A Girl By The Seaside

There is a unique combination of honesty and innocence, beauty and strength of character in the work of Inio Asano.  The two volume series A Girl By The Seaside (うみべの女の子) is published under the Erotic Fx label.

The story deals with two young introverted kids who have trouble connecting emotionally with their peers and family. They find solace in their mutual antagonism, and find an outlet for their sexual curiosities and frustrations.

As I mentioned earlier, the honesty with which Asano deals with teenage sexuality is courageous. It is a great contrast to the rows and rows of exploitative, juvenile and adolescent manga at the bookstore.

The first time I noticed the work of Inio Asano was the ongoing series Goodnight, Pun Pun (おやすみプンプン). Aside for the fact that the main character is a boy sized bird by the name of Pun Pun, and chronicles his growing pains into adolescence. The real emotion of his struggle and pains is not lessened by Pun Pun's non-human form.

Even if the story lines were not some of the most unique, beautiful and honest stories that I've ever read, the artwork alone would be enough to keep me reading the work of Inio Asano. The city landscapes, the innocent faces, seductive artwork.

Although better known for the 2010 movie adaptation of Solanin, which the 2005 manga is probably the best place to start for anyone looking to jump into his work.

Inio Asano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/asano_inio
Erotic Fx website: https://twitter.com/asano_inio

April Round-Up

I hope everyone enjoyed their spring break. It's been a busy April, and I've been side tracked by work and spring break. But there were some notable releases in the past few weeks.

Haruki Murakami's latest book, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage (色彩を持たない田崎つくると、彼の巡礼の年) has stormed up the best seller list. I haven't picked up a copy yet, but the books release highlights the reluctance of the Japanese publishing industry to move to digital distribution, as I haven't been able to find it in epub format.

Kentaro Miura's Berserk volume 37 was released. I'm still back in volume 11, but slowly catching up when I have some spare time.

And Takehiko Inoue's samurai masterpiece Vagabond is up to volume 35, which is a series that is on my to-read list. I'm a huge fan of the annually released wheelchair basketball series, Real.

Billy Bat #11

The catch copy on the sleeve of the latest Billy Bat (ビリーバット) release says, "Will the scroll that controls time finally shed like on the true identity of Billy Bat?!" And since Naoki Urasawa's (浦沢直樹) manga are known for their multi-layered twists and turns I was a bit skeptical of the claim. And here I should also point out the excellent work of Takashi Nagasaki (長崎尚志) who writes a lot of the stories with Urasawa including the past series of Monster, 21st Century Boys, Master Keaton, and Pluto to just name a few.

I won't give anything away about the latest story line, but I finally feel like the puzzle is starting to be solved. After I was a bit frustrated with the previous volume, volume #11 steps up an delivers some answers. Einstein and Saint Frances Xavier pop in for some more flashback cameos and shed light onto the origins of the scroll that everyone is in a mad scramble trying to track down, and Billy Bat.

But as the story takes a small step toward it's conclusion, a new 1981 story line is introduced which references the space shuttle Columbia, and new Kevin. Could this be Kevin Yamagata's son? I guess we'll have to tune in same bat time, same bat channel. Until next time.

36th Japanese Academy Awards

Best Picture: Kirishima Quit Club Activites (桐嶋、部活やめるってよ)

Best Director: Daihachi Yoshida (吉田大八)

Based on the best selling teen fiction by Ryo Asai (朝井リョウ), and directed by Daihachi Yoshida who also won best director. It features Ryunosuke Kamiki (神木隆之介) who I know from the Otsuichi short film So-far, Ai Hashimoto (橋本愛) who was in Confession (告白) . Both up and coming actors that you should keep an eye on.

Best Animation: Wolf Children Ame and Yuki (おおかみこどもの雨と雪)

Directed by Mamoru Hosoda (細田守), and co-produced by Madhouse. Hosoda has found recent acclaim for Summer Wars, an adaptation of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, as well as working one many well known series such as One Piece, Dragonball Z, Digimon, and Slam Dunk.

Best Actor: Hiroshi Abe (安部寛)

for Thermae Romae (テルマエ・ロマエ)

Based on the popular manga by Mari Yamazaki (ヤマザキ マリ). Starring Hiroshi Abe who is an extremely prolific Japanese actor who has started in countless movies and TV dramas.

Best Actress: Kirin Kiki (樹木希林)

for Wagaha no Ki (わが母の記)

Based on the autobiographical novel by highly acclaimed author Yasushi Inoue (井上靖). This is Kirin Kiki's 5th Academy Award. Her second for Best Actress, and she has won Best Supporting Actress 3 times including 2011's Villain (悪人). After a long and distinguished career, Kirin shocked everyone during her acceptance speech by announcing her cancer diagnosis. In good humor she joked that she may not make it to next year's awards ceremony. Let's hope we can see her in several more features during the next year.

Best Supporting Actor: Hideji Otaki (大滝秀治)

Best Supporting Actress: Kimiko Yo (余貴美子)

for To You (あなたへ)

To You is based on the novel by Akio Morisawa (森沢明夫). The best supporting actor award was posthumously awarded to Hideji Otaki who died in October last year. An extremely prolific actor of both stage, TV and screen. This is first academy award. Kimiko Yo is also extremely prolific, also appearing in Hoshi Mamoru Inu and Akunin in a supporting role. The film features a large ensemble cast including Ken Takakura (高倉健), Yuko Tanaka (田中裕子), Koichi Sato (佐藤浩市), Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (草彅剛), and Beat Takeshi (ビートたけし).

I Am A Hero #11

Following up after being awarded the 58th Shogakkan Manga Prize (小学館漫画賞) in the general public section (一般向け部門) comes volume 11 of Kengo Hanazawa's I Am A Hero. Previous winners of the prize include Space Brothers (宇宙兄弟), Gaku (岳), 20th Century Boys (20世紀少年) and Monster (モンスター).

This volume continues the second story line of Takashi Ezaki after he is rescued and taken to the hideout of Kurusu (来栖) and his group in Saitama. Kurusu is mentally unstable, and revels in the lawless anarchy of the zombie apocalypse, with little regard for the life of his fellow survivors. Although in the uncertainty of their situation, his penchant for violence is regarded as a necessary skill by the others in the group. Kowashi is the most realistic and level headed of the group, and acts as a default leader. Tomabechi acts as the scientist of the group, he runs the wireless radio, in which we find out that other groups of survivors are Japan are aware that the group at the shopping mall have have been overrun by ZQN (The name given to the zombies based on DQN which is Japanese netspeak for delinquent.).

One of the problems faced by mangaka is that the real world also changes during the time the story is told. The first time I noticed this was while reading Space Brothers, the story relies on the continuation of NASA's manned spaced flight which has seen a dramatic decline in funding since the series started. As for I Am A Hero which started in 2009, the 2011 Eastern Japanese Earthquake didn't occur, and as such, the nuclear power stations are still operational in the world of I Am A Hero.

I'm a resident of Fukushima, and after the initial explosions at the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, there were several weeks where it seemed like we were living in a zombie infested society. A sense of panic ran under the surface, and everyone was forced to stay inside with dwindling supplies of food. Electricity, water, and internet were still available in the area I was in, but a lack of petrol meant that use of the car was for life threatening situations only. Thankfully after several weeks, services returned to normal.

We see the same thing in I Am A Hero. Some people are holding out hope that the situation will soon be brought under control, and government services will be resumed. But there is a group of individuals who didn't fit into regular society and are more suited to the uncertainties, and want to build a new society from the ground up.

Links:
Kengo Hanazawa on Twitter: https://twitter.com/hanamanko
I Am A Hero Official Site: http://spi-net.jp/rensai_sakuhin/i_am_a_hero/index.html

Space Brothers #20

The latest volume of Space Brothers (宇宙兄弟) was released on Friday. If you get in quick you can grab the limited edition version with a bonus DVD which includes a prelude to a new Space Brothers animated movie, Space Brothers ~One Point of Light~ (宇宙兄弟 ～一点のひかり～), which will be released this summer on July 21st. It's interesting to note that the anime will only be playing at various planetariums around the country. Seems like a good way to young kids out to planetariums and interested in science.

The latest volume of Space Brothers deals with lose, and Hibito's absence further heightens this sense of lose, and I hope we see him back soon. Focusing more on Mutta, we see more on the back story of two of his current mentors, Vince and Piko, and how they have used the lose of a dear friend to fuel their ambitions and to never let go of their dreams. We also see the return of one of Mutta's original mentors from his youth, Sharon, who finally achieves one of her dreams, but this is tainted by the sense of loss she feels as she succumbs to her illness.

I'm not sure what Chuya Koyama has in store for the two Space Brothers, Mutta and Hibito, and even though this is one of the most regularly released comics I read, I wish the central story would continue at a faster pace. I'm rather impatient to see how this series finishes.

Roboji

A light comedy directed by Shinobu Yaguchi and features one of my favourite young Japanese actors Gaku Hamada, along side Yuriko Yoshitaka and Japanese rock icon Mickey Curtis.

I first noted the slightly built Gaku Hamada in the 2006 release Golden Slumber. He had the small supporting role of an anarchic teen who lived on the streets. And then I saw in him in a main role in Ahiru to Kamo no Coin Locker, which features what I consider to be one of the best feature film portrayals of what it is like to be a foreigner in Japan. Then a comedic role in 2012's Space Brothers. But Roboji features Gaku in a more subtle comedic role that reminds me of Australia comedies produced by Working Dog Productions such as The Dish.

The female lead is played by Yuriko Yoshitaka, who I first saw in her film debut in the collection of short films for Otsuichi's ZOO. She appeared in the short film, Seven Rooms, which is possibly my favourite Otsuichi short story. So I'm always aware of her, when she pops up in various film roles and TV dramas. In Roboji she appears as a robot obsessed university student looking to pursue a career in robotics.

But the man who steals the show is the man inside the robot, Mickey Curtis, veteran of over 70 films, race car driver, rock and roll icon. Anyone one is a fan of King Crimson style progressive rock should check out Mickey Curtis and the Samurais 1971 album Kappa.

Back to Roboji, there is one thing that annoys me about the translation of the title of the film into English as Robo-G. The Japanese title, which I've just translated phonetically, is the portmanteau of robot and jiji (japanese for old man or geezer). It's a clever and fitting title. I'm not sure there is a suitable replacement title in English, but resorting to Robo-G feels like giving up too much, so I've stuck with the transliteration Roboji.