slice of life Archives - Page 3 of 4

Doing Time manga review

It’s been a while since I read something I actually enjoyed. Doing Time by Kazuichi Hanawa is quite similar to Hei no Naka no Korinai Menmen which I mentioned a few weeks ago, in that it’s a short chronicle of the author’s time spent behind bars. Both titles take a slice of life approach to the subject, showing what happens day in and day out. Who they meet, what they do, what they wear, where they sleep, and so on and so forth. If you read closely you’ll even see Hei no Naka referred to in Doing Time afterward, translated as “Some guys never learn behind bars.”

The similarities are many, but the difference in tone is astounding. Hei no Naka no Korinai Menmen has a puffed up, self-righteous moralizing tone to it while Doing Time largely steers clear of discussions of right and wrong and just focuses on everyday life. Furthermore, since Doing Time is originally a manga, written and drawn by the actual prisoner, while Hei no Naka is a manga adaptation of a novel, Doing Time has a livelier, more vivid and more realistic feel to the art and the details of life.

Comparing the two series would be an interesting exercise, seeing as there aren’t that many autobiographical titles set in prison. It would be an interesting exercise for someone else to do, but today I’m just here to talk about Doing Time. As usual, the summary:

Summary 1: Up to now, Kazuichi Hanawa expressed himself through works of fiction. The fantastic world of tales from the Middle Ages in Japan was his favorite setting. In 1994 Hanawa was arrested for owning a firearm. An avid collector of guns, he was caught whilst testing a remodeled handgun in the backwoods, miles away from anyone, and imprisoned for three years. Forbidden to record any details whilst incarcerated, Hanawa recreated his time inside after his release. He did so with a meticulousness rarely found in comics as every detail of his cell, every meal that was served, the daily habits of his cell-mates and, above all, the rigid regime are minutely noted and bring us into the very mindset of a Japanese prisoner. Made into a live action movie in 2002 by Sai Yoichi (All Under the Moon).

Summary 2: In 1994 the mangaka Kazuichi Hanawa was arrested on firearms offences and sentanced to three years in prison. Once released, Hanawa set about creating this autobiographical record of his life behind bars. The first few chapters relate to his incarceration in jail whilst awaiting trial and the rest of the work covers his actual prison sentance. There is no ongoing plot but, rather, each chapter relates in minute detail the customs and rituals of prison life – food, clothing, rules, work, exercise, bathing and so on and so forth. The only things omitted are the background of the author’s crime, trial, sentancing and release but an interview with the author and a commentary by the anime critic Tomohide Kure (who was involved in Hanawa’s defence) are included to shed some light on these aspects.

Most reviews will note how resigned to his lot and almost content the main character seems, and they’re right. Apart from the first chapter that deals with his nicotine cravings and the chapter about his annoyance at having to yell “Pleeease!” when he wants anything from the guards, his view of prison life seems remarkably positive. He and the other prisoners even look forward with great excitement to certain simple pleasures, like getting a special bread once a month or their New Year’s meal.

I'm going to try folding one of these soon. — I’m going to try folding one of these.

But when you think about it, there’s no reason why Hanawa shouldn’t be content. The Japanese prison he describes seems like a veritable paradise compared to what I know of prisons in other cultures. Your average prisoner in, say, Mali or Bolivia would kill to share a comfy, disease-free cell with only four other people. They get three healthy meals a day, they have running water, their cells are huge and spacious, their cell toilet even has a privacy screen, etc. Heck, lots of people on the outside even in Japan would be glad to have digs like that.

Not only that, but they also have all kinds of privileges that one wouldn’t expect prisoners to get. For example some prisoners have personal shavers. The prisoners also keep bottles (unclear if they’re glass or plastic) of sauce in their cell, surely a potential weapon if there ever was one. They’re even allowed to watch TV – not a TV in a general room but TVs right in their own cells, plus they have access to tons of books and all the latest magazines, as long as they’re considered ‘educational.’

And you might think, well that must be a minimum-security prison for people who haven’t done anything too serious, right? That’s what I thought at first, but later on the story introduces armed robbers and cold-blooded murderers, casually and unrepentantly chatting about their crimes and looking forward to their New Years’ treats just like everybody else. As the author wryly comments on one page, prison is so nice there’s no incentive to go straight!

In a sense, reading Doing Time is a good way to get a sense of Japanese culture as a whole. You learn a lot from the needless bureacracy, the tightly regimented lifestyles (even right down to when to walk, when to trot, when to look out the window and when not to) and the relative freedom and comfort the prisoners enjoy. It’s something only a country with a relatively low rate of violent crime (even taking into account the thousands of crimes the Japanese police hide every year) can get away with. It might be an interesting read for the Japanophile just for that alone.

For everyone else, Doing Time is still a good read, being a rare non-dreary, non-preachy tale of prison slice-of-life. You’ll come away feeling quite upbeat and cheerful, and more than a little hungry after pages upon pages of delicious-looking prison food. It’s been a while since I reviewed something I recommend and would be happy to re-read, but I think most people would have a good time, aha, with Doing Time.

A Single Match (Red Kimono) manga review

A Single Match (not sure where the title Red Kimono comes from, but it seems to be an alternative title) is a weird and boring manga brought to the west by Drawn & Quarterly, popular publishers of alternative graphic fiction. I didn’t know what “alternative graphic fiction” was before I read this, but now I know it’s just a short way of saying “weird rambling stuff that doesn’t make much sense but no one wants to admit they don’t get it, so they call it ‘alternative’.” It was so bad that I barely made it through the first three chapters. Still I’m glad I tried it just because now I know better than to pick up anything ‘alternative’ next time.

The story summary as given on the book jacket:

Garo’s gekiga Oji Suzuki explores memory, relationships, and loss with shifting narrative and a splash of surrealist humor. A young man catches a cold after being soaked in the rain and is tended to by his grandmother. He drifts, dreaming of a train trip with an older brother he doesn’t have. A traveling salesman comes across a boy lying in the middle of the road and stops to have a cigarette and tell a story that flows through memories of faces and places. A young woman walks along the river with her bicycle and a friend—who is nothing more than a disembodied head—discussing past times together, memories they have of each other. Suzuki masterfully plumbs the dissolute depths of the human condition—neediness, disappointment, and betrayal. He literally bathes his characters in expansive shadows that paradoxically reveal as much as they obscure. Suzuki is one of the most talented and poetic alternative cartoonists in Japan. A Single Match is his first English collection.

If that sounds like something you might like, go for it. For me it was just disturbing, disgusting and nonsensical. I mean, I can kind of see what the attraction is supposed to be: Suzuki describes vague snatches of people’s lives and leaves you to fill in the gaps. What happened before, what happened afterwards, what’s really going on, that sort of thing.

If I had to summarize the overall effect, though, it’s like a puddle of vomit. If you stare at it long enough you can pick out individual bits – that used to be a burger, that wobbly bit was probably a hot dog and so on, but at the end of the day you’re still staring at a puddle of vomit. It may sound like I’m using strong language, but the unpleasant events of chapter 2 in particular made me want to retch, hence the analogy.

tl;dr – If you like to spend time trying to make sense of stuff that doesn’t really make sense in the first place, A Single Match might be your thing. In fact, here’s a “proper” review by someone who’s paid to find the good in the worst of things: The Comics Journal review of A Single Match. However if, like me, you’re just looking for regular, ‘normal’ manga to read, avoid avoid avoid.

Maria the Convenience Store Girl volume 1 manga review

Maria the Convenience Store Girl is a 4-volume seinen slice of life manga written and illustrated by Mitsuru Miura. It was licensed in English by Netcomics and can still be read on their site for a small fee ($0.25 per chapter. I shudder to think how little the translator was paid). The Netcomics summary looks like this:

Maria is a sweet country girl who ventures to Tokyo to honor a favor for her late grandmother. Waiting for her at her destination – the Rosy Convenience Store in Misakigaoka – are the Tomekichi brothers, struggling with an increasingly senile grandfather, a clueless father, and a family business on the verge of bankruptcy. All seems hopeless, until one day Maria turns up on their doorstep – to the dismay of one brother in particular. To complicate matters, there are moody customers, ever-present food issues, and a shady inspector ready to strike at any moment.

Will Maria be able to save this little convenience store? Or is it doomed to fold?

A fun story that deals with life, love, and lunch, “Maria, The Convenience Store Girl” will make you feel warm inside–and maybe even a bit hungry!

Of course she’s going to be save it, otherwise this manga wouldn’t even exist. Maria is basically a perfect angel from on high who charms anyone and everyone she deals with in two pages flat. She’s earnest, naive, friendly, innocent (even when she’s randomly stripping to provide fanservice) and basically everything you would expect of a generic Mary Sue. They could easily have titled the series “Mary Sue Saves The Day,” since that is what every chapter boils down to.

No matter how serious the issue, whether it’s something minor like customers with dirty feet or something major like a woman trying to pass another man’s baby off as her boyfriend’s, all Maria has to do is smile and/or plead earnestly and everyone falls down at her feet and worships her knowledge and wisdom. “Maria showed me the error of my ways” is their everlasting refrain. It is ridiculously cheesy how she always ends up being the perfect solution to everyone’s problems. How Tokyo ever got along before she came along is beyond me.

Since that’s the case, there’s no need for me to read more than one volume of Maria the Convenience Store Girl. Heck, there’s no need to even read more than two or three chapters. Problem arise -> Maria solves it easily -> Everyone sings her praises -> Repeat from start. Even if more complex matters do arise in later volumes, it’s obvious she’s just going to solve them in her ‘innocent, country girl’ way, so there’s no reason to read it. The supporting cast only exists to make her look good, the art isn’t anything special, the little ‘comedy’ present is laughable, but not in a good way and long story short there’s no real reason to get this manga, not even for $0.25 a chapter.

Hei no Naka no Korinai Menmen manga review

Sorry for the long break. I’ll continue my discussion on good fonts for manga typesetting later on. Today I’m continuing my love for baseball manga by which has led me to attempt to read just about anything labelled as a ‘baseball’ manga. The only problem is that Mangaupdates’ categories are seemingly written by people who haven’t actually read the manga in question, so as with Iruka-chan ni Yoroshiku, it turns out the sport played in Hei no Naka no Korinai Menmen is softball, not baseball. A later chapter even explains why certain sports, particularly sumo and regular baseball were banned from the prisons. But I’m getting slightly ahead of myself.

The Hei no Naka no Korinai Menmen (塀の中の懲りない面々)manga is an adaptation of an autobiographical novel by Jouji (George?) Abe, probably better known by Western fans as the writer of Rainbow. I haven’t actually read Rainbow, but it won the 2005 Shogakukan Manga Prize, got an anime recently and receives regular translations, so I figure most people must know it.

The original Hei no Naka novel came out in 1986 and was a smash hit, Japan at the time being relatively favorably disposed to yakuza tales. The book spawned a TBS drama, a movie and this manga and even won an award for introducing a new catchphrase, “— menmen” into the Japanese language.

Hei-no-Naka-172 — Sample done by me. The original manga is in Japanese only.

What’s the book actually about, though? The title should tell you: “Hei no naka” = literally “within walls” i.e. in jail and “korinai menmen” = literally “people who haven’t learn their lesson.” Maybe something like “Unrepentant Jailbirds” would be a good title in English.

The manga chronicles Abe’s time in jail for… I forget exactly what he did. Does he ever say? Not sure, but he was definitely guilty. Most chapters focus on different individuals he encounters within the prison system. While there is a recurring cast of regulars, most chapters can be read on their own as standalone chapters.

That’s it for the content. Is the manga any good? Alas, it’s lacking quite a bit. It’s only 2 volumes long, but I suffered before I could even finish volume 1 and didn’t bother with the second one. Artistically speaking the art is clean, the character designs are simple but memorable, the panels are simply and effectively laid out, etc, etc. There’s nothing to complain about visually.

The problem is, the Hei no Naka manga sticks way too faithfully to the source text. It’s more like a heavily-illustrated novel than like a manga. It’s most likely because nothing much happens in the novel (which I haven’t read). To cut a long story short, most chapters consist of page after page of people just sitting around talking with these huge dialogue boxes full of reams of text over their heads. And they don’t talk about anything important either, just complaints or ranting about society (which is rich coming from the dregs of society) or Prisoner X explaining Prisoner Y’s background at length to the other prisoners, that sort of thing.

I must also take issue with the “golliwog”-style design of the African character in chapter 8. The other characters all have clearly defined features (though the slitty-eyed Chinese man is… not cool) but John Karbo is just this black mass with eyes and a vague nose and thick lips. And you thought blackface was a thing of the past. It’s a documented fact that some people in West and East Africa have very dark skin, but they aren’t featureless golliwogs the way this manga portrays them. I’m going to put it down to Japan being very ignorant about Africa back in 1988 and an overzealous artist trying their hardest to convey the “blackest of the black” skin the author calls for.

tl;dr Hei no Naka no Korinai Menmen is not a very interesting manga -the premise and the setting are intriguing, but the execution lacks a lot. If you like wordy, slice of life manga where nothing much happens you could do worse than this, but otherwise it’s not that great. If Jouji Abe’s story of his life in prison interests you, see if you can find the movie or the TV drama instead.

Taisho Yakyuu Musume anime review

Moderately interesting baseball slice of life anime set in 1920s Japan. Rich girl’s fiancee says something mean and she forms a baseball team to get back at him. The girls seem to be having fun, at least, and there are all the different kinds of wacky misunderstandings and romantic mix-ups that you would expect from your everyday high school anime.

I didn’t find Taisho Yakyuu Musume interesting enough to watch till the end, so I stopped around episode 10 and just skimmed through the rest. I’m happy that Koume’s relationship with Saburo seems to be going along well. Apart from that, I didn’t care to watch any more. Nice characters, but nothing you haven’t seen before from any moe slice-of-life show. The baseball action isn’t very good because for most of the show the girls really suck at it. The pitcher only learns to throw a breaking ball around episode 8 of 12, etc. etc. Worth a watch if you like high school girls, moe, or slice of life.

Spoilers: Most baseball anime series end with the protagonist’s team losing. This ratio goes up to 100% when it’s a show about girls facing off against boys. Heaven forbid that XX chromosomes should ever triumph over XY. Keep that in mind when you watch this.