Chiisakobee

I decided to read this manga by just looking at the cover and I was not disappointed. It easily stands out from other generic trash with It's style. Surely there are manga with better art but the way this manga frames things is just extraordinary. The original story is apparently based on a book and it is quite short yet enjoyable. we get to see the story of the next heir of a carpentery. he struggles with life as he lost many things dear to him in a fire and he wants to rebuild his life. The whole story is extremely relatable and endearing. Overall thisis probably not a good review but just take my word for it and read it. It is quite short, has character and you will definitely not regret it.

An examination of times during and after grief, with the strength of will and humanity. Adapting and reinterpreting a period novel of the same name, Minetaro Mochizuki has absolutely outdone himself. Although still taking influence from Hisashi Eguchi’s art and sporting that Wes Anderson brand of self-conscious quirkiness, the style presented in Tokyo Kaido has finally been fully realized to become Mochizuki’s own, succeeding in a nice balance of artistry and narrative. In the transition from text to comic medium, Chiisakobee takes full advantage of the format. There’s no shortage of good spreads and meticulous composition capturing snippets of time. It’s retrospective, taking its endearing charactersto the forefront. Issues that arise are dealt with quickly but...I never got the impression of wanting more or novel material being trimmed. Rather it comes in celebration of the little victories, especially after heartache that makes life worth living. The story isn’t concerned with stringing out melodrama and refuses to bog itself down. Every experience no matter how insignificant and the achievements overcoming another trial eventually coalesces into something meaningful- the taste of tea, momentary decisions, and the relationships between one another. Most of the characters also receive little arcs and life lessons that complement themes of vulnerability, having empathy, pride in oneself, and eventually lending a hand. And this emotional weight pervades every step forward, even in our own personal journeys.

Very striking and unique. There is a giant fire in a small neighborhood, and the parents of our main character, Shigeji, pass away, leaving him a family carpentry company. At the same time, he hires a housekeeper, Ritsu. She takes in the 5 kids from the local orphanage that burned down, and now they become a family of 7 people. The narrative might seem a little odd; that’s because our man Minetarou adapts a novel that takes place in the Edo period into a manga taking place in the 21st century. The transition could have been rough, but luckily, the narrative is not that important. Sure,it’s there, but we more so concentrate on the characters and their lives. Some examples of chapters are - going to the park, calming down one of the kids after they started to cry, and a conversation about life in the kitchen. If you wanted to read a wholesome slice of life, this is not really it. The manga requires your full attention to be enjoyed (kinda). Something that’s said multiple times in here is that “it’s the small things that matter”, and believe me, the manga embodies that in every way. All the chapters I listed stand on their nuance. Their realistic portrait of real life and how complex it can be. If you indulge me a little more and read ahead, you will see what I mean. Visually, the manga is clean. Everything is conveyed to the reader in a clear, well-packaged, minimalistic way. So much so that at first, you might be fooled into thinking that everything is too clean. For example, the characters don’t behave like normal manga characters; they don’t move too much, don’t make exaggerated faces, and so on. If you are not paying too much attention, the whole thing might even seem bland. That’s where the trick is, engaging properly with the title. Once you do that, you begin to notice the small things; characters may not be conventionally expressive, but that’s because they are emulating real life. Think of a normal conversation between you and a random person, you don’t notice a cartoonish drop of sweat on their forehead, you notice their posture, how they fiddle with their hands, the intention in their eyes… THAT is what the manga illustrates. Once you put that into perspective, the “bland” art style turns into a place where subtlety can thrive. Characters don’t say “I’m angry”, “I’m confused”, “I’m sad”, they behave like that’s how they’re feeling through their body language. Beautiful work. I wish I could say this is a masterpiece. And it was really close, but there is a dude that takes pictures of his adult daughter while she is changing… yeah bro, I don’t know why either. This takes down the thing for me to an 8/10. If you want to know more about my thoughts, I have a review for the manga on youtube.

Chiisakobee by Mochizuki is an adaptation of an Edo era novel of the same name, but from what I can gather, Mochizuki has changed the primary conflict and a lot of the characters. The 1964 movie adaptation's synopsis, if it's the more faithful adaptation, suggests a plot revolving around a scrooge-type ML being shown the meaning of life by the FL and her dozen orphans she's taken under her wing. In Mochizuki's version, the focus is on persevering with dignity against what life throws at you despite feelings of inadequacy. I have only read his earlier work Tokyo Kaido, but not his even earlier DragonHead. According to the author, Chiisakobee marks his full commitment to writing manga the way he wants to, as opposed to what he thinks readers will like, with Tokyo Kaido being like a declarative meta-commentary. Some have described the new style as Wes Anderson-esque, but I disagree. If some artsy framing/paneling is all it takes, one could also compare Chiisakobee to Napoleon Dynamite's opening. Instead, what Mochizuki seems to be doing, with his flat, clean art, bold lines with almost no shading, dialogue panels that often exclude the face of the speakers, and frequent camera cuts to various body parts, household objects, and the surroundings, is telling us to not be distracted by the unimportant details, and think about the macro. It's not just a pleasant distraction or for showing off. It forces you to be mindful, read between the lines, interpret his symbolism, and the panels saved by not obliging to draw the talking heads over and over is well spent fleshing out the material world of Chiisakobee despite its simple conflict and short length. The style keeps you on your toes and rewards re-reads. On some reads I find some developments too punctuated, but tasteful on other occasions. The dialogue is intelligent and edited to only include the meaningful conversations, so it's an interesting, almost ceremonial, manga all around and has a timeless quality to it.