Lost in the Black Hole of Blah (again)
Jul. 27th, 2007 03:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hmpfSorry. Sorry. Sorry.
***
Here, have something to read:
http://www.onemanga.com/Bokurano/ - possibly my favourite manga, readable online, no need to download. Isn't that convenient?
(I feel so freakishly alone in my unlimited Mohiro Kitoh love. His first series, Naru Taru, has failed spectacularly in three countries so far, thus all but guaranteeing that his other works will never see the light of day either in Germany, France or the U.S.
Am I the only person in the world who can see that this guy is an utterly amazing artist? Is my taste so strange? I just found someone, somewhere, complaining about how Kitoh often leaves the background of his panels empty. The unspoken accusation was that Kitoh was lazy and should fill every bit of white space with decorative screentones and whatnot. What people don't seem to get is that his brilliant use of white and negative space is one of the very things that makes Kitoh great.
In general, I get the impression that minimalism is frowned upon in the manga mainstream, at least here in Germany/Europe. Horror vacui reigns supreme. Unfortunately, Kitoh is nothing if not minimalist - as well as mathematically precise and obsessed with technical detail. People who dislike his art call it sterile. It isn't, though. Restrained, yes. I guess you could call his drawing style cerebral. I have this page on the wall above my desk, and I could go on for hours about how there is not a single unnecessary line on that page, and everything is *exactly* where it needs to be. Mohiro Kitoh's art is so concerned with composition and layout that it is often nearly abstract in effect.
I want so badly for this manga to be translated into one of the languages I understand so I could read it *and* look at the marvellous art - I have the Japanese editions just to look at the art, and I can read the Scanlations on my computer, but I'd like to be able to appreciate both at the same time. But then I think of Naru Taru, and try to imagine what uninspired, badly designed German/English/French/Spanish soundwords might do to a page like this, with the Japanese soundwords removed, and I'm kind of glad it will probably never happen. Or can you imagine that page with a big 'BLAM' in some standard comic typeface instead of the bold brushstrokes? It would completely destroy the page.
This is a beautiful sequence of pages, too:
http://www.onemanga.com/Bokurano/37/06/
http://www.onemanga.com/Bokurano/37/07/
http://www.onemanga.com/Bokurano/37/08/
http://www.onemanga.com/Bokurano/37/09/
http://www.onemanga.com/Bokurano/37/10/
http://www.onemanga.com/Bokurano/37/11/
I think the problem with Mohiro Kitoh may be that he takes these cliché genre situations - children must pilot giant robot to save Earth, etc. - but tackles them in a very unique way. He alienates the 'giant robots yay!' crowd with his approach to the material, and the 'arthouse manga' crowd with his choice of subject matter, thus ensuring that even in Japan he will never be hugely popular, and here in Europe, where the division between these two potential audiences for manga is, maybe, more severe, he will be mostly ignored because he doesn't fit in with either group's idea of what good manga should be.)
***
Here, have something to read:
http://www.onemanga.com/Bokurano/ - possibly my favourite manga, readable online, no need to download. Isn't that convenient?
(I feel so freakishly alone in my unlimited Mohiro Kitoh love. His first series, Naru Taru, has failed spectacularly in three countries so far, thus all but guaranteeing that his other works will never see the light of day either in Germany, France or the U.S.
Am I the only person in the world who can see that this guy is an utterly amazing artist? Is my taste so strange? I just found someone, somewhere, complaining about how Kitoh often leaves the background of his panels empty. The unspoken accusation was that Kitoh was lazy and should fill every bit of white space with decorative screentones and whatnot. What people don't seem to get is that his brilliant use of white and negative space is one of the very things that makes Kitoh great.
In general, I get the impression that minimalism is frowned upon in the manga mainstream, at least here in Germany/Europe. Horror vacui reigns supreme. Unfortunately, Kitoh is nothing if not minimalist - as well as mathematically precise and obsessed with technical detail. People who dislike his art call it sterile. It isn't, though. Restrained, yes. I guess you could call his drawing style cerebral. I have this page on the wall above my desk, and I could go on for hours about how there is not a single unnecessary line on that page, and everything is *exactly* where it needs to be. Mohiro Kitoh's art is so concerned with composition and layout that it is often nearly abstract in effect.
I want so badly for this manga to be translated into one of the languages I understand so I could read it *and* look at the marvellous art - I have the Japanese editions just to look at the art, and I can read the Scanlations on my computer, but I'd like to be able to appreciate both at the same time. But then I think of Naru Taru, and try to imagine what uninspired, badly designed German/English/French/Spanish soundwords might do to a page like this, with the Japanese soundwords removed, and I'm kind of glad it will probably never happen. Or can you imagine that page with a big 'BLAM' in some standard comic typeface instead of the bold brushstrokes? It would completely destroy the page.
This is a beautiful sequence of pages, too:
http://www.onemanga.com/Bokurano/37/06/
http://www.onemanga.com/Bokurano/37/07/
http://www.onemanga.com/Bokurano/37/08/
http://www.onemanga.com/Bokurano/37/09/
http://www.onemanga.com/Bokurano/37/10/
http://www.onemanga.com/Bokurano/37/11/
I think the problem with Mohiro Kitoh may be that he takes these cliché genre situations - children must pilot giant robot to save Earth, etc. - but tackles them in a very unique way. He alienates the 'giant robots yay!' crowd with his approach to the material, and the 'arthouse manga' crowd with his choice of subject matter, thus ensuring that even in Japan he will never be hugely popular, and here in Europe, where the division between these two potential audiences for manga is, maybe, more severe, he will be mostly ignored because he doesn't fit in with either group's idea of what good manga should be.)
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no subject
Date: 2007-07-27 06:08 pm (UTC)And I thoroughly approve of subverting cliches. Witness Nadesico; albeit that was slightly less horrifically dark than it sounds like Mohiro Kitoh's work is.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-28 08:25 pm (UTC)Oh yes, very much so. Although I feel weirder about reading comics online than I DLing them and then reading. I can only explain this in that, perhaps, I need to have the actual comic in my hands? [/aside]
I like the look of his art though, from those links to the pages you posted. Will have to give it a try and let you know what I think :)
Someone else!!!!!!!!
Date: 2007-10-23 07:01 pm (UTC)I've loved Kitoh's stuff ever since I ran into "Shadow Star" six years ago. It drives me nuts that all my friends who are MUCH more into anime/manga than I am have never heard of him, and aren't interested. And of course the series was cancelled in the US about 3/4 through, and it's left in limbo. No one will pick it up, which is a scandal. I just wish more of his stories could be found. Your link was the first chance I've ever had to read "Bokurano", and apart from that and "NaruTaru", I've only seen "Zansho" online.
I disagree that his art is "minimalist"---the word I would use is "understated". I will never be able to figure out how he wrings so many delicate expressions out of those simple, conventional "manga" faces. Seems like he's almost alone in attempting that kind of subtlety. And you've pretty much said everything that can be said about his layouts. His storytelling completely changed the way I look at the medium.
I also love the humanity of his stories. "Sentimental" has a negative connotation to it, (who knows, maybe it would even make him blanch), but I'm sure you know what I mean when I say that his characters are shown to be very human and frail, in ways that endear even the corrupt or evil to the reader on some level.
I've seen two or three sites devoted to NaruTaru over the years, and one chatroom discussion of that and Bokurano, but that's about it. It's almost impossible to find any information about this guy, or any other fans. Your "freakishly alone" comments could have come straight from my mouth.
Glad to know there's someone else out there! :)
Hey!
Date: 2007-10-23 07:27 pm (UTC)I don't think I have Zansho, actually. I do have Wings of Vendemiaire (even in print, actually - even if Naru Taru didn't do well here, Germany - ironically - is still the best non-Asian country to be a Mohiro Kitoh fan in, because we actually got a full edition of Naru Taru *and* Wings of Vendemiaire. I said that was ironic because manga is actually very dominated by the typical shojo/shonen stuff in Germany. And, as I said, everything by Kitoh published here did sell very badly.) and Hallucination from the Womb. Care for an exchange?