week two: tezuka osamu
For my presentation, I'm thinking of talking about a mangaka that I adore, Aki Irie. She's the author of Ran and the Gray World, a supernatural, coming-of-age manga about a young sorceress with the power of "growing up" when she wears magical shoes. Her art and stories are whimsical and really just - there's no other word for it - lovely. She also has an anthology called Gunjou Gakusha (Ultramarine School Days) that are a series of unconnected oneshots about anything from a walk in a forest to a princess fighting for her country to a mother looking after her three sons. I think her work fits in the shoujo/josei or contemporary manga week. A lot of her work defies genre and she's a relatively unknown author, so I think the class would enjoy reading her works and learning about her.
Also because this author is so niche, I'd be cool with talking about CLAMP, too.
This week I read Ayako by Tezuka Osamu. It was... dark. While not having read any of Tezuka's work but knowing the style of Astro Boy, I expected a wholesome journey about a girl growing up in the post-war era and seeing the world change around her and her older brother grappling with the changes. Boy, I was entirely wrong.
I read it on a scanlation site with some of my friends. When we got to the part where it's revealed that Su'e had Ayako with the dad, we were really! Revolted!! That was when I was like, "Okay, maybe this is about Ayako's coming-of-age story where she learns how to live her Best Life despite the horrible circumstances of her birth." But no. No, that was not what happened. Not at all!
Something that I found was interesting was that there isn't a genuine protagonist who we can relate to through their POVs. First I thought Jiro was supposed to be our protagonist, but then he starts killing people. Then, maybe it would be Shiro, but he embraces his Garbage Family Status and has sex with his sister. Then, maybe Su'e would be the protagonist and run away with Ayako, but no, she dies. Even the ending was a sort of middle finger to everyone who thought other people were going to be the protagonist, because only Ayako gets out alive. I mean, "alive" because who knows what sort of mental illnesses she'll have due to her HORRIFIC, YEARS-LONG ABUSE.
With the cultural emphasis of family in Japanese culture, and also more broadly Asian culture, I sort of experienced whiplash when all of the horrible, twisted incest/philandering came to light. During class, there was the theme of "familial dysfunction" that was brought up and compared to southern gothic novels. I'll admit I don't have enough experience with reading real southern gothic (William Faulkner-esque) novels, but I definitely found myself comparing the crazy incest themes of Ayako to Greek stories like Oedipus. I think this was a good pick to read because it shows the wide range of a famous Japanese mangaka, who (in my view) gained fame for Astro Boy and that wholesome 50-60's art style, and even though Tezuka is Japanese, he isn't beholden to the sort of "honorable piety" themes that are sort of assumptions that people have when thinking about Asian culture.
I also want to comment on that all the women in Ayako had, to me, personalities that were defined by the men in their lives. I don't know if this was intentional and they were purposefully written as flat, or perhaps that Tezuka was, well, simply a man of the past century, but the women didn't seem to have much ambition or any sort of motivation other than.. love a man or get away from a man.
Also because this author is so niche, I'd be cool with talking about CLAMP, too.
This week I read Ayako by Tezuka Osamu. It was... dark. While not having read any of Tezuka's work but knowing the style of Astro Boy, I expected a wholesome journey about a girl growing up in the post-war era and seeing the world change around her and her older brother grappling with the changes. Boy, I was entirely wrong.
I read it on a scanlation site with some of my friends. When we got to the part where it's revealed that Su'e had Ayako with the dad, we were really! Revolted!! That was when I was like, "Okay, maybe this is about Ayako's coming-of-age story where she learns how to live her Best Life despite the horrible circumstances of her birth." But no. No, that was not what happened. Not at all!
Something that I found was interesting was that there isn't a genuine protagonist who we can relate to through their POVs. First I thought Jiro was supposed to be our protagonist, but then he starts killing people. Then, maybe it would be Shiro, but he embraces his Garbage Family Status and has sex with his sister. Then, maybe Su'e would be the protagonist and run away with Ayako, but no, she dies. Even the ending was a sort of middle finger to everyone who thought other people were going to be the protagonist, because only Ayako gets out alive. I mean, "alive" because who knows what sort of mental illnesses she'll have due to her HORRIFIC, YEARS-LONG ABUSE.
With the cultural emphasis of family in Japanese culture, and also more broadly Asian culture, I sort of experienced whiplash when all of the horrible, twisted incest/philandering came to light. During class, there was the theme of "familial dysfunction" that was brought up and compared to southern gothic novels. I'll admit I don't have enough experience with reading real southern gothic (William Faulkner-esque) novels, but I definitely found myself comparing the crazy incest themes of Ayako to Greek stories like Oedipus. I think this was a good pick to read because it shows the wide range of a famous Japanese mangaka, who (in my view) gained fame for Astro Boy and that wholesome 50-60's art style, and even though Tezuka is Japanese, he isn't beholden to the sort of "honorable piety" themes that are sort of assumptions that people have when thinking about Asian culture.
I also want to comment on that all the women in Ayako had, to me, personalities that were defined by the men in their lives. I don't know if this was intentional and they were purposefully written as flat, or perhaps that Tezuka was, well, simply a man of the past century, but the women didn't seem to have much ambition or any sort of motivation other than.. love a man or get away from a man.
Comments
Post a Comment