Gekiga Hyouryuu
A Drifting Life

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A Drifting Life tells an interesting tale. It falls into many of the pitfalls you would expect from a non-fiction work, in terms of irregular pacing, as well as not having any real arc to the story. However, it still manages to be incredibly well put together despite these shortcomings, and I had fun reading through it.

The tone of the story is often an uplifting and motivating one, with a few darker elements here & there. The whole story seems to work, though, as it feels very realistic. These aren't the trials and tribulations of fictional characters, but actual drama that happened to actual people, ... and the fact that some of that drama comes out of nowhere makes it even more striking when it does happen, and it makes the characters feel very realistic.

Speaking of the characters, I really enjoyed them. It feels a little odd to even call them characters, since they're all based on real people. However, they each have their own, unique personality that lends itself to the overall story really well. I feel like this is probably the strongest element of the book, and it's what kept me most interested in it as I got deeper and deeper in.

Aside from that, I also really enjoyed the setting. The book brings you right into that era of Japan, and it's interesting to see how Japan develops around the characters as well. There's also a lot of references to classic manga and artists in here, and it was pretty interesting just seeing all the references to these books and their creators, even if I'm unfamiliar with a lot of them.

The art is somewhat simple, but looks really great, evoking the style of many manga of the era. The backgrounds are drawn wonderfully, and have a lot of detail put into them, but I think my favorite thing about the art is the character design, which splits the difference between cartoony and realistic art styles, perfectly.

This book is easily recommendable to anybody who has any interest in manga history or manga creation, and also recommendable to anybody who just likes a good slice-of-life drama.

Art 8/10
Plain, old, basically classic gageki. Deliberately done in an old fashion style to evoke a feeling of antiquity.
Story 8/10
Just a biography of the life of Tatsumi and the hurdles he went through in developing a new style of manga.
Characters 8/10
These are real people. Although an interesting choice by the author to rename himself and his family as characters, I believe his intention is to create a manga persona and not focus much on his family situation, which was portrayed as bad a the time but somehow fixed itself overtime.
Enjoyment 5/10
Pretty boring at most of the time. The only thing keeping me reading this, ... is the fact that im reading this for 2019 manga challenge as well as the importance of Tatsumi as an author.
Overall 7/10
Only recommend if you are interested in Tatsumi's work or what he did for manga and seinen in general. If you want to read a gekiga manga, there are better ones out there.

The first third of the manga is all about Tatsumi's early life, before he became a professional manga artist. Drawing 4 pannels with his brother and submitting them to amateur reader's contests for his favourite serialisations, winning amateur awards. This act is all about how the setbacks he experienced, as well as the motivation and demotivation from his family, mostly his brother, and how it would alter attitude towards his manga hobby.

Hiroshi constantly expresses throughout the middle of the manga in the his distaste for the protrayal of the 50s era of manga which reflects Tatsumi's own beliefs about manga at the time.
Tatsumi didn't like the connations of manga being 4-pannel comics due to the populatisation of this style. His rejection can be seen in one scene where he asked of the removal of the world manga from the Shadow monthly publications. Often looking to inspiration from movies,
Hiroshi would incorperate film techniques into his manga and built a strong toolbox of techniques he would later use to create his own genre. Hiroshi hated the limitations of manga, not being able to be written in real time like movies, he wanted change
believing that someone would create a new style of manga, foreshadowing the creation of Gekiga genre.

Tatsumi was experimental with his mangas that werent mangas as depicted in Horoshi. The techniques he incorarporated would influence other award winning manga authors. Tatsumi importance to seinen as a genre cannot be stress, yes his biggest influence was on Osamu Tezuka with his later works of A message to adolf and Pheonix having elements of gekiga but his probally most important influence was Naoki Urasawa who wrote the three master pieces of seinen manga, Pluto (co written with Tezuka), Monster, and 20th Century Boys.
However, another key aspect conveyed is this manga, is that Tatsumi was also influence by different manga authors and mediums. According to the manga, Hiroshi wanted to distinguish his manga from children manga so he used the word gekiga in one of his titles, and thats how the term was coined.

The ending.
Tatsumi basically forms a gekiga workshop group, gets sick of it and loses all motivation. Then the ending is Tatsumi/Hiroshi having an epiphany that he will never give up on gekiga and that is where the story ends. There is an epilogue after the great Osamu Tezuka dies and where Tatsumi is now.

Gekiga is an art form that differs from the fantasy shonens of the time by focusing on everyday life and human experiences. "A Life in the Margins" successfully tells the story of Tatsumi and his collaborators, who created the gekiga trend and followed their passion for comics despite the obstacles.

"A Drifting Life" by Yoshihiro Tatsumi is an inspiring and captivating manga that tells the true story of the author and his quest to create a new genre of manga called "gekiga". This manga offers a fascinating glimpse into the history of Japanese comics, and the challenges authors faced as they sought to expand the scope ... of storytelling in manga, including focusing on much more borderline issues.

Tatsumi's story is moving and well-written, and the drawing is detailed for the time, perfectly capturing the atmosphere in which the mangakas lived. The characters are well developed and realistic, and readers can easily identify with their struggles, successes and failures. Reading "A Life in the Margins" is a real pleasure for manga lovers and manga history enthusiasts. It allows us to discover some precursors and many nice anecdotes about the collaborators and investigators of the current.

In conclusion of this short review, "A Drifting Life" is a must-read manga for Japanese comics fans. It offers a unique look at the history of Japanese comics and the creation of the gekiga genre, while telling a compelling story about Tatsumi's passion for comics. If you are interested in the history of manga and the "gekiga" trend and want to discover new perspectives on the creation of manga, this is a must-read.