Having consumed manga for years, I’ve grown to like some authors a little more than the others. When this happens I go into a mad frenzy, reading as much as I could about the author and try to see  if he has grown as an author, if he has stagnated, or if my relationship with him as a fan would be tumultuous – loving, hating, agonizing, enjoying every single work he has released.

I thought I’d give myself a monthly special to put this habit of mine into good use, besides; it will at least give me the discipline of having to write something special every month. This will also allow me to do something I had wanted to do but never had the chance to – write about remarkable manga artists and writers. Perhaps this will encourage readers to explore more of that author’s work.

For my first spotlight, there’s no other author that comes to mind but the Tezuka of today: Naoki Urasawa.

THE MAKING OF A MONSTER

My life before Naoki Urasawa was packed with shounen and shoujo dreams. At that time, all I cared about was Naruto’s cloning technique and Sai’s search for the Hand of God. I was a voracious manga reader and it came to a point when I was looking for something different, something real and without the sparkle or the battles. An old friend of mine suggested that I check this title called Monster. He wasn’t exactly sure if it was my cup of tea but he knew for a fact that once I started reading, I won’t  stop reading.

And I didn’t. I ended up looking for more.

I’m quite sure that a lot of us started reading Urasawa-sensei through his work Monster. This award-winning title of a doctor trying to re-claim his innocence was shocking, captivating, and thrilling: the makings of an amazing suspense drama. I was turning pages in anticipation, each panel was filled with emotion that it was hard not to be engrossed. It was hard not think that Urasawa was amazing.

Despite the round and almost cartoony art style, this man managed to convince us that he was serious business. I remember feeling fear over a shadow of a boy, disgust at the sight of Eva, and hatred in Tenma’s eyes. His style does not compromises the story he wished to portray in fact his straightforward art only highlights the complexities of his stories.

It is in Monster that we see Urasawa’s brand of manga. It would make sense that while America clamored to get the license of 20^th Century Boys, Urasawa and his publishers insisted that America should read Monster first. They come hand in hand like gin and lime, two acidic flavors that mellow out after it ruffles your feathers. Monster was a tart start that’s followed by the burning finish that came with 20^th Century Boys. To understand the insane trip of 20^th Century Boys, one had to first know what Urasawa has to offer.

But is Monster what Urasawa can only offer? His career in manga would say otherwise.

THE BOY AND GIRL NEXT DOOR WITH BIG DREAMS

A page from Urasawa's debut title: Return

While we are only reaping the success of Urasawa’s works, he has been quite a name already in Japanese manga. He began in 1983, handing out a comic about a man whose life’s changed after an encounter with a robot, Return. While we know how well Urasawa captures human and robot relations in Pluto, his one shot Return was nowhere near his masterpiece. The story and the art were too plain even if it has one of those subtle poignant messages about life. But even with that, Return managed to capture the judges of Shogakukan’s Rookie of the Year award. Urasawa worked hard to get himself published and it was a little later that he managed to debut as a mangaka with his work Beta, a cute and hilarious story of man who woke up with something strange on his face.

His rounded style matched his early humor and his works that came after, The Dancing Policeman, NASA, Sayonara Mr. Hani, Mighty Boy, and a couple of his other short works were all light-hearted comedies filled with big dreams. I’m thinking that in a way, it captured his energy as a mangaka, taking stories from what was closest to him and giving us a delightful view of life.

This early comedic brand of Urasawa follows in his first masterpiece, Yawara! The young fashionable girl who has great Judo potential brought a big Yawara! and Judo boom in Japan which eventually culminated to the addition of the sport in the Olympics. Of course, Urasawa’s not entirely to blame for that but he was one of the major influences that made Japan look towards the sport and to other Yawara potentials.

And the comic had every reason to cause a frenzy among the Japanese people. It was fresh, vibrant, a little crazy (well, Jigoro was crazy), and cute. I’m not exactly familiar with its contemporaries in Big Comic Spirits, but as a reader looking back, I found it to be a lively read for a seinen comic. It was in many ways similar to the previous sports manga superstar, Touch by Adachi Mitsuru. It was similar in a way that it had Urasawa draw a very strong heroine and a funny and almost dorky supportive hero. One of the major differences was the hesitant hero was turned into a heroine. Another was the major focus on the sport with the side story of a romance. It was possibly strange for those who were used to the hardboiled atmosphere of Spirits but Urasawa managed to sell the young fashionable Yawara to readers. His popularity with Yawara eventually led him to have the leverage to write other stories he wanted to write.

BUILDING THE SUSPENSE AND DRAMA

A panel from Master Keaton

Urasawa had grown leaps and bounds after Yawara. The once cute crooked and round lines eventually became slicker. Uniformed faces became more distinct and his knack for detail was slowly but surely came out. By the time Pineapple Army came out, a strange army drama, Urasawa was out of his readers’ comfort zone. I’m not exactly sure how popular Pineapple Army was and while I haven’t read it, looking at Kate Dacey’s responses only made me think that it was probably written enough for it to finish. Master Keaton came after Yawara and personally I think this laid ground to Urasawa’s brand of suspense. The comic was episodic in nature, with no direct story line beyond an understanding of Keaton’s capability of being the Mcguyver of manga.  What these manga built though was Urasawa’s ability to draw and take us to places. In Keaton particularly, the dessert, the cobbled streets, the images of the Western world would come alive in his pages.

These stories were different to Yawara and I would imagine that a clamoring for the old glory made Urasawa bring back his strong lovely heroine in the tennis drama, Happy!

Happy! was nowhere near the cheerful vibrant pages of Yawara but in its own way, it’s the most vibrant out of all of Urasawa’s works. It was quite an unhappy beginning for a title that bears happiness. But compared to some of Urasawa’s titles, it has the liveliest and interesting characters I’ve met in manga. I’m also not sure of the popularity of this title however I think Urasawa managed to hone his ability to weave and intertwine the lives of his characters in this title. It still turned out to be a lovely piece and it was perhaps at this stage that Urasawa proved to people that he had the ability to write and draw something that the audience would love without compromising his story. Years of training are now gone and he now had the equipment to do what he wanted. Once Happy wrapped up, Urasawa shifted his gears and created a monster.

MONSTER IN THE 20^TH CENTURY

A page from Pluto

I’m quite sure that most of you have read his masterpiece Monster and was in awe of how he drew and wove his story together. Tenma’s dilemma was heartbreaking and horrifying that the word monster, while innate to the Japanese, has a very different bearing as soon as it came under Urasawa’s hand.

Monster was a different monster and as a story teller, Urasawa began to question what that word meant and how its meaning has changed in this day and age. In this comic we meet the human monster, the kind that we did not expect, and the kind that still terrified us because it was real. This psychological and sociological exploration became his most notable work, earning him awards left and right and finally gave him critical acclaim.

This exploration of semantics became the heart of Urasawa’s next line of works. In 20^th Century Boys he explored the meaning of “Friend.” In Pluto, it was “humanity.” In his latest work, Billy Bat, he looked at the visual semantic of a cartoon. Are cartoons innocent of meaning or are they just as political? The man didn’t fear to raise questions on the banality of words and people. He was, in many ways, similar to Tezuka. While he may not have written shoujo or shounen, Urasawa too moved from his cheerful and simple beginnings to the complex monster of a mangaka that he is today. There were fragments of his livelier days in his later work, but overall they were pensive and questioning.

THE GENIUS

From Yawara!

I love to use the word genius to describe Naoki Urasawa and his works. There were so many things that he had done that was quite unexpected from what we’d usually expect in manga and while he wasn’t exactly the first to do it, he was one of the few of who was courageous enough to brave the panels with his beautiful art and compelling stories.

He is one of the reminders of how powerful manga can get, that there’s no need to compromise in order to get the story told. While I’m a big fan of his works, lately I’ve been questioning my own affections because of some of the decisions he has made at the end of 20^th Century Boys as well as with his new work, Billy Bat. The problem with Urasawa now is he’s taken comfort with his formula. And while I love the great WTFs he’s been throwing our way, at least in his latest work, Billy Bat, I believe I’ve had enough. I will be honest in saying that I do miss the old happy-go-lucky Urasawa. I can only hope he brings back those lively characters again and still write a story that would hold his philosophy.

That said, it doesn’t mean I no longer have the admiration I have for the man. He is still, in many ways, the man who opened my eyes to seinen manga and I cannot rob him of that respect.

THE READING LIST

For those who want to get into Urasawa, here’s a couple of titles that would probably make you enjoy his works… at least in English: MONSTER, 20^th Century Boys, Pluto.

For those who can read Japanese and has access to some Japanese manga, here are some of the more accessible Urasawa titles: YAWARA!, Happy!, Master Keaton.

For those who can read Japanese and would like to go through the lengths of reading more of his works, here are some of his works: 初期のURASAWA (Shoki no Urasawa – Early works of Urasawa),  Pineapple Army, Billy Bat, Jigoro!

I can’t get it out of my system. I’m compelled to spazz.

Three weeks ago,  Morning announced that they’ll be bringing a set of new titles for magazine, the first of which was a story named Billy Bat written by Naoki Urasawa. The story, as they published in the presses, is a mix of Mickey Mouse, Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Dick Tracy, and slew of other American comic icons combined. Seeing the cover art made me think once or twice about what Urasawa was up to. They even showed a cover spiel at the Morning website. First, it looked like a superflat Batman. Second,  honestly, it didn’t feel like it was Urasawa’s line of work. I started to think, was Urasawa undergoing some mangaka mid-life crisis and wanted trying something very new to him? Either way, I patiently waited for my Morning issue the next week. Maybe I’ll get my answers there.

True enough, Billy Bat was on the cover in last week’s issue and the first chapter was printed on a paper that reminded me of old American comics.  It was packaged in such a way that there were ads for Billy Bat and on it was a name that shook my senses over lunch: Kevin Yamagata. When I saw that name, I turned to my friend and told her, “I have a feeling that Billy Bat is not Urasawa’s work.” So I speculated to my friend a theory. That Billy Bat was a front and the real story revolves around the author, this Kevin Yamagata. I even imagined how in a chapter, the comic will pan out and it will show Mr. Yamagata working on Billy Bat. This was of course, my speculation. And really, a good part of me that week wanted to wait for the next few chapters before spazzing¹ because… it was a very different Urasawa and I found it difficult to see how the hell he will spin Billy Bat‘s world and art in the same way he has spun the lives of Johann, Miyuki, and Kenji. So my theory is, if he managed to shift people’s vision of Atom in Pluto, he can do the same for Billy Bat. And so this week came, and you know what… Urasawa and I mindmelded².

See, I knew he was up to something. I JUST FRIGGING KNEW IT AND IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT. When my friend texted me about it over the weekend I was squeeing. By the time I was reading the spiel on Kevin Yamagata at the start of the chapter, I knew it’s bound to be greater. Not that I claim that I KNOW HIM by heart, but I had a gut feeling as a fan that he’s not going to settle for a regular story with Billy Bat. And now, I’m happy to spiel that there’s the usual Urasawa mystery involved with Billy Bat. I believe it will be amazing.

So now, we have an entirely different story from what has been said in the presses.

Billy Bat is an American comic written by a Kevin Nakazawa. You can say that Billy Bat‘s story is as mentioned above, a noir Batman/Dick Tracy-esque tale about a private detective trying to clean up a dirty city. It’s quite popular although it suffers from editorials telling Kevin Nakazawa to keep on changing the story and keep it connected to Russian spies. So much so that it frustrates Kevin Nakazawa as the writer.

With two chapters, I can barely tell you what it’s entirely about other than this. There is that little mystery that Kevin’s neighbor is a being investigated by some coppers as a Russian Spy (which didn’t impress Kevin at all). And there is that mystery wherein one of the coppers said about Nakazawa’s Billy Bat was something he had seen when he was in Japan. The last one struck a note in Kevin and I think that’s probably where Urasawa-sensei is heading.

After seeing the second chapter, I’m completely excited by this venture. I honestly didn’t expect Urasawa to publish stories in both Shogakukan and Kodansha at the same time, in magazines that compete with each other³. Nonetheless, Billy Bat is a great addition to the roster of comics lined up in Morning. It’d be strange  to see Urasawa in Morning, but hey, if Billy Bat can keep me happy while I am reading, I guess Urasawa fits right smack in Morning⁴.

1. although at this time, I was already spazzing because I find his drawings cute
2. Insert my fangirling screams here
3. Maybe Urasawa-sensei’s just cool that way. You have any insights on this, Boss?
4. Just a note, the slogan of Morning magazine is 読むと元気になる- Yomu to genki ni naru – You feel energetic after reading this

A friend of mine recently asked me to write something about manga for a national broadsheet, the Manila Bulletin. Instead of shocking kids with my rabid fujoshi fangirlings, I decided to take the safe route and explored the different aspects of monsters seen in manga. I’m not entirely an avid of monsters in manga, but I took this as an opportunity to explore their presence and their effect in manga. It turned out to be more interesting than what I had expected. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it too.

Manga and Monsters

Published June 28, 2008 in the Manila Bulletin. Online on June 30.
Manga may appear to be literature for children yet they speak to us of change that is universal to many. No matter what shape or form, change will happen in our lives…

I hate monsters.

Ever since I was a kid, I abhorred the idea of Halloween because of the various monster specials shown on TV. They eat you, consume you, and even in your sleep, they haunt you. And for years I tried my best to evade these monsters the way you try to avoid bullies in your school. Don’t look at them straight in the eye. Keep calm, ignore them, and just walk away.

And yet here I am, years later, reading my manga, suddenly staring at one monster straight in the eye. Just like that high school bully, they’ll find their way to get back at you.

Finding a monster in a Japanese comic, most popularly known as manga, is like finding a cockroach on your cupboard. Having a monster in their manga is a natural occurrence and it revels at that moment when you scream on top of your lungs.

For a tight-lipped society like Japan, monsters not only spark interest because of their strange looks but also because of their ability to elicit change. This is why they’re called bakemono by the Japanese – things that can change. This ability to transform himself or his surroundings is the very heart of the Japanese bakemono. And in manga, we see these in various shapes and sizes that it’s interesting how even if I change the genre of comics I’m reading, one way or the other, I’ll end up facing a monster.

Children’s manga is bombarded with bakemonos. Instead of seeing drooling sharp-toothed beasts, they have talking trains, electric yellow kittens, and humanized bread.

Doraemon

The most famous of these monsters is Doraemon, a blue cat from the future who has a strange pocket filled with various toys and devices.

In this comic, Doraemon returns to the past to change the wayward ways of his creator, Nobita. In his youth, Nobita was a slacker and would rather play around than rather than do his homework. More than that, he was also spineless and was often bullied and taken advantage of by his friends. Doraemon’s arrival boosts the young Nobita’s spirit and helps him to change into a good boy.

Doraemon may not be the usual monster that you can imagine. He is more of a cat than the beast that we would usually attribute to a monster. However, by definition of the bakemono, Doraemon is no different than the threatening beast. Doraemon’s role becomes integral because Nobita needs him to change his bad habits.

This bakemono has a very simple role yet proves itself to be an important and crucial tool for change. Through monsters like Doraemon, children understand the importance of change and how they should be open to it. Change brings about new and interesting experience that can probably teach you a lesson or two in life. As the readers of mangas such as Doraemon grow older, a different kind of bakemono is introduced. One that most of us are familiar with.

Boy’s manga

The heart of bakemono in manga is in boys’ manga. Writers in boys’ manga are a little adventurous in terms of creating monsters. In stories like “Kekkaishi” and “Naruto,” bakemonos take the familiar shape of big beasts with scary faces.

Particularly in Kekkaishi, different types of bakemonos exist not only to change the people they’re with but also to exhaust a power that lies beneath the town.

The ayakashi, the name of the monsters in Kekkaishi, are examples of the traditional monsters that we see in our imagination. They can be wolverines, ghosts, or giant owls. In order to get the power beneath the town, the ayakashi wreaks havoc in the school. It is the duty of the kekkaishi to stop these ayakashi before they can even harm people outside the school. What is interesting is despite the destructive nature of the ayakashi, their presence also brought in a positive change to the main character, Yoshimori.

When Yoshimori was young, he was careless as a kekkaishi. He did not enjoy his job and often left it to his comrade, a fellow kekkaishi named Tokine. One night, a strong ayakashi arrived in school and tried to attack Yoshimori. Tokine came in to save him but severely injured her arm in the process. Yoshimori witnessed all of this and swore to himself that he will become a better kekkaishi so that no one will be hurt like Tokine did. Yoshimori’s story is a common example of how a bakemono’s presence can turn young boys to heroes. In boys’ manga, the monsters usually serve as triggers that riles up the heroes of that story to rise up to the challenge. They serve as tools to change boys to heroes.

But the bakemono in boys’ manga can also take a more familiar form – one which we’d least expect as a monster.

In Kazuo Umezu’s Drifting Classroom, it was the school that turned into the bakemono. One day, a great earthquake shook Tokyo and all of a sudden, the Yamato Elementary School disappeared into thin air. The students of the school were in deep shock to find themselves in a different world after the earthquake. There was nothing but sand outside their school. Students cried for their families while teachers held on to their sanity just to keep the kids calm. The school’s sudden disappearance triggered a change so drastic that many were pushed to kill and harm others in order to survive. The Drifting Classroom is a simple yet brilliant example of introducing young readers to another monster. It may appear that the school may be the bakemono, but in fact it gave birth to another bakemono, man’s inner demons.

The Drifting Classroom shows to readers how the bakemono need not be the giant monster from the future but the very teacher whom you trusted. The breakdown of the teachers and their sudden violent rage illustrates how a human can be corrupted when all hope is lost. It is scary to see how these individuals, whom these kids trusted a lot, suddenly start killing each other in frenzy.

For me, a man’s inner monster is more frightening than King Kong and Godzilla combined. I can forgive monstrous beasts because I can barely understand their consciousness, but I cannot seem to let ordinary humans turned killers slip away. Seeing them consciously decide to harm someone is frightening.

Monster

Such was the case in Naoki Urasawa’s work, Monster. In this story, a talented neurosurgeon named Kenzo Tenma was framed for a murder he did not commit. Years later, he realizes that one of his patients, Johann Liebert, was responsible in committing the crimes that Dr. Tenma was accused of. The story of the manga revolves on Tenma’s drive to clear his name as well as understand Liebert’s motivations in committing the crimes and framing him.

Monster is a great example of a story that actually explores the internal monster that lies within us. Not only do we see Liebert as the monster, but also how the people around him, particularly Dr. Tenma, have turned into a monster as well. It’s interesting how Urasawa built his characters to be innocent and kind-hearted in the beginning and eventually showing how they’re truly sinister after Liebert has affected their lives.

In this story, you have doctors choosing patients to save rather than treating them all equally for power. You have scientists manipulating minds of children to make them killing machines. You have sons and daughters killing their parents with no remorse. Even Tenma, the protagonist of this story, trades his scalpel for a gun. A person, who was once a savior, is now a killer. These bakemono that appeared in Monster is within our scope of reality. The comic illustrates how the bakemono is not only outside us, but within us as well. And as long as we know that it has the capability to exist, it remains a constant threat in our life.

From here, we learn that there are two faces to the bakemono in Japanese comics. There are monsters that exist outside of us and there are those that exist within us. Both have the ability to harm people and both also have the ability to teach people how to overcome it. And no matter which manga I’ll be reading, I will end up finding a monster there, not simply because the Japanese love it and it thrills them to see change in their supposedly conformist society, but because this is their way to show to people about the reality of change.

Manga may appear to be literature for children yet they speak to us of change that is universal to many. No matter what shape or form, change will happen in our lives. If I must say, the chronic presence of the bakemono in manga is only a reminder of that old scientific saying that the only thing constant in life is change.

And as long as this equation is true, then I’ll be expecting that monster in that manga I’m reading. I guess, that’s the cue for me to face my darkest fears.

Oh god! Yuecchi! Arigatou for the tip! XD

Some really really cool updates about 20th Century Boys has been released. It will star Takako Tokiwa as Yukiji and Etsushi Toyokawa as Kenji! They totally have the look and I know Toyokawa -san will carry that Kenji charisma. He’s cool that way.

They seem to be spending as big as 60 Oku En, which is probably billions in yen. Sorry, I’m not good in math. ^^;; They’ll be filming in Japan, Thailand, US, China, and England. I can only imagine Otcho’s scenes in Thailand. *insertfangirlsqueehere* The movie’s out on August 30, sometime this year. So summer will definitely be interesting. Yay! Casting looks really good so I’m quite hopeful. :3

Edit: GOD! Well, I got some parts wrong. ^^;; Tehe. It turns out that Etsushi Tokoyawa will be Otcho (MUCH COOLER!! He’s total man and zen altogether!) Toshiaki Karasawa will play Kenji. Coolness all the way. This is probably the most highly anticipated movie for me. More than for Death Note! XD Now whatever happened to that Monster movie adaptation? :3 Hmmm?  Lookie at the poster too! THAT IS SOOO COOL!

*fangirls* Okay. I have to breathe here for a second. In between waiting for Gundam 00 fansites to load, I was reading Frederick Schodt’s interview in Newsarama. There is this line in this interview that just totally blew me away (among others Tezuka related).

I think it is one of the best manga of recent years, and I can’t wait to see it made into a feature film.

O_O Did I read that right? Did Schodt say he’s looking forward to see it made into a feature film? Uhmm… does this mean a feature film for Pluto is in the works? *w* I maybe reading into it much, but knowing the realism of the story, the depth of the drama, the popularity of the manga, and Schodt’s insider knowledge with regards to anything Tezuka… THIS COULD BE POSSIBLE!! *_* Just imagine how visually stunning and gripping this movie would be!!

I really think I may be speculating much but I think he wouldn’t mention it if the idea has not been proposed, right? I mean… I wouldn’t talk about Otaku Champloo being published into a book if I knew that it was close to impossible from happening. But if I knew it was possible and is closer to being real… then I could slip up and say off the hat “I’m looking forward to seeing my book on the shelves soon” As if that could actually happen, but a Pluto movie could just be ‘possible’!

Gah! My fangirling Urasawa and Tezuka heart has just passed panic mode. I mean, if this ‘slip-up’ it’s true, then the next few years of Anime would be very interesting indeed. :3 Don’t you think?