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The Young Adult’s Fight For Purpose (Solanin)
“I wondered if the Demon that whispered “Why not be free?” was Freedom itself.” ― Inio Asano, Solanin
In life, there are instances where the transition from being a teenager to an adult can be a harsh one. Many responsibilities have to be instilled into one’s mindset while whatever dreams they may have are left to fade. What happens when people desire to break free from the constraints of growing up? Inio Asano’s critically-acclaimed Solanin takes a look at the idea of adulthood and what it means to young people who are trying to find their way. It also addresses a serious issue on how to guide young adults to have successful lives on their terms.
Solanin revolves around a young girl named Meiko Inoue, her boyfriend, Taneda Shigeo, and their group of friends. Meiko works as an office lady while trying to find her purpose in life after graduating from college. She lives together with Taneda, who is a part-time freelance artist and also trying to find his calling. Taneda, who is part of a band with his friends from his college days, decides to get his band out to the public in hopes of making it big. Meiko subsequently quits her job to support Taneda, but ends up being lazy as she isn’t sure what to do with her newfound freedom. The story goes through some interesting and shocking turns, but in the end, Meiko becomes certain of how she wants to live her life through music. Despite Solanin running only 2 volumes in Japan, the manga was nominated for a Eisner Award in 2009 and a Harvey Award in the same year. Solanin also went on to become a live-action movie in 2010.
Given that life expectancy has increased, how can we truly define “adulthood” these days? How long does adolescence last now? Though the bigger issue at hand is the fact that there aren’t too many initiatives involved to help youths that face conflicted thoughts about life. In Solanin, you see that the characters are bordering the thresholds of adulthood. You can argue they are “in-between” adolescence and adulthood, like how most young adults feel in reality. I wonder if older adults are to be entirely blamed for slowly killing young people’s sense of purpose. Their set institutions, standards, and policies do not seem to promote a healthy well-being in the minds of young people. Governments may be enforcing rules hindering youth for the purpose of fueling their own egos. Older adults can develop a high level of selfishness when given great power. This leads to an idea that there is possibly a sense of ageism against youth.
Reading Solanin can make you think about what can compassionate folks do for those on the cusp of adulthood. How do we meet their needs and give them purpose? Not all young people are lackadaisical about life and those that are may realize the error of their ways. Some keys, as evidenced in Solanin, are to help find their passions and find out what makes them feel good.
Solanin has made me think about my depression period. During that time, I had so much freedom, but no purpose. I managed to find my purpose with the help of my friends. With the world becoming more increasingly complicated for young people to grow up in, I do worry that they will continue to be held down to a huge degree. Though as Solanin has reminded me, even the slightest amount of support from someone can give you purpose.
Despite the title being published in 2005, Solanin is still very relevant today. This manga is for all the dreamers out there. Don’t just dream, fight and keep fighting for your dreams.
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The Omega-3 Is Strong In This One - CRIMSONS: The Manga About Salmon
Many manga readers know that manga covers all types of subjects, so why not a story about a group of fish. A very unusual manga series called “CRIMSONS: The Red Navigators” is getting a great deal of attention in Japan. This tale of “hot-blooded ocean drama”, written by Takanori Kanno and published in Shonen Sunday Super, covers Shintaro, a young salmon, and his adventures with his friends. Another key note about CRIMSONS is that it’s under the supervision of Bunya Okuyama, an ichthyology professor at the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology.
So, now we have a manga about salmon. What makes salmon special compared to the life of a trout/tilapia/halibut/red snapper/tuna fish? Can we really learn anything about the mental aspects of a fish from reading a manga like CRIMSONS? Salmon though are known to be seductively lush. They also have delicate texture. Finally, the meat is pink. Salmon pink is known be to quite an a flirtatious color. Is Kanno trying to say that salmon are the most passionate of all the fish alive then?
You can read the manga at Shogakugan’s special website for the comic. If anything else, CRIMSONS has both fish AND human fanservice!
Look out, moeblobs. Sexy salmon are coming to get ya.
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GTO Creator Takes On Shinigami & Hostess Clubs
If there’s one thing Japan seems to love, it’s Shinigami (death gods). Tohru Fujisawa, the mangaka of Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO), looks to bring his crazy, wild storytelling into the world of Shinigami with Soul Reviver, which is going to be serialized in Shogakukan’s Monthly Hero magazine this January. This is also on the eve of another title that Fujisawa is launching in January, Shibuya Hachiko-Mae ~another side~, which will be published in ASCII Media Works’ Degenki Comic Japan.
Soul Reviver will be about a half-human, half-Shinigami woman who brings souls to the world of the dead. Shibuya Hachiko-Mae will be about a scout named Aoyama and his adventures in picking up girls to work at a hostess club in Shibuya. Great, another thing Japan loves.
There are some concerns about Soul Reviver. Mostly due to the fact that the plot sounds very similar to BLEACH. About Shibuya Hachiko-Mae, I think that it will be a very unique title that explores the psychology of cabaret clubs and the women who join them. Knowing Fujisawa, I expect both titles to be full of hard-hit EMOTION.
Titles that are about love & death seem to be quite popular in Japan in this day and age, huh?
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A Manga That Reflects Troubling Financial Times - Yamikin Ushijima-Kun
Our world is faced with debt. We owe somebody something. Hell, our lives almost involve some level of debt. The important thing is to not let that debt spiral out of control. However, what if your financial situation got so bad that you have to resort to the shady world of loan sharks & the black market? This scenario is explored in the critically-acclaimed seinen manga by Shohei Manabe, Yamikin Ushijima-Kun (also known as “Ushijima the Loan Shark”). If you think your debt situation is bad, wait until you check out this series.
The story revolves around the lower class of Japan and their struggles to survive. The main character, Ushijima Kaoru, is a loan shark who is the head of Kaukau Finance, a black market group that lends money to those struggling & charges high interest on its loans. Although Ushijima is the protagonist, he is not a good guy. He is very ruthless when it comes to money and will resort to tricks to get what he wants. Even most, if not all, of his clients aren’t the greatest of people. They all have some sort of vice (gambling, drugs, etc.) that they want to feed. Yamikin Ushijima-Kun is arguably one of the most realistic depictions of Japanese society today. The series has gone on to have a TV drama adaptation in 2010 and will have a live-action movie in 2012.
I remember someone wrote about how debt is considered to be a “rite of passage” in order to become an adult. Having debt teaches responsibility, enables you to create a credit score, & forces you to make wise decisions. You can’t succeed without some sort of debt. At the same time, things can go horribly wrong & people end up borrowing more than they can chew. In Ushijima, our “hero” wants to put an end to those who decide to keep fooling around with money by charging insane interest rates (as much as 50% every 10 days) & forcing people to do unpleasant things for money.
Why does the lower class of society tend to be the ones in debt the most? It could come down to the belief that money is the source of all happiness. Those on the lower end may believe that having money makes themselves worthy of praise. They can’t seem to see past that belief. Those individuals tend to have low self-esteem. Money, in their eyes, determines what kind of person they really are. Another big issue is that they simply do not know how to deal with debt when they take it. Sometimes, people underestimate making payments and rather deal with them when the time comes. By not planning now, they end up kicking themselves even more than they need to.
The manga also presents an interesting dilemma: can a loan shark be a blessing in disguise? Loan sharks are technically terrible people to deal with and you really don’t want to be caught under their web. They will give money to ANYONE, including criminals if need be. The protagonist, Ushijima, says that those in debt are complete morons and need to be taught a lesson. That is his reasoning for being extremely evil towards his clients and have them perform unfavorable jobs to come up with cash. Ushijima is quite the character and he really makes you question whether we should be sympathetic to those in debt. The manga also makes you think about how we need to deal with a bigger issue: poverty. What changes do societies need to take in order to ensure that the poor don’t stay that way forever? How do we prevent those who are financially stable from falling down to poverty levels?
Yamikin Ushijima-Kun is truly a thought-provoking manga that gets you thinking about the power & temptation of money. It also could be telling us that we should have some responsibility in educating others that money isn’t the true source of happiness.
This is a title that is worthy of being put on JManga (which the manga should be on). If you want a hard-nosed, gritty, no-nonsense, & realistic manga, Ushijima’s tense adventures will beat their way into your brain and leave you floored. Who ever thought evil can actually do some good?
