Hardcover, 288 pages
English language
Published Dec. 3, 2010 by Fantagraphics Books.
Fantagraphics Books is proud to launch its manga line with Moto Hagio''s collection of short comics, A Drunken Dream and Other Stories. Hagio is one of Japan''s most influential and critically lauded comics innovators; she has been reinventing shojo manga (Japanese comics marketed at 10-18 year-old girls) since 1969. Unconstrained by boundaries of genre, she has sculpted a career characterized by intellectual curiosity, psychological authenticity, and an esthetic sense that has elevated the shojo genre into the literary. In "Autumn Journey" (1971), a boy''s pilgrimage to the home of his favorite author has more meaning than either the author or his daughter can imagine. In "Marie, Ten Years Later" (1977), two estranged friends learn too late how their actions had destroyed the balance of a perfect triad of intimacy. In "A Drunken Dream" (1980), two scientists-one a hermaphrodite, the other a tribal priest-meet on a space station orbiting Io; but …
Fantagraphics Books is proud to launch its manga line with Moto Hagio''s collection of short comics, A Drunken Dream and Other Stories. Hagio is one of Japan''s most influential and critically lauded comics innovators; she has been reinventing shojo manga (Japanese comics marketed at 10-18 year-old girls) since 1969. Unconstrained by boundaries of genre, she has sculpted a career characterized by intellectual curiosity, psychological authenticity, and an esthetic sense that has elevated the shojo genre into the literary. In "Autumn Journey" (1971), a boy''s pilgrimage to the home of his favorite author has more meaning than either the author or his daughter can imagine. In "Marie, Ten Years Later" (1977), two estranged friends learn too late how their actions had destroyed the balance of a perfect triad of intimacy. In "A Drunken Dream" (1980), two scientists-one a hermaphrodite, the other a tribal priest-meet on a space station orbiting Io; but they have met before and are destined to meet again. In "Iguana Girl" (1991), a girl who appears to her mother and herself to be a hideous anthropoid iguana struggles to overcome her mother''s rejection and find happiness ... but her mother has a secret. Learn for yourself why the creator of They Were Eleven! (adapted into an anime released on DVD in 2005) continues to garner international critical praise and appeals to readers across ages and generations.
I really enjoyed this collection but I think her full length work has more to sink your teeth into.
Standouts were the Willow Tree and Iguana Girl.
I really shouldn't be surprised, Fantagraphics raises the bar once again. Not only is this a collection of excellent stories, but it is also presented in a way to really illustrate the kind of work that Moto Hagio does and the ways in which she relates to Manga and female creators of comics overall. A lot of intelligence and passion went into creating this collected edition and it really shows.
Talking about the stories themselves, the closest comparison I could think of (in my alibi yet limited experience) was actually to Miyazaki. Hagio's stories were similar in that, while they all take place in a contemporary setting, that doesn't stop Hagio from intertwining them with elements of magic, sometimes in big ways and sometimes in small, always in just the sort of speculative (telling the truth through fiction) that I really really love. Her stories are touching and whimsical, and …
I really shouldn't be surprised, Fantagraphics raises the bar once again. Not only is this a collection of excellent stories, but it is also presented in a way to really illustrate the kind of work that Moto Hagio does and the ways in which she relates to Manga and female creators of comics overall. A lot of intelligence and passion went into creating this collected edition and it really shows.
Talking about the stories themselves, the closest comparison I could think of (in my alibi yet limited experience) was actually to Miyazaki. Hagio's stories were similar in that, while they all take place in a contemporary setting, that doesn't stop Hagio from intertwining them with elements of magic, sometimes in big ways and sometimes in small, always in just the sort of speculative (telling the truth through fiction) that I really really love. Her stories are touching and whimsical, and they all center around female characters that feel extremely real.
All coming from the same artist, the visuals of the stories actually varied quite a bit. Overall I would say that her styles all feel a bit more classic, but her style did vary to a certain extent to best serve the tone of the story. And none of it felt particularly dated or super cheesy like some of the older manga I have read.
