Wanted: Cheap Manga

Parasyte is one of the classic manga sci-fi series. It was hugely moving for me. I even shed a tear at the end when Migi died. Even with Del Rey re-publishing the series, it’s not enough for my Hitoshi Iwaaki fix.

Thanks to Kotonoha (fine scanlating group with an almost 100% awesomeness rating), I’m finally getting more Iwaaki, in the form of Historie. The series is currently running in Afternoon, one of Kodansha’s seinen manga magazines. The plot is Iwaaki’s take on a historical narrative, similar to his previous series Heureka (although, I’m not sure if that was based on actual historical events).

We follow Eumenes, a smart young man, who is returning to his home, Cardia. Aristotle makes a quick appearance as Eumenes ferries him to Europe from Asia. When Eumenes returns home, Cardia is under seige by the Macedonians. He makes it into the city, and while he sits in the ruins of his former library, we begin the first flashback of his life. This flashback takes up the rest of the volume and describes his life as a son of an affluent household.

As usual, Iwaaki is on his game artistically and otherwise.

Iwaaki’s character designs have been called “stiff” before. I can understand that, but I don’t think it detracts from the story at all. His characters, similar to Naoki Urasawa’s, are all visually distinct. One face never looks like another, and it’s no problem to tell characters apart.

It’s also nice to see that Iwaaki hasn’t given up some of his trademark visuals. I always loved the scenes in Parasyte where the page was split horizontally between two frames. The uppermost showing a person (this is an example) and the bottom frame showing the person cut in half. The composition has an almost strobe effect. He uses this approach for almost all of his action sequences, and in every one it works. There’s a certain bluntness to these moments that make them feel even realer than anything with speedlines and sound-effects.

Ouch.

Also, he throws in some gory horror moments, which give a more modern feel to this historical tale. I’m used to historical novels/movies/etc. glossing over the brutality of those early days of humanity. Iwaaki seems to indulge himself instead. (Note: the following image is a composite of frames from two different pages)

Like I said, Iwaaki is on his game. The volume reads fast, even during non-action parts. The characters are intriguing and unconventional. Everything about this feels like a more adult Parasyte. And by that, I don’t mean that people’s heads will start splitting into knives. No, this story seems to have the same epic feel to it, while focusing on the personal. An all around good manga for almost anybody