fact, Tezuka (as a character) repeatedly appears in Black Jack as a doctor. Although there are recurring characters, each chapter of Black Jack stands alone as its own story. The tales all reveal a little bit about Black Jack and his background, but they aren’t told in chronological order which can occasionally be confusing. He can come across as a bit of a bastard at times, but a loveable one.

The Book of Human Insects by Osamu Tezuka. The Book of Human Insects is one of Tezuka’s darker manga intended for adult audiences. Toshiko Tomura is an incredible mimic, a genius that can quickly and effectively copy and make use of the skills and talents of her targets. This has allowed her to win multiple awards in various disciplines and has propelled her into the media’s spotlight. But even with all of the attention she has gained, she remains a mystery. And despite all of her accomplishments, she seems to lack a true identity of her own. I quite enjoyed The Book of Human Insects. It’s shorter and more focused than many of Tezuka’s other adult works. I was particularly struck by Tezuka’s use of panels and page layouts in this volume.

Princess Knight, Parts 1-2 by Osamu Tezuka. Historically, Princess Knight is an important series in the development of shōjo manga. I didn’t enjoy the series as much as I was hoping or expecting to, but I still like the series quite a bit. And the lead, Sapphire, is delightful, as are many of the other characters in the cast. But, holy cow, Tezuka hardly stops to let the readers catch their breath. He introduces plot point after plot point, storyline upon storyline, before ever really resolving or thoroughly developing the events that have already been set in motion. Princess Knight is fun, but dizzying with the amount of material that Tezuka crams into the short series. Somehow though, it remains coherent.

Swallowing the Earth by Osamu Tezuka. Despite some of the weighty issues that Tezuka addresses in Swallowing the Earth—racism, economic disparity, crime, etc.—I find it difficult to take the manga seriously as a whole. Part of this is due to the goofy nature of Gohonmatsu Seki, one of the major characters. He’s a drunkard, but I do like the guy. And Swallowing the Earth is entertaining even if it is a rather strange manga. It’s an interesting mix of seriousness and silliness. Tezuka does have a habit of going off on story tangents that don’t immediately appear to tie back into the main plot, but eventually they always do. Swallowing the Earth was recently brought back into print by Digital Manga through a Kickstarter project.

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5 February 2012 Leave a Comment

Usamaru Furuya Manga Moveable Feast: A Final Farewell

© Usamaru Furuya

A week ago today marked the end of the Usamaru Furuya Manga Moveable Feast. Quite often, posts continue to trickle in even after a Feast is technically over. Here are a couple for your enjoyment.

Connie of Slightly Biased Manga reviews the second volume of Furuya’s No Longer Human, noting that the series is powerful, but hard to read:

You know that Yozo isn’t going to have a happy ending. There’s nobody left to help him. And he alienates those that try. It’s a self-destructive circle, and both the story and art do a good job of portraying the utter despair that permeates absolutely everything in this story.

Over at Otaku Ohana, Jason S. Yadao provides “a between-MMF snack” and takes a look at Genkaku Picasso:

The sketches Hikari draws of the scenes he sees within people’s hearts are the perfect canvas for Furuya’s imagination to run wild, whether it’s something as simple as a mecha standing over a crystal, as complex as a giant rabbit keeping watch over a melancholy baby, or as mind-numbingly surreal as a giant rose hovering over Tokyo Tower in the rain with a rapidly rising sea.

Thank you again to everyone who did their part to make the Usamaru Furuya Manga Moveable Feast a success!

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