Manga, Japan's new cultural export, caters for grownups as much as the little ones. Here's a selection to explore this relatively new medium by.
Literature is as good as its ability to release emotional tension and refresh the mind. Manga, the Japanese comic medium, is no exception to this. Because most manga marketing campaigns in the West concentrate on younger target audiences, older readers tend not to know that they are exceptionally well catered for. Here are some popular titles for you to explore the medium by:
Lone Wolf and Cub
Writer: Kazuo Koike
llustrator: Goseki Kojima
Lone Wolf and Cub is set in Japan’s Edo period. Ogami Itto is the archetypal hero turned avenger- Japan’s deadliest swordsman out to revenge his wife’s death. He travels the Japanese countryside with his three year old son Daigoro, who is an active accomplice in his father’s work as an assassin for hire.
The story, 28 volumes long, maintains its drive by examining the politics and factions of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Much of the plot details Ogami interacting with different characters in the Shogunate’s strict caste system. The latter volumes are devoted to Ogami’s fight with the ultimate rival- a man in every way Ogami’s opposite. These sword fighting scenes are a treat to experience; Kojima’s illustrations, drawn with heavy pen, allow him to remarkably capture the action and movement of an assassin’s sword.
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (Record of a Yokohama Shopping Trip)
Writer/Illustrator: Hitoshi Ashinano
YKK is a serene post-apocalyptic robot manga.
Alpha, our immortal robot protagonist, runs a coffee shop sometime after the Earth's ecology has collapsed.
Alpha’s interaction with her environment is similar to that of a young child- the small wonders of everyday life are shown through her experiences perfecting coffee-brewing, taking photographs, and interacting with others. In some chapters there’s little to no dialogue- just Alpha doing her thing. She’s also a robot participating in many human rituals- she’s a bad drunk and after downing too much sake Alpha can perform entertaining ‘robot dances’.
As Alpha is immortal there is definitely a sense of the Japanese ‘mono no aware’ theme (sadness for the transience of things) in her interactions with other humans. The way human life has influenced the planet is another common theme and reminds the reader that the Earth will always be neutral to our presence. When trees resembling streetlamps start growing in the countryside, Alpha speculates that they might be the ‘recollections of people that the earth remembers’.
Uzumaki
Writer/Illustrator: Junji Ito
Good luck getting a good night’s sleep after reading Uzumaki. This horror manga deals with a rural Japanese town and their obsession with spirals- be it snails, inner ears, curly hair, or jack in the box springs. Innocent enough right? Well how about people killing themselves in wash tubs by contorting their bodies into spirals, or people eating people that have mutated into snails, or people in a constant state of vertigo after stabbing their inner ears with scissors, oh the list goes on.
Uzumaki has invisible spirals too- present and future begin to swirl allowing the concept of causality to be tinkered with. The town’s kids begin to create twisters by simply blowing out of their mouth for example.
Remember now, recommended for readers 18+.
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