In Translation | "I Saw!" by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
A twisty crime story from the father of gekiga
And so we arrive at the end (for now) of our shadowy journey through crime and mystery in the proto-gekiga Kage — a publication that would almost immediately shift manga forever into something darker, more serious, more experimental, and more respected as an art-form (not that it shouldn’t have always been, of course). With today’s story, the first volume of stories is finally able to be enjoyed in English!
I mentioned last week, but there’s more Kage out there waiting for translation! More stories from the same group of young, trailblazing artists; more noir-tinged adventures to be enjoyed. I’m just not going to be translating them…yet. If you’d like to me to, let me know and I’d be happy to get to it eventually, but I’ve got a bunch of other stuff I want to do first.
What a finale we have, though! Here’s a thrilling and twisty piece from Yoshihiro Tatsumi — the man who would, just a year after publishing this, would coin the term gekiga. If you’re interested, I HIGHLY recommend his masterpiece auto-biographical series A Drifting Life, a major work of manga that also gets into his experience working on Kage!
But anyway, here it is. Enjoy “I Saw!” by Yoshihiro Tatsumi!
Music of the Week | Super Miracle Circuit by Sonic Coaster Pop
Are you like the rest of us and pine for the Dreamcast's sunny beach futurism? Do you treat the Katamari Damacy OST like a collection of sacred hymns? If yes, then Sonic Coaster Pop belongs in your blood (and if no, then idk something's wrong with you maybe). A perfect slab of optimistic Y2K color blasted into your ears, hazy vocals providing Shibuya-kei cool melodies underneath quick moving maximalist synths only a hair removed from denpa, Sonic Coaster Pop find themselves as very nearly a sort of ecstatic shoegaze (Shibuyagaze? I'm workshopping it). The kind of music that lifts your soul, sparks your blood, and makes you want to believe in something.
Book of the Week | Ushio and Tora by Kazuhiro Fujita
The first serial from my favorite name in action shounen manga, Ushio and Tora shows Fujita emerging fully developed. Following the monster-of-the-week adventures of a boy named Ushio who accidentally gains the power of an ancient demon hunting spear while also being saddled with the grumpy monster Tora, all the hallmarks of his expansive career are present here from the start: the incredible variance in style, the keen eye for horror, the heavy metal imagery, the best in class comedy, and the deeply kind view of humanity, each and every one of these working together in an absolute magic trick of a balancing act. The relationship between Ushio and Tora in particular is perfectly conceived, a relationship that slowly deepens in the most realistic way possible — constant ribbing. Well and truly as good as the genre gets.
Movie of the Week | Battles Without honor and Humanity (dir. Kinji Fukatsu, 1973)
A major name in the yakuza genre of films, this start to Kinji Fukatsu’s (Battle Royale) legendary series of mob violence is explosive; a grenade thrown right into the audience’s lap. Moving a mile a minute with an appropriately chaotic camera to match, the movie delivers exactly what’s on the tin: a truly violent attack on the history of post-war Japan, where complex plays for power are endlessly repeated in a procession of bloodbaths that constantly and inevitably end up meaning nothing at all. A shock to the system even today, this thing will wake you right up.
Have thoughts about anything covered this week? Got a recommendation you’re dying to share? Want to tell me how handsome and cool I am? Leave a comment below!
oh and here's a fantastic video exploring the work of a unique Japanese Half-Life modder