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May 14, 2021
Travel is a 200-page silent manga depicting the train ride of a group of 3 people. Yokoyama is widely known for his experimental manga that focus more on the weird and unique art over the plot and characters, but this is the one story in which the stranger-ness of the characters is an advantage.
The story starts with our tritagonists entering the train station then boarding the train. Moving along through the rows of chairs, the gangway connections, politely making their way through various people. It provides a full immersion experience as you can sense the same uncertain tension when among many strangers. Shady eyes
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as those sitting look at the new people entering and walking around. Cautiously observing your whereabouts and hyper-focusing on any strange objects people are carrying. And the same way our tritagonists were observed, they in return project the same beady eyes at others entering the train after them. The train ride is long, taking them through the city and outskirts of town. Highways, trees, mountains, and apartment buildings. Each setting providing a unique perspective on how the train is viewed.
What Yokoyama illustrates masterfully in this work is his use of perspective. Specifically the perspective of the various characters. One scene in which the train is moving through a dense forest, the bright sun casts large shadows via the trees into the train. With the train moving, so do the shadows, making the shadows dance on all of the passengers' faces. In another scene, one of our protagonists is calmly looking through the window. The window provides a bit of a reflection in which our protagonist is actually staring at a passenger in the other aisle. Observing closely as the passenger reaches into his jacket only to pull out a book. A suspenseful fake out. But the passenger was not ignorant of his being watched and glanced right back at reflection in the window alerting our protagonist. Yokoyama also provides multiple angles of the same shot creating a vivid narrative. In a different scene the train passes under a bridge, the bridge itself has a different train on top. The angle switches and we can see someone on the top train staring down making quick eye contact with a different protagonist before it leaves.
All of this combined with Yokoyama's unique style of bold shapes and lines creates a masterful story in the art of wordless narratives. It's fair to say you don't read Travel, rather you experience Travel, as one would experience travel in real life. This is by far Yokoyama's best story to date published in English.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jan 22, 2021
This review is exclusively for the story The Box Man, published in its own volume by Drawn & Quarterly.
This manga is a very short 120 page-ish story, published in a nice hardcover format by D&Q. It's a near silent comic with there being maybe five sentences said in total. It takes you on a night time trip through a town full of oddities as a man on a bike is looking to deliver a strange box.
Within this story we see spectacular artwork with some gorgeous double page spreads that highlight the use of black. And not only is the art well depicted, it has
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an immaculate use of perspective. We see multiple angles of the same area in some cases, giving us the reader better spacial awareness. Sakabashira has a greater understanding of establishing shots and how to set them up. With one establishing shot, he sets in motion the next panels at different angles giving us an easy and smooth transition of the action of the characters. One of the most well defined action (as in movement) comics I've read.
The story itself is pretty simple, but this world is full of monsters and weirdos. Every couple of pages some dramatic turn happens forcing our protagonist into an odd situation. The middle of the book features what I can only describe as a catalog of Guardian Nen Beasts from Hunter x Hunter.
Its a wild ride throughout. Highly recommend this for all manga fans.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jul 31, 2020
This review contains spoilers.
This story starts out nicely and relatively small scale. A couple of odd battles here with Kiyomaru our protagonist making friends along the way. Everyone questions whats the point of having everyone fight each to be king and Zatch likes to avoid them if needed. The story is really neat when it acts as a slice of life with the tournament to decide the Demon King is put in the after thought. The first 1/3rd is a nice little read. '
However, the later 2/3rds of the series is taken up by 3 major arcs all in a row. Each one terribly
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drawn out. The first 2 major arcs throw a wide array of characters at us, over 2 dozen each. Some people complain about One Piece introducing 10 new characters for new arcs, Zatch Bell blows it out of the park. So many characters I don't know and never will care for. So many useless battles. It becomes sluggish to push through the series. This is ultimately what made me stop/start read the series until 6.5 years had passed.
To add to the problems, the consequences within Zatch Bell fell into the shonen power trap. The escalations of failure continued to grow to monstrous size. It goes from one demon wanting to genocide humans, to another demon wanting to genocide demons lol. The clashes turned from small scale fights that can happen in a field, to mountain busting, to a full on space battle.
Speaking of tropes. The ending was worse than Naruto and Fairy Tail combined. Power of friendship? Zatch Bell takes the cake easily with an unexplained power up having the spirits of the fallen demons coming to back Zatch up in his final fight lol. This is a massive problem from the beginning since the series failed to establish power rules or a power scale.
There's a mess of other issues. Racist depictions of black people, never explaining the politics of the demon world which is the source of every single problem, attempting to redeem every single character by giving them a sad backstory or saying the power they held is what made them evil. That includes both genocidal maniacs. There's also stupid reasoning that we shouldn't kill people even when dire circumstances call for it. At one point someone could've shot the book owner of one of the genocidal demons, effectively stopping the demon from using his power. Which was very much needed because a giant demon he was controlling was about to destroy to Japan. But noooo, we cant kill people, that'd make us just as bad.
To fixate on another issue, I mentioned prior how the last arcs introduced far too many new characters, This not only resulted in boring fights, but also diluted the use of the main stay characters. Many really good characters within the series got shafted to do something else so Zatch could be the forefront of attention. We never got to see the really unique fights that could've occurred between the other main stay heavy hitters. A travesty in storytelling setting up the less interesting protagonist to be the savior of all. Horse cock and bullshit is what it is. Fuck you, Bari is a better character. Fuck Raiku for shitting all over him.
I could go on and on with the issues of Zatch Bell citing more detailed examples, but you get it. Now I will focus on the positives.
Cute and badass character designs. Multiple amazing double spreads straight out of some kaiju world. There can be some really great character moments in mid-fight too.
That's it. Fuck this mess. Hopefully Raiku improved his craft in Animal Land.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Mar 28, 2020
Review is based off the adaption by Viz back in the 80s.
2/10.
A special 0/10 specifically for volume 2
One of the most useless and boring manga I've had the displeasure of reading.
Pointless and uncreative action scenes fill the pages, especially in vol 2. Explosion after explosion, so many explosions Michael Bay would be turned off. Dull, uninteresting characters. Everyone speaks like a robot. The dialogue is atrocious. Example given below. My issue isn't that it's chauvinistic, but that no one speaks in that manner. I would blame a horrid translation, but Gerard Jones the English Adaptor had translator notes where even he said the characters
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were boring. Leaving me to assume Tagami is an awful writer who doesn't actually talk to people. A bunch of robots named different things always showing up. The main enemy who don't really do much cuz our protagonist always defeats them. And some how a 2 volume series has such a jumbled plot that ends with no explanation.
This is fucking atrocious and I pray to god for forgiveness for exposing myself to this. I can't call it worm food because not even worms would eat this shit. This is on a completely lower level of hell in how bad it is. I could write 2 full pages on everything terrible about this series, but it doesn't deserve that attention.
Nice titties tho
https://imgur.com/a/tNch54E
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Jun 18, 2019
This is a review based off Fantagraphics release which has published the first 17 chapters.
Absurdist and surrealist comedy and horror with sociopolitical commentaries. Shintaro Kago's art is trippy and confusing and it reflects in his storytelling methods. Everything written and illustrated has dark undertones to it while the incomprehensible situation before you will have you in tears laughing.
The story itself is a series of short stories following the protagonist Yukie with each chapter being about a new elder(s) she's taking care of. As such we don't get to have much time with each character, but the time we do get is fleshed out appropriately
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to let us understand them, their ills, and laugh hysterically at their situations. Yukie herself is a very generic happy girl with determination to care for the elders. Being the protagonist she is the one character we're with the full time while each chapter slowly delves into who she is. Determined to properly care for her elders is one thing set from the start, but then you learn why she even decided become an aide worker through her upbringing. The batshit insane tasks she's given and told to perform are outrageous and any sensible person would quit. But not her, because money is a constant topic brought up briefly. The richer clients are ready to throw around the cash to which she'll respond. The perverse sexualization put on her at times can be disgusting to which she can't fight back on. This one may very well be bullshit where Kago just wanted to lewd her and is using politics as an excuse, but oh well. As such, in the same way we slowly learn bits of Yukie and the dark clouds above her, are the same dark clouds above each story focusing on elderly abuse, neglect, disenfranchisement, and othering. Again, with absurdist, abstract twists and nonsensical illustrations.
The physical book itself by Fantagraphics is amazing. It's an oversized edition to allow us to really enjoy the artwork. The front and back covers are both textured giving it a nice feel running from smooth to bumpy. The covers are also very thick to the point it's hard to bend it even though it's paperback! Binding may be a bit tight. The pages are top quality and thick. The back includes some colored illustrations from Kago, and because of the oversize we get to carefully appreciate his craftsmanship.
Highly recommend to anyone who enjoys absurdist comedy and for any manga collector.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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May 12, 2019
Not Applicable/10
Only leaving a score so it can be submitted. Reflects my enjoyment of the art.
First off, I refuse to rate this manga for two reasons. The first being that it was written for children in 1934 Japan. I am an American adult in 2019. I am too far separated from this product's origin. This is not to say you cannot judge series separated from you, but you need other products with which to compare and a bit of context for the culture. This is my first manga from the 1930s I've read and only 1930s Japanese media piece I've consumed. I have
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nothing with which to form a valuable opinion on this art form except through a modern lens and some untranslated newspaper manga strips from the late 1800s I looked through for art purposes.
Now with that out of the way, this work will bore the fuck out of you. The story is straight forward with Tankuro beating up a few bad guys at the start and then a story arc of him fighting some general over seas. Think of very old cartoons with simplistic, but creative fight scenes. They used a cannon to fire a stream of octopuses at Tankuro lol. Tankuro and co fell into a frozen body of water and the bad guy thought he won until a giant catfish popped out with Tankuro and co inside who survived by accident. Really dumb stuff. The dialogue is simple and nothing is complex. It's a children's manga. That said the story goes by very fast which I'm thankful for. A single volume is more digestible then if this was longer.
The art is childish. It felt like a 10 year old whose decent at drawing drew this. The monkey barely looks like a monkey. if a non-Asian person drew this then some might find a few of its portrayals of Japanese people is racist because that's how simple it is. Despite this there's a certain charm to it. It's not great art and its not supposed to be. Seeing how everything is depicted to be foolishly designed is nice. And the manga is fully colored by Sakamoto the mangaka. And I will say the color adds so much value. I can't stress enough through words how good the coloring is. It's brilliant. I don't like the story, but I'll admit I'm a sucker for this art. There's some really nice double spreads across this manga that I'd honestly like to hang up.
I also want to add the artwork here isn't wholly unique. I mentioned above I have looked through late 1800s newspaper manga strips and you can see the resemblance a bit. The artwork is also some what related to The Four Immigrants Manga which was published in 1924-1927. So I'm going to safely assume this type of artwork was the norm before more advanced and realistic styles took over.
The physical book itself is a 10/10. One of the best bound manga I've had the pleasure to feel and flip through. The slipcase is thick and hard and not some cheap flimsy material. Chris Ware designed the slipcase cover and while it's unique and interesting some people had a problem with it because Chris Ware's design makes the book look like a Chris Ware book. Tankuro is nothing like a Ware book. That said the book has a sleek pink (hard)cover and a nifty spine that's very sturdy. The pages are not typical cheap paper. They have a very smooth feel, and are slightly hued to greyer so its not white. Provides a nice rustic and old look for this very old manga. The paper does have the problem almost all manga have with light showing the other side, but its far far less here. You'd have to move the page to purposely and look to see it unlike with a regular Viz volume where you don't try and see the other side super easily. Press Pop did not cheap out for the printing of this book and I'd tell you to buy it just to feel it.
One thing that haunts me about this book though is that it's essentially propaganda for the Japanese army to children even if the mangaka wasn't doing it on purpose. The themes of nationalism are here and slightly disturbing if you focus on it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Dec 11, 2018
Yukichi Yamamatsu a 50 year old person from a developed country going to a developing country. Do not expect a culturally sensitive person. He depicts many problematic situations and ideas and shouldn't be looked at in positive light, but looked at in fascination of how he interacts with the new world around him as it chews him out.
Being an autobiographical and that the protagonist is in a foreign country where he doesn't speak the language, he stands as the only real character in the series. Most of everyone else doesn't need further characterization, but at times it feels like the other key reoccurring characters around
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him are lacking and if he could better communicate with them we'd have more developed or funnier conversations with them bouncing off each other. But as it stands people are neglected to being funny angry faces who he can't understand. Which was a smart idea to focus more on the comedy aspect of this stupid story.
There's not much else to say as it's a quick read and Yukichi being an idiiot failing to cross the language barrier. If you enjoy exaggerated funny faces you'll enjoy this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Oct 7, 2018
This is experimental manga. This is less about the story and characters and more focused on the artwork and designs. It's a fever dream come to life with many lines and diamond shapes to make you dizzy like Junji Ito's endless spirals in Uzumaki.
The dialogue is bare minimum, nothing extra added. Enough words are said for a subtle mystery to lay there to draw you in to read more. The real piece of this manga is the bizarre artwork.
That's all there is to my review of this very short story, but I need to fill a word count.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Oct 7, 2018
This is one of Jiro Taniguchi's later works and being that, I was disappointed by how un-creative it was. It carries over cheesy tropes and dialogue from ages past which shouldn't be an excuse just because Jiro was much older when he wrote this. This was a coming of age story, that acts as a self insert of the author, though the main protagonist isn't really interesting in the slightest as the kid is mostly shy, sad, quiet, and doesn't talk much to others which doesn't blend well with a story based in reality. The majority of the other characters are also very 1-dimensional with
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very small arcs attached to them, that don't lead anywhere.
Artwork was mostly good, great scenery images to set the feeling of being there. But the characters suffered from same face syndrome. Which again, didn't help the story that had a boring protagonist. Another weird issue that comes with older mangaka is the fixation of sex in certain parts of the story, where it's completely unnecessary and weird to bring up. Specifically for this series was the protagonist being vexxed by a woman editor because she was guiding a coworker on what to do and protagonist being envious of the coworker for both the help he received and being close to the woman.
I found myself laughing at certain scenes that were meant to be serious as well. It's very hard to take 1-dimensional characters seriously when they begin to act seriously.
The best part about this story was the final chapters with the protagonist's love interest and how the romance blossomed. The story was worth reading just for that pay off.
Not related to the story, but the physical book itself printed by Ponent Mon. The book is very nice hardcover, and bigger than standard size manga to really examine the artwork. Pages were very thick, it felt as if 2 pages were stuck together. Great quality.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Sep 11, 2018
This manga deals with the working environment of Japan in 1970 which you should know has only gotten increasingly worse to today. It's slice of life, but a darker look, short character studies on the working class people, and whether the writer intended to or not, a critique of capitalism. Examining how capitalism isolates individuals, which leads to alienation from society and creates anti-social behavior in people. If you wanted to watch a live action version of this I'd suggest watching Mr. Robot as they both hit the same points through different executions.
The ideas aren't new, but in 1970 Japan as the economy
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was rebuilding and increasing , you had fewer people warning about the drastic affects. Japan still holds a terrible work culture and the same alienation found in this manga can be observed in the modern day Japanese working class.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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