Manga Extravaganza

Manga is a huge part of Japanese life. Out West, we are all familiar with the joys of anime and the Nippon obsession with bubble-eyed schoolgirls and the despicable monsters that would have their way with them. Those who attended my leaving party last year were the unfortunate spectators of my own interpretation of the delights of hentai.

I remember fondly my time in Tokyo, seeing grown men on the brimful subways, all deeply immersed in their comic book of choice. Indeed, so much is the love of manga, that unlike in the West, where you are an oddball if you like comics, those who shy away of the monthly instalments of Naruto and other such page-turners in Japan are considered just plain weird.

So, this month, having received a bundle of books from one of my young students, I decided to immerse myself in the comic culture of Japan. And what with having to pay a small fortune to satisfy my X-Men addiction, I figured why the heck not? And so, fair readers, here’s the run down on a few of the popular pulp over in the far reaches of the East.

Case Closed!

Bloodhounds, bloodshed and beheadings adorn every page of this addictive little detective story, a Japanese dedication to the works of Conan Doyle. Jimmy Kudo is a high school prodigy, adept at solving mysteries that beguile even the most adept of the local police force. That is until the mysterious Men in Black subject him to an experimental drug that turns him into a six year old boy.

Taking the pseudonym Conan Edogawa, Jimmy struggles to hide his true identity whilst at the same time tracking down his new nemesis and fighting his feelings for the lovely Rachel. With a plethora of brain-busting puzzles and a sharp-tongued wit, Jimmy’s adventures are fun for all the family.

The Wonderful World of Sanzae-San

I think this is some kind of daily comic strip. The Japanese Peanuts perhaps, telling the story of a dysfunctional Japanese family, and centring around the exploits of the scatterbrained Sanzae. Perhaps akin to America’s Family Circus, though I don’t know as my knowledge of that is merely through sitcom osmosis. It’s a peculiar one, and most definitely a Jap thing. Some of it is laugh out loud hilarious, but the vast majority of strips left me with a real feeling of “sorry, what?”

Doraemon

Doraemon is something of a national treasure round these parts. His face adorns just about every variety of merchandise imaginable, and with his 30th movie having just hit cinemas, he continues to reign supreme. At first, I must admit, I though he was some kind of seal, but turns out he’s actually a robot cat from the future, able to produce anything from his magical pouch. It’s all a little strange really, and like Sanzae-San, I often found myself utterly bewildered. Give me Garfield any day.

Battle Royale

Koushin Takami’s notorious novel became famous throughout the world with the release of the infamous movie of the same name. And the book is great, don’t get me wrong. I read it a few months ago, and it truly is a page turner. Unfortunately, it leaves many questions unanswered, and leaves you wanting so much more. So, with a team of artists, Takami decided to give his audience exactly what they wanted; an explicit, blood-soaked multi-volume comic book expanding on the world created within the pages of his book.

The Battle Royale manga is beautifully illustrated, with just the right gore to up-skirt ratio one desires in any good adult oriented manga, and gives each and every student of the ill-fated class their own backstory. It also makes the villains all the more terrifying, relishing in their psychoses, and finally explaining why they are just so darned disturbed. Five full stars for awesomeness here.