Manga Alphabet: I is for Inu-Yasha, Ikkyu
Sep. 21st, 2012 07:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainsometimesMy two entries for this letter are both set in bygone ages, but apart from that they could hardly be more different.
Ikkyu by Hisashi Sakaguchi
This manga is chiefly the story about the real historical Buddhist monk Ikkyu Sojun (1394-1481) who's a major figure in the early development of Zen Buddhism. In addition to this, the story also dips into the general political landscape in Japan at the time, including court intrigues (Ikkyu is believed to have been the illegitimate son of an emperor and a low-ranking court lady); the Noh playwright Zeami Motokiyo and his son are also featured as a kind of parallel theme to the main one.
I only knew this story existed in the first place and had been translated to French through an old review in The Comics Journal (googling for fact-checking just now, I found this which I think is the same review reposted, but I could be wrong - looks excellent, anyway. (I nicked my pic from there.) According to this article, Ikkyu is considered Sakaguchi's masterwork. It seems a great shame it's not available in English.
I must confess I have not read this in its entirety, due to getting mixed up between the two different French editions (a small 4-volume one followed by an oversized 6-volume one): but I have read most of it and I consider it an amazing series. It's unflinching and powerful, depicting war and poverty and in the early parts also sexual abuse of children; but it's also lyrical, thoughtful, and moving. Somehow Sakaguchi manages to convey something even of the enlightenment experience in an artistically convincing manner.
Inu-Yasha by Rumiko Takahashi
Inu-Yasha, on the other hand, is a fantasy action/adventure shonen in 56 volumes where a modern Japanese girl gets whisked into the Warring States Era (mid-15th century - early 17th century), gets attacked by a demon who senses the magical "Jewel of Four Souls" that turns out to have been inside her all this time, she teams up with a half-demon who initially hates her to hunt down the shards of the Jewel after it gets splintered into many itty-bitty pieces and flown every which way; girl and half-demon boy slowly start to stand each other and even grow into liking, and then the girl is drawn into a love triangle with her own magically resurrected pre-incarnation. And then things pick up once they're joined by a pervert monk with vacuuming powers and a tough giant boomerang-wielding demon exterminatress, and they start running into the extremely persistent and resilient Big Bad of the series.
This is a series that I think started out well, then somewhere among the twenty-volume mark (maybe a little earlier or a little later), it started to show signs of serious drag. These would continue for a good while, but once we're in the endgame - say the early forties of volume numbers - it starts to get tight and tense again, and the big finale is riveting.
Usually I don't really mind detours much, nor a slow pace or even a certain amount of formula, but Inu-Yasha has a much straighter narrative than something like Ranma 1/2 and the dramatic set-up is more urgent in tone than, say, One Piece. So for me I really do think it would be a better series if it had been at least 10 or so volumes shorter - even as I would almost always still enjoy reading the volume I had at hand. Maybe it's just that there seemed to be more joy in the storytelling in the first 15 and then also the last 15 volumes. Anyway, still much recommended! Takahashi's humour and action rarely fails to deliver, and the romantic bits are better handled than in Ranma 1/2, with both characters becoming aware of their feelings and able to discuss them - if not find a resolution - relatively early on.
*****************************
Creators
Riyoko Ikeda
Riichiro Inagaki (Eyeshield 21, script)
Masayuki Ishikawa (Moyashimon)
Saburo Ishikawa (Une sacrée mamie/Saga no gabai-baachan, art & adaptation)
Hisae Iwaoka
What does I stand for in your manga alphabets?
Ikkyu by Hisashi Sakaguchi
This manga is chiefly the story about the real historical Buddhist monk Ikkyu Sojun (1394-1481) who's a major figure in the early development of Zen Buddhism. In addition to this, the story also dips into the general political landscape in Japan at the time, including court intrigues (Ikkyu is believed to have been the illegitimate son of an emperor and a low-ranking court lady); the Noh playwright Zeami Motokiyo and his son are also featured as a kind of parallel theme to the main one.
I only knew this story existed in the first place and had been translated to French through an old review in The Comics Journal (googling for fact-checking just now, I found this which I think is the same review reposted, but I could be wrong - looks excellent, anyway. (I nicked my pic from there.) According to this article, Ikkyu is considered Sakaguchi's masterwork. It seems a great shame it's not available in English.
I must confess I have not read this in its entirety, due to getting mixed up between the two different French editions (a small 4-volume one followed by an oversized 6-volume one): but I have read most of it and I consider it an amazing series. It's unflinching and powerful, depicting war and poverty and in the early parts also sexual abuse of children; but it's also lyrical, thoughtful, and moving. Somehow Sakaguchi manages to convey something even of the enlightenment experience in an artistically convincing manner.
Inu-Yasha by Rumiko Takahashi
Inu-Yasha, on the other hand, is a fantasy action/adventure shonen in 56 volumes where a modern Japanese girl gets whisked into the Warring States Era (mid-15th century - early 17th century), gets attacked by a demon who senses the magical "Jewel of Four Souls" that turns out to have been inside her all this time, she teams up with a half-demon who initially hates her to hunt down the shards of the Jewel after it gets splintered into many itty-bitty pieces and flown every which way; girl and half-demon boy slowly start to stand each other and even grow into liking, and then the girl is drawn into a love triangle with her own magically resurrected pre-incarnation. And then things pick up once they're joined by a pervert monk with vacuuming powers and a tough giant boomerang-wielding demon exterminatress, and they start running into the extremely persistent and resilient Big Bad of the series.
This is a series that I think started out well, then somewhere among the twenty-volume mark (maybe a little earlier or a little later), it started to show signs of serious drag. These would continue for a good while, but once we're in the endgame - say the early forties of volume numbers - it starts to get tight and tense again, and the big finale is riveting.
Usually I don't really mind detours much, nor a slow pace or even a certain amount of formula, but Inu-Yasha has a much straighter narrative than something like Ranma 1/2 and the dramatic set-up is more urgent in tone than, say, One Piece. So for me I really do think it would be a better series if it had been at least 10 or so volumes shorter - even as I would almost always still enjoy reading the volume I had at hand. Maybe it's just that there seemed to be more joy in the storytelling in the first 15 and then also the last 15 volumes. Anyway, still much recommended! Takahashi's humour and action rarely fails to deliver, and the romantic bits are better handled than in Ranma 1/2, with both characters becoming aware of their feelings and able to discuss them - if not find a resolution - relatively early on.
*****************************
Creators
Riyoko Ikeda
Riichiro Inagaki (Eyeshield 21, script)
Masayuki Ishikawa (Moyashimon)
Saburo Ishikawa (Une sacrée mamie/Saga no gabai-baachan, art & adaptation)
Hisae Iwaoka
What does I stand for in your manga alphabets?