Manga

All I read in middle school was manga – much to the dismay of my parents. It wasn’t a particularly “cool kid” pastime either; I’d just moved back from Korea, and my fresh-off-the-boat vibe was an unpopular quality for many of my American peers.  I thought manga to be another oriental trait I was supposed to keep locked away. But I couldn’t have been further from the truth.

While I feel that manga still holds a negative connotation among some people, many people my age were obsessing over Death Note to Ouran Host High School Club, especially on the Internet. I had conjured this idea that manga was exclusively catered to Asians. Especially since coming to art school however, I’ve come to realize that manga is read by many people of my age.

This week, I read the fifth volume of Osamu Tezuka’s critically acclaimed Phoenix. What a fantastic read.  “Karma” isn’t just a beautiful work of art – the narrative was immersive and poignant, and I couldn’t help but reflect the philosophical meaning behind Tezuka’s work when I had finished the story. Up until now, the only manga I had read from Tezuka was Astro Boy – while I wasn’t the biggest fan of it, I can appreciate the cultural importance and influence it has had on American audiences.

In my opinion, Phoenix is rightfully hailed as Tezuka’s masterpiece. The themes in Karma reflect the fragile spirituality of the human psyche. While I was a little disturbed at the crude humor Tezuka drew at some points in the story (feces?), the characterizations of the main characters made up for whatever grimacing I did while reading the manga. For the most part, it was a very humbling and bittersweet read, for the most part. I almost felt a little depressed after I had finished “Karma.” I guess I had been expecting Akanemaru not to die and led a Disneyfied happily-ever-after and Gao to get what I initially thought was coming to him. But Gao turned out to be the redeemed good guy who I found myself rooting for in the end. I suppose that’s what Tezuka was trying to get at – not everything is black and white.

On that note, I wish more contemporary manga was like Phoenix today. I feel like manga and anime have been narrowed into a very specific category – lolicon comes to mind. Hayao Miyazaki words it best: “anime is produced by humans who can’t stand looking at other humans.” But I suppose manga isn’t the only victim to this. I see it in Western comics as well; garbage is everywhere. It’s up to us to find the gold through the rubbage.