Boss out. Manager out. Nothing breaking down. Those that had broken down had already been looked at or declared dead. Bushed from reading investment news. Caught up with all of Scott Adams' blog already.
So in between blogging, I looked for some comics.
Joyously, Mitsuru Adachi (あだち充, 安達充)started on a new series recently: Cross Game (クロスゲーム).
I've been a fan of Adachi's works since 1994, a few years since I gotten into Manga in general. Those were the days of Dragonball and Slamdunk. Adachi was serialising H2 when I stumbled upon it in the magazine I buy for my Dragonball & Slamdunk fix.
In the beginning, H2 didn't impress me much. The artwork is very simple. It wasn't the typical BESM (Big Eyes Small Mouth) style, but close to it. The plot is uninteresting, about high school kids playing baseball. It took me a while to realise that there was more than meets the eye.
The humour is... strange, with frequent 'product placements'. The characters' bookshelves will have collections of Adachi's manga. The bookstore girl will put out banners advertising his books. And the characters themselves will hold up previous issues of the comic he's starring in. It's cute, and mildly amusing. Once in H2, Hiro bought a dog that's a twin of the mutt in Touch, Adachi's first wildly successful manga series, also about high school baseball.
But after a while, I began to catch the nuances and the subtleties. A lingering stare, a hidden sigh... Adachi's simple artwork often speak volumes. When a character was wearing a skirt in one panel, then jeans in the next, through the use of some innocent panelling, the author established a deep history between the characters. It's quite hard to define, but if you can see it, you'll see it. It's like those 3D art posters. It blows your mind away when you first see the hidden picture.
Adachi is a master of the art of story-telling in his medium of choice. He uses the medium to work for him in each and every way. With simple lines, cunning perspectives, and humourous dialogue, he tells stories that are at the same time light hearted, passionate, and moving.
H2 spanned from 1992 to 1999. And I grew with it every step of the way. I scoured second-hand bookshops all over Singapore, and collected Adachi's earlier works. One time in JB while visiting some friends, I passed by a small bazaar and found the complete 26 volumes of Touch. I have a near complete collection. Last year, I bought most of Katsu! in the original Japanese publication from Kinokuniya. (As part of my aborted 'Learn Japanese' project.)
If one were to categorize the genre of Adachi's works, I think it mostly falls under sports-themed teen romance. Yea, I know that sounds very Barbie, but my distaste for gimmicky gore/nudity/Pokemon manga does not bring my sexuality into question. But it does raise question re: my maturity. Or maybe I'm so exceedingly mature, that I'm already way down the road to senility...
Cross Game is once again themed around Koshien, this is the venue for the national high-school baseball championships in Japan. Adachi has done at least a dozen stories, long or short, around this high school dream. Around this theme, he can inject a powerful passion into his characters that is very relateable.
In much the same way, Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎 駿) has a recurring theme about flying in most of his animations: Porco Rosso (an ace biplane fighter pilot with the head of a pig), Kiki's Delivery Service (a young witch on a broom-stick), Spirited Away (flying on the back of a white dragon), Totoro (a giant flying cat) etc...
Anyway, I can't even find Cross Game on the shelves here yet, although it's been going on for more than 40 weeks. But if you know how to download stuff via IRC, you'll find lots of scan-lated manga at:
irc.irchighway.net
#Grandline
I might write up some "For Dummies" instructions on how to access these resources one day. Then, you'll know how to get ebooks and American comics as well.
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