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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Triltaison
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For reference, I've read and watched Flowers of Evil and read Blood on the Tracks (except I still need to pick up the latest book for that one). I think I liked the anime for FoE better for some reason. The rotoscoping hit well for me and I think I liked where the story stopped better. But Blood on the Tracks I'd rec so far. Not necessarily for the story, but for the manner in which it's told. It has very visual storytelling in a way that doesn't pop up often in manga. The art style changes and alters slightly with the perception of the main character. Instead of words telling the reader in a thought bubble that he's feeling nervous/scared, the panels will start zooming in on what he's looking at, making it clear he's paying extra attention to those things. There are often large chunks with no dialogue at all, just using artistic techniques to tell the story. I particularly like when there are moments of panic or hopelessness, and the background art starts fading away or filling with shadows like the mental state he's experiencing. Or things will stretch and become grotesquely large and excessively detailed, because the main character perceives them as more real than other things drawn more simply. It's interesting that the world is drawn as the main character perceives it, and the visual shorthand for that makes it worth a read if that sounds interesting to you. I can definitely see it being a bit slow or not the sort of thing for everyone, though. |
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nicopia
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the thing that sticks with me is that it's actually about completely ordinary teenage desire, turned monstrous by the shame its protagonist feels about wanting anything at all. the things he's tormented over are literally as simple as like. wanting to kiss a girl. wanting her to like him back. from another perspective it'd be a very basic romance story! so the rotoscoping making the real movement of its characters look uncanny, the intense focus on slow, arguably-boring depictions of life, all of it creates this deep unease despite the things we're seeing being basically normal... (plus, despite recent uzumaki-related events, nagahama really is just a great director) ...it's uncannily good at conveying this sense of hitting puberty, suddenly being overwhelmed by the belief something is fundamentally wrong about you in a way you don't really understand, and being convinced everyone can tell. i think about the scene where his parents are crying about how they must have done something wrong when they raised him a Lot; it's almost the exact reaction mine had when i came out. |
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