Forum - View topicBlood on the Tracks Manga Creator Shūzō Oshimi Can't Help But Get Personal
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Shay Guy
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A while back, I watched a video essay by "ceicocat" called The Incel to Trans Pipeline and Inside Mari, which goes into a lot of depth on all the Gender in Oshimi's works. It's fascinating, but at the same time it helped me clarify to myself what I found frustrating about Inside Mari, some of which I touched on in the Talkback thread when the manga was reviewed here.
Aside from IM, the only Oshimi I've read is I think the first few volumes of Flowers of Evil (have the anime on disc, but haven't watched it yet) and maybe one chapter of Blood on the Tracks. I remember Flowers of Evil as being deeply concerned with morality, especially through the lens of sexual violation, but while Inside Mari looks the same early on, it isn't really. Like, in the single most disturbing scene in the manga? spoiler["Isao-Mari", as ceicocat calls him, isn't actually doing anything wrong. It's his body. He was born in it; he's never been in any other; Mari's original personality shoved him into the driver's seat and buggered off to huddle in a corner of her skull in a fetal position. The worst he's actually guilty of is narcissism.] And I think my larger question about Inside Mari's protagonist is, "Why is he like this?" spoiler[Why does he have the specific false memories he does? I imagine there's some element of Mari displacing her own Isao obsession, but what psychological purpose does it serve to imagine HIM as a stalker? Why does he feel the way he does about Mari? In almost the first words he ever speaks, he calls her "the Angel" -- where is that coming from, when it's not remotely how Mari saw him? If he's a manifestation of Mari's desire to escape, to be someone else, why does he want to have, and even be, her?] To summarize, spoiler[Mari clearly built up this mental model of the real Isao through her stalking, and inevitably it's more accurate in some ways than others… but Isao-Mari isn't just an imperfect imitation of the real Isao, he's significantly altered from Mari's mental model of the guy, and I can't see what purpose that serves for her. She knew that the real Isao was a loser, that he had reason for shame… but as far as I can recall, she had no reason to think of him as a predator. The persona she created is, at least in his mind.] (Weirdly, it reminds me of Mushoku Tensei discourse, w/r/t conflation of different kinds of "human scum" -- loser and abuser.) Anyway, I really should watch FoE one of these days. And maybe read one of his other manga. What do y'all recommend of his? Happiness? Blood on the Tracks? Welcome Back, Alice? |
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