Forum - View topicWhite Clouds/Short Stories
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Kagemusha
 Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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I don't really like starting a whole new topic about a short story, but this is good enough to warrant a entire discussion. Writen by newcomer Hisae Iwaoka and published in Ikki, White Clouds is one of the most beautiful and profoundly touching mangas I've ever read. Told from the perspective of an old dog, it's a simple story about a man coming to terms with the loss of his wife and the inevitability of his own death. Through the simple story the author looks at some very potent themes about life and loss, and while the story is less than 20 pages long, it has a great deal of depth to it. It's rare that a manga comes along that's this profound and skillfully written, and I'd recommend that everyone seek it out. It is emotional, and I've read several people's accounts of crying, but the overall message is one of hope.
Anyone else want to talk about a one-shot that they enjoyed in particular? Last edited by Kagemusha on Mon May 30, 2005 11:50 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Dranxis
 Posts: 591 Location: Ohtori Academy |
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Yay for one-shots! No, sorry I haven't read White Clouds (is it available in some way or form in America?) but I really enjoy short stories and single-volume series when I can get them. So much can be accomplished in a mere 20-100 pages, rather than a 20-30 volume series. I really enjoyed the short stories in Rumic Theater, and although I never got into Kare Kano, I recall there being a short story in one of the earlier volumes that I found touching. Also, Sandland ended up being one of my favorite Akira Toriyama works.
By the way, has anyone read Short Program from Viz's editor's choice line? Supposedly it has good short stories, but it never gets talked about for some reason... |
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Kagemusha
Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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Unfortunatally it isn't available in the US and I doubt it ever will be, as short stories tend to be ignored by alot of fans and companies over here (with the exception of some collections from famous authors). There are some great collections over here though, like the dark Blue Spring or, like you mentioned, Short Program, which is quite good and by one of Japan's biggest authors, Mitsuru Adachi. Still, I wouldn't count on anyone picking up something by Hisae Iwaoka anytime soon, considering her works have almost nothing in common with most manga in the US.
But there's tons of great short stories out there, particuarly in cutting edge magazines like Ikki or Afternoon. Iou Kuroda is the master of this form (after all, he rarely does a continuous narrative). One of my favorite Kuroda one shots is Metropolis, his wacky tribute to the Tezuka manga. I recently read a short from Naoki Yamamoto called 197X. Like most things he does it's erotic (think of him as a porn artist who also happens to be an exellent writer). The whole preimise of youthful sexual exploration works suprisingly well, and it comes off almost endearing. |
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milcor1
 Posts: 337 |
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Normally I don't really find one-shots too appealing but man, I love Iou Kuroda's one-shots. Out of the ones I've read, Metropolis, World Cup, and the one with the biker and the gal. Great great stuff, I'm wondering if his one-shots have been published into stand alone volumes or something cause I'd definitely consider purchasing a volume with all his one-shots in it. Ahhhh sexy voice and robo, must you be so far off.
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Cloe
Moderator
 Posts: 2728 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Well, as you already know, I'm a fan of Junko Mizuno and Usamaru Furuya, and I became addicted to both of their works through one-shot stories. The first work of Mizuno I read was Princess Mermaid and it floored me. I became addicted to her ever since. And I became a dedicated Furuya-devotee after reading "Cut 82," a surprisingly touching story about a childhood friendship. More recently, I read Kiriko Nananan's Heartless B*tch (in the Secret Comics Japan Anthology) and am really interested in finding more of her work. It's just fantastic. I like the down-to-earth quality of the dialogue and the unique drawings. Now all I have to do is learn Japanese so I'll be able to read all the indie manga that will probably never make their way to American soil.. (I want to read Garo!!) |
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Kagemusha
Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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Then you'll be happy to hear that another one of her works, Blue, is available in the US. It's from the indy company Fanfare, who has great intentions (release alternative manga) but poor marketing skills. It's hard to find and is a bit expensive ($24), but it's worth it IMO. The story is wonderful, and is done in the very personal, intimate style of her shorts in SCJ. It's one of my favorite releases this year. Yet another of her mangas was due to be released in May, but it was being released by CMP, and with their recent troubles I assume it got ditched. Onto short stories: Zeb-Noid, a 6 page tale from Tsutomu Nihei. I was pleasantly suprised by what he did with such a short format, and I'm not even a huge fan of his writing (or lack-there-of) in BLAME!. Pretty standard Nihei SciFi weirdness with an oddly touching ending. Plus it has the best colored illustration I've ever seen from him:http://blame.ru/art/zeb_noid/Zeb-Noid05.jpg Another interesting one is Homeless Shoujo Mangaka - Luncheon Diary of Tears. From one of my favorite manga-ka Hiroaki Samura, it was included with his brilliant single-volume Ohikkoshi. While Ohi was hilarious, Luncheon is a somber tale about a woman in prison. Apparently it won some sort of award, and while it wasn't quite as amazing as Ohi, it's still a great read though pretty depressing. Darkhorse will hopefully pick it up soon, as they ran a preview of it in a recent Blade of the Immortal comic. |
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Kagemusha
Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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Double post.
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Kagemusha
Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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I read this a while ago, but with Beck coming out just around the corner, it a good time to mention Harold Sakuishi's short story Under the Bridge. If your not a Red Hot Chili Peppers fan, that's the name of one of their songs, and the story is about Sakuishi's encounter with them at a concert. They're his favorite band, and it's easy to see how in awe he was of them on the pages. It also ties meeting them and the sonf Under the Bridge to the reasons he decided to create Beck. Whether you a Chili Pepper's fan like myself or a Beck fan you'll want to check this account of someone meeting meeting their idols out.
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jfrog
 Posts: 925 Location: Seattle |
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I remember reading Under the Bridge, it was in a big pack of one-shot scanlations I downloaded once (note to mods: I am not encouraging this, I am a bad person and admit it). I don't remember anything about any of the stories, just that I enjoyed them a lot. And the really neat titles, like "Watching TV All the Time Makes You Stupid" and "For Those of Us That Don't Believe In God"
My favorite one-shot is probably Screwstyle, it's by Yoshiharu Tsuge, who was apparently the founder of the alt manga movement, kinda the Japanese equivalent of Robert Crumb or whatever. From what I remember (it's been a while) it's just this bleeding boy going around looking for a doctor, but it's super trippy, and you can really see the influence the art had on Taiyo Matsumoto and the like. I also really enjoyed Suehiro Maruo's Planet of the J.aps, loved the completely over the top satire of it, especially all the phallic imagery. Well, and the art...probably never would have gotten into that kind of 'extreme' manga if it wasn't for all the Maruo art plastered all over Naked City's album covers. Yet another reason why John Zorn is the man. |
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Patachu
Past ANN Contributor
 Posts: 1325 Location: San Diego |
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I'm completely owned by Mohiro Kitoh's short stories. His characters have a way of pulling you further and further into their world until, by the time the story's over, you don't want it to end.
I liked Iwaoka's Flower Cookies. It seems like it might appeal to AzuDai fans who would prefer the cuteness without all the silliness. |
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Kagemusha
Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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Wow, its been a while since I saw jfrog. But if you like those mangascreener shorts check out Naoki Yamamoto, Iou Kuroda (almost exclusivly writes in short stories) or Kyoko Okazaki. Kuroda's Sexy Voice and Robo is coming out next month, and it's probobly the most innovative manga ever published in English up to this point. Yamamoto has the great Dance till Tommorow, a ero-comedy, but he gets really amazing when he starts experimenting in storytelling techniques. Beleivers is one of the best things I've ever read, and Arigato is pretty brilliant itself. Okazaki is generally considered the greatest author of women's manga of this generation (if not ever), and I'd also call her one of the best manga-ka of all time period. Both Helter Skelter and River's Edge and disturbing masterpieces, and while the art is somewhat doodly, her writing is skilled and deep.
I never knew Kitoh had short stories. I've always been very impressed with Shadow Star, which I think is usually overlooked because of the cutesy art. Any examples of his stuff in particular that are worth checking out? And Flower Cookies is another endearing series from Iwaoka. Nothing that is really as good as White Clouds, but they'll definitally brighten your day |
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jfrog
Posts: 925 Location: Seattle |
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Heh, I'm on break, bored, and broke...can't wait for summer quarter to start. I've really been meaning to read Sexy Voice and Robo, heard lots of great things about it, I'll try and check it out next month.
And are any of those other Yamamoto comics available in America? I *really* don't like reading comics on my computer - it's tolerable for a one shot or two, but also the reason why, despite being a huge Alan Moore fan, I've never been able to get through Miracleman, even though it'll finally get rereleased when I'm like fifty. If not, old copies of Dance Till Tomorrow always show up in the used comics section of Half Price Books, I might just have to make do with that. |
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Kagemusha
Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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Nope, and I doubt they will be unless Fanfare decides to bring them over. Even though his stuff is from a major magazine, they're often somewhat unusual in narrative and features a TON of graphic sex (there's a chapter of DTT called "The very long Orgasim"), both of which aren't going to attract the attention of American companies. Beleivers isn't too strange in narrative aside from the occasional fantasy playing itself out in a person's mind. It's only two volumes and is quite a brilliant study of human beings in inhuman situations, with one of the best endings I've seen in a long time. Arigatou it totally out there. It often seems to be a serious drama, scathing satire and skrewball comedy all at the same time, which leads to some very amusing reads. I think it's four volumes in total, though only two have been translated.
While it isn't as good as the two I mentioned, Dance is still one of the best seinen romances I've ever read. It's smart and very funny without resorting to the usual romantic-comedy humor. Plus, Yamamoto draws some of the more errotic sex scenes I've seen in manga. |
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Patachu
Past ANN Contributor
Posts: 1325 Location: San Diego |
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His Zansho compilation of short stories is available from a certain scanlation group with a reputation for alternative/artcomix manga. My favorite is probably the one about the girl on the telephone pole, which is very touching even though it cops out from other supernatural stories. |
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darkhunter
 Posts: 2992 Location: Los Angelas |
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Naoki Yamamoto, certified Japanese pervert. 
His stories are amazingly well thought out, some with nice twist. I love the humor in some of his book, and he can definitely draw some really erotic scene, "The voice that Calls me" and "Sho Nuff I do", comes to mine. I'm amazed that a perverted artist like him can write such a good stories. I wonder if he's married. A lot of short stories in japan are profound to us because it's shocking to see comic with such adult material and limitied imagination. Tokyopop's rising star anthology contain many short stories of winners, but most of the stories are limited in creativity. I wonder how hard it is for a companies to go after many one-shot in japan and put them together in GN or book/magazine format. White cloud is a touching story, but I didn't feel the impact of it like many others. I guess it's becaus my grandparents are still alive and I never had a dog as pet. Basically I never went through that drama of losing a love one. It's a nice story with a good message and would affect someone more if their beloved love one past away. Last edited by darkhunter on Sun Jun 26, 2005 3:51 am; edited 4 times in total |
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