Fruits

This is a book about Japanese street fashion, or for more cynical readers, a book that feeds vulnerable otaku minds the idea that everyone in Japan dresses up in crazy handmade clothes with fluorescent colours every weekend. Scratch that last point, this book is gorgeous.

Dispensing with lengthy explanations or essays on Japanese street culture, Fruits jumps straight into showing the more experimental styles of Japanese fashion as it’s encountered on the street. Each page is a full colour photo of a one or two people who list their name, notable items of clothing and areas of influence on their style, and with a the book comprising over 250 pages of that there’s a lot of content in here. (If you want to see the more everyday side to Japanese clothing then it’s probably better to look at the people in the background)

The photos are excellent and a simple glance inside soon turns into half an hour of exploration. It’s definitely worth checking out for those interested in design or simply because you want something bright and energetic on your shelf. A second book entitled ‘Fresh Fruits’ is also out for those who want more of the same and Phaidon also released a similar book that focuses specifically on Gothic and Lolita styles (which I can’t comment on as I don’t own it). A great novelty item that still retains its value after all the years I’ve had it.

Blacksad

I’m going to stretch a bit outside of my safe zone and check out some comics to time that are not manga-related at all. It’s in keeping with the Japanese definition of manga at least (comics, right?), and if that explanation doesn’t gel then fine it’s my blog so I can write about whatever I fancy! ^_^

In terms of American comics I’ll be honest and say most mainstream superhero comics bore me. There have been shockingly few new significant characters introduced over the last couple of decades, and the old ones are so ingrained that no one dares change anything about them, which kind of kills any attempt at credibility in the drama as you know you’re pretty much guaranteed a predictable happy ending each time. Manga’s a bit more risky and suits my taste, but every so often I still get a little worn out with that too start to crave something… different. And so I turn my eyes to the mainland…

Known locally as bandes dessinées, or simply BD, the French and Belgian comic industry is well-established with comic volumes regularly selling in the hundreds of thousands. Not as big as Japan, but I’d hazard bigger than the US and certainly more so than in the pitiful UK. A standard volume is around 50-odd pages, A4-ish in size, hardback and therefore quite expensive. They’re premium goods with titles seemingly holding their value several years after their initial release. Aside from the anomalies such as Asterix and Tintin, most BDs are inexplicably ignored and unknown in English-language territories, but thankfully the walls are slowly bringing broken down.

John Blacksad is a private investigator cat who works in a world where corruption, sleaze and crime run rife throughout society. This is pulp territory of crime fiction with an animal twist. Mammals and reptiles mix as well as black horses and white wolves in this tense 50s-style world where prejudice only barely runs under the surface. The animal designs create archetypes that enhance characterisations rather than distracting from the plot or making it look silly. There’s a strong style to this substance, and the sublime watercolours brim every page with a finesse that is very rarely seen in comics of any sort.

Dark Horse released a volume that compiles the first three comics into one solid hardback. It’s lovely stuff and serves as a real showcase to the work. A fourth volume did come out in France last year, but as yet there’s no sign of a translated release and as years go by between individual releases, it might be quite a long while before a second triple-volume book is feasible (assuming it would even be considered). All the same Blacksad is an amazing comic, and well worth risking regardless of your normal taste in comics.

The Journey of Shuna / シュナの旅

How can you write about a book you can’t read? It seems like a fool’s errand, but I’m going to try anyway!

The Journey of Shuna is one of the few manga written by Ghibli film director Hayao Miyazaki. His works are in high demand, but for some reason Journey of Shuna has never been published in English, and frankly I’ve no idea why. Maybe the story’s rubbish or something, but it’s not really something I can comment on.

What I can talk about however is how beautiful this thing is. It’s around 150 pages and small in size (think Lone Wolf and Cub small) with all the hand drawn and watercoloured artwork being printed in full colour. Yes: Colour! This isn’t your average black and white manga, but more an illustrated novel with few speech bubbles with a narration running over the artwork. There’s a low panel count per page count, mostly 2 or 3 if not a full spread, so you really get to see Mayazaki in his element. Story be damned - this is top notch stuff!

Originally published in 1983, this is pre-Ghibli Miyazaki. A time when the Nausicaa manga had only been partly serialized in Animage and the movie was still in the works. The style echoes not only Nausicaa, but the later Princess Mononoke making it especially interesting to see how his recurring elements interchange between works. Everyone knows what happened once the Nausicaa movie came out and then Ghibli subsequently starting up, but much of what Miyazaki and his associates were making before then isn’t really talked about, at least not in English speaking territories. But it should be.

If you see this writing as just an elaborate way to say ‘this book has pretty pictures’… then you’d be right. Over 25 years on and the book’s still in print in Japan. It isn’t bank-breakingly expensive and is easier to find online that you’d expect. Miyazaki and Ghibli completists need this, as for anyone who appreciates a bit of honest old-school illustration.