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Aug 21, 2024
Ningen Shikkaku is the autobiography of Osamu Dazai, told through the character Oba Yozo. Throughout the work, the protagonist narrates his process of dehumanization, gradually distancing himself from society. The book is narrated in the first person, creating a bond between the reader and Yozo. I believe the discomfort experienced while reading Ningen Shikkaku stems from how the reader might identify with the protagonist's experiences, particularly with the absence of what makes him human. As the story progresses, the protagonist's moral degeneration intensifies, leading him to further withdraw from society.
While the book Ningen Shikkaku offers the reader a “character analysis,” allowing for an intimate relationship
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with the protagonist, Junji Ito’s manga adaptation discards all the character development—which I believe to be the most interesting part of the book—to focus on constructing “horror” through the idea of the grotesque. Ito creates a new narrative for Ningen Shikkaku, yet he doesn’t dare to stray far from the original content, adapting the work in a way he believes makes it more shocking. The biggest shock I experienced while reading the manga was seeing Ningen Shikkaku adapted in such a crude way, fulfilling a completely different function than the book and thus distancing the protagonist from the reader. Junji Ito's attempt to make the work more shocking ends up turning the events into exaggerated and caricatured moments, losing the subtlety and ironic tone present in the original content. Consequently, the manga becomes very superficial, failing to delve into Yozo’s mind and what disqualifies him as a human, nor does it use these shocking moments effectively, as they become so exaggerated and silly. I believe this is one of Junji Ito’s most clumsy mangas, unfortunately not as comical as Gyo or Uzumaki.
I would like to compare the grotesque in Suehiro Maruo’s manga Ultra Gash Inferno with the grotesque in Junji Ito’s Ningen Shikkaku. Ultra Gash Inferno is filled with sex—repugnant sex, sex that involves human disfigurement, something violent and repulsive, yet still full of aesthetics, beauty amidst the purest ugliness. Meanwhile, the sex in Ningen Shikkaku tries to be vile for its own sake. The ugliness is moral; the grotesque is in the act of sex itself. The book contains few sex scenes, and in those moments, the protagonist feels apathetic about the situation; he doesn’t feel guilty or like a sinner. In the manga, the protagonist is literally haunted by ghosts from his past, most of whom are women who passed through his life, with whom he slept at some point, leading to great misfortune that further impoverishes Yozo. Junji Ito adapts the sex scenes using the same moral criticized throughout the book: sex is wrong. This is where the horror of the manga concentrates—shocking with sex scenes and ugly characters. Junji Ito is considered a disruptive author, but in Ningen Shikkaku, the ugliness and grotesque reflect society’s moralistic view of what is happening in the plot.
The ghosts of Yozo’s past, heavily present in the manga, distort the protagonist’s personality, making his experiences seem trivial, and turning the work into something overly expositional, not allowing for a real sensibility to the events. These moments end up serving only as a stage to judge the protagonist, condemning him for being so far removed from what is considered “right” in Ito’s eyes. The focus of the manga is on showing how miserable Yozo is because of his sins, not because of his disconnection from society, his shame, and his fear of other people. This causes a significant loss of the existentialist content and psychological analysis of the protagonist present in the original work, giving way to the moralism employed by Ito in his adaptation. Ito doesn’t innovate much in terms of plot or aesthetic choice, maintaining a conservative view of the work, unable to shock without being exaggerated or caricatured.
In his interview with VIZ, “A Talk with Junji Ito,” Ito comments that there is a limit to the content of his stories: not to cross the boundaries of common sense. Adapting a work that isn’t tied to current morals like Ningen Shikkaku using this “common sense” only serves to reinforce Ito’s viewpoint on the work, which should make him the last author to adapt this story (Furuya should be the second-to-last).
In conclusion, the positive aspects of Junji Ito’s Ningen Shikkaku manga are due to the merits of the original work, with the manga being a distorted and superficial adaptation, exaggerated to the point of bad taste. If you’re interested in the content of the manga, read the book instead.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Aug 8, 2024
Hirogaru Sky! Precure is probably one of the biggest disappointments I've had when it comes to mahou shoujo. Hirogaru carries the proposal of being an innovative anime compared to other Precures, breaking certain character-related clichés: the protagonist is the blue heroine, a boy is part of the "magical girls" group, and there is a Cure who is already in college. This breaking of stereotypes is interesting, but unfortunately, it seems that the anime is just fulfilling a quota of characters for the main cast. The innovative points of the anime are limited to this; the rest is the typical episodic superhero show, where every episode
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results in a confrontation with a random monster and a moral lesson. I believe Hirogaru Sky! Precure is more akin to Paw Patrol than to a mahou shoujo.
Hirogaru Sky does not escape the flaw of many Precures in being a childish anime. I believe a children's show should not be limited to being moralizing, constantly trying to teach a lesson to the audience in the most pedagogical way possible. There are children's animes and infantilized animes. The latter merely reproduce adults' views on what children's things are, always in a hierarchical, didactic tone, teaching what they need to learn at that stage of life. The work's space becomes an educational field, and the artistic part is left aside. This is the case with Precure; the conflicts in the work always seek to teach basic values as if the audience were imbeciles. This does not belong to the children's universe. A child does not have an understanding and concerns related to morality, justice, or even the importance of friendship, which is so emphasized in the anime. This is an outsider's view, an adult's perspective on what they consider important for a child's development. Above all, in infantilized animes, the experience of being a child is disrespected.
On the other hand, children's animes seek to reach the child audience by embodying the essence of seeing the world from a child's point of view, creating a story rich in imagination, fantasy, or even filled with play. Unlike an infantilized work, the adult visits the children's world seeking to have a child's perspective, being curious, turning the world into a stage of constant discoveries. Creamy Mami, for example, is a mahou shoujo that uses magic to bridge Yuu's childlike world with the adult environment of show business.
Unlike Hirogaru Sky, Creamy Mami is not a lesson about what kind of adult a child should become by imparting a set of rules for the character to learn. Instead, it is an anime that encourages the imagination of what the child wants to become in the future. Using her powers, Mami can be anything she desires, just as a child can dream of becoming whatever they wish. Works that achieve this can be enjoyed by both children and adults, as we have all been children and experienced these sensations. This respects childhood, the child's subjectivity, without a top-down perspective.
In summary: although the target audience of the anime is children, this should not prevent an adult from watching without feeling like they're watching a well-produced episode of Peppa Pig or receiving a moral lesson from their parents. So, there are no excuses.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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