Vagabond

Tastes evolve. When you were a kid you loved flashy, weirdly animated and often simplistic cartoons or shows. The good guys were always good and the bad guys were always beaten.

When you grow up you tend to re-evaluate the current situation. Maybe you see layers of complexities in the stuff you thought was simple or simply find something that blows you away. In that vein, I admit to have read and watched many a morose anime series and read many a manga from the former.

That is until I read Takehiko Inoue's 'Vagabond'.

Takehiko is known widely amongst the western world for his iconic manga about basketball called 'Slam dunk'. I've read that too, but this is miles and miles above the fantasy world of Shonen manga. This is a masterpiece in itself.

The manga deals with a re-telling of the life of Miyamoto Mushashi loosely based on the novel by Eiji Yoshikawa. While the novel is an epic work spanning at least 6 books detailing Mushashi's rise as a swordsman in the midst of Japan's feuding lords, the manga deals with it in a more personable manner, making it easier for the reader to get into the mind of someone we can only imagine.

Miyamoto Mushashi, inventor of the Hyoho Niten-ichi ryu style of kenjutsu, was a 16th century swordsman in Japan. At a very early age he showed skill with a sword others could only dream of. Stories of a boy from the country who bested students and masters from reputed schools of swordsmanship with a wooden sword made him grow into a living legend. A man who was and is considered the archetype of a samurai in many a mind.

But how did he reach this pinnacle? How did he become the Mushashi? That is where Takehiko Inoue's work provides an interesting insight.

Takehiko's work and basis of Mushashi's life is grim and dark. In the manga Shinmen Takezo, Mushashi's birth name, is a boy castigated by villagers as being a demon child after he assaults and kills a swordsman who issues a challenge to the townsfolk. His violent and angry ways fuelled by his cold hearted and anarchic father, Takezo leaves the village aged 17 to fight in the war between the Tokugawa and the Toyotomi families for control of Japan. Along with Takezo goes his boisterous and reasonably untalented friend Matahachi who wants nothing more than to prove he is a man and Takezo's equal. Their lives run parallel to each other in the manga and are beautifully inverse in their odd relationship as friends.

The Mushashi in the manga is a beast. A demon forged by the sole purpose of being "invincible under the sun". He fights mercilessly, kills without remorse or hesitation and lives a destructive life. The manga portrays this in a most graphic sense, so be warned it's not pretty or nice. Reading a little into the manga, the reader is able to recognize Takezo/Mushashi's reasoning behind his way. We realise his motives for being this way as a justification of his existence.

When he isn't drawing his sword against a foe, Takezo is a quiet youth. Forever in his thoughts, polite and righteous Takezo deals with his day to day interactions in a humane way. He is almost portrayed as being more animal than human in thought, surviving on instinct. It is later that he, through his interactions and reflections realises what he is doing and has done all his life. He understands the concept of karma and his hand in creating a "cycle of death and desperation".

While my understanding and portrayal of the manga may seem complicated, the language and method used by Takehiko Inoue is simple and straightforward making it one of the most easily read manga I have ever come across.

What really shines through is the artwork. Characters are realistic. The odd rare super-deformed heads and anime conventions of emoticons are present, usually for comic effect, but they are unnoticable in the sheer work in making the character's feel believable. The picture I put up with this post is one of the examples of how the manga is drawn. Takehiko uses both pen and brush in liberal doses to create a fluid, almost Sumi-e form of expression. The swordfights are brutal affairs, dealt within a few panels - No acrobatics - No special moves - No superhyperpowered laser beams. All players are human, with human limits. The 'good guy' or the main character suffers real injuries that take a believable time to heal.

All this serves to negate the suspension of belief for this manga. Quite the opposite that by showing these characters who are so strong yet so fallible, Takehiko defies most anime and manga conventions. To anyone who thinks comics are unreadable things, I would recommend Vagabond.

You can read Vagabond here. It is marked mature for its graphic content.

Adventure Boys and Memories

Today I'm going to write about a manga and an anime I've recently seen. Both of them are fairly dated yet they are in themselves works of art.

Lets talk about the manga first. It's known as "Adventure Boys" or "Boken Shonen". Drawn and written by noted mangaka Adachi Mitsuru and serialised between '98 and '06 it's his best work till date.

sidenote: Most japanese comics are 'serialised' or released chapter by chapter in magazines that are compilations of different mangakas. This makes reading them a more involving affair and gives many artists their 'breaks'. Popular magazines include Shonen Jump and Weekly Shōnen Magazine.

Adventure Boys comes in the form of 7 well told stories. We've all reached a point in our lives where we can look back on our youth. It's odd that sometimes our aims when we were young and our aims now conflict and sometimes suffer the ravages of time and sensibility. The manga tells us stories of this disillusionment of our youthful ideals through the eyes of the young.

The artwork in the manga is Mitsuru's traditional style which he uses in his more mainstream manga - Detailed backgrounds and props foreshadowed by simple facial and bodily forms. This drastic contrast lends to the apparent innocence of the subject matter.

Mitsuru's story writing is even more engrossing - he keeps it simple while letting the reader form their own thoughts about the direction things are going in. He doesn't hold your hand and lead you through the pages - he offers hints, tips and nudges in the right way. It covers a wide variety of subjects including the changes in friendship's, childhood beliefs, atrocities and even the innocent concept of love and belonging.

If this makes you want you to throw up, stop reading and skip to the movie below - still - I would reccomend reading this when no one else is looking lest you feel 'lame' or 'stupid'. The stories in this manga are applicable to all of us. So put your egos in a box and read.

All in all, a highly recommended read for anyone and not just manga lovers. You can read all 7 chapters online here.



Next, I'd like to talk about Memories by Katsuhiro Otomo. If any of you've watched the cult classic Akira and recognize it's makers name, then Memories will not disappoint.

‘Memories’ is a movie made up of 3 unrelated segments. All based on stories written by Otomo and directed by friends of his who have worked with the award winning artist/director in the past.

The first segment is called 'Magnetic Rose' directed by Koji Matsumoto and screenplay by Satoshi Kon. Set in a time in the future where space debris is eliminated and retrieved by ships serving as intergalactic garbage trucks. One such ship receives a mysterious S.O.S. from a highly magnetized region of space. What's more strange is that the S.O.S is actually an operatic piece. The crew find themselves drawn towards the source while wondering what lies there....and whether it's friendly.

The second one is a more humorous, sarcastic take on human frailties. 'Stink Bomb', directed by Tensai Okamura and screenplay by Otomo, is a comedic masterpiece of insane proportions. All hell breaks loose when a biological weapon is let loose towards Tokyo, prompting the entire Japanese self defence force to combat the terrible onslaught. The onslaught being brought by a single, weak, mild mannered lab assistant, Nobuo Tanaka. On a Honda super cub scooter. This is made of so much Win.

Sidenote: Here's what a Honda cub looks like. note the sheer unimpressiveness of the thing.

Finally, there's the short yet epic 'Cannon Fodder'. If you ever thought anime wasn't your cup of tea and the flashy lines and cheesy dialogue put you in a state of catatonic disapproval then this is what you need to see. The exception to the case, written and directed by Otomo himself, Cannon Fodder is equal parts Orwellian nightmare and a study into the world's (current) state.

All three shorts carry a pedigree in artwork, music and screenplay with them. The medium of animation, not restricted by physical boundaries or materials, allows the stories to come alive in ways most film makers can only think of. The segments provide you with a mix of all genres nearly at once - sci fi, action, comedy, drama and thrills - while not making it a mish mash of the same.

You can watch a medium quality, subtitled version of this film here. Let it buffer for a bit and be sure to click accept or the file wont play.