Barbara

BEHOLD THE POWER OF KICKSTARTER!

Digital Manga is the first major manga publisher to utilize the crowdfunding site to bring more manga stateside.  Specifically, they’re using it to not only bring their previous Osamu Tezuka work “Swallowing the Earth” back into print, but to bring us more of the mangaka’s immense body of work.  “Barbara” is the first such effort to see fruition, while next year we’ll be getting “Unico,” “Triton:  King of the Sea,” and “Atomcat”… assuming you contributed enough on the site to qualify for that last one.  When I heard that they were doing this, plunking down my money to get more Tezuka was a very easy decision.  Was it worth it?  The thing is that I have yet to read a later-era work by the author that wasn’t entertaining or involving on some level and that’s still the case here.  However, with its random, rambling nature I can also understand why the company would rather risk our money than theirs with its publication.

We’re introduced to the title character as she squats in ratty clothes underneath a pillar in Shinjuku station.  It’s there that she’s spied by author Yosuke Mikura who is intrigued by her surprising literateness.  He first tries to get her medical help, only to find out that she’s an incurable drunkard, and then takes her back to his place which begins a long chaotic affair that not only brings him greater renown and success, but ruins his life in the process.

I wouldn’t be lying if I said that part of the appeal of Tezuka’s later works is in the “culture clash” aspects they have with my own reading experiences.  It’s not every day that you read a story where the first two chapters have its protagonist pursue a passionate romance with a mannequin or dabble in implied bestiality.  Subsequent chapters have him encountering a sadomasochistic theater group, being literally tormented by his first novel, dealing with his physical and mental double, and taking part in a Black Mass in his attempt to marry Barbara.  Alongside this is the title character existing in a near-constant inebriated and clothing-optional state.  Now I’m only scratching the surface of the sleaze and depravity on display here, and at first it can feel like he’s trading on shock value.  Fortunately, as the story goes on, Tezuka proves that he’s more than capable of integrating even the most outlandish bits into the larger plot.

This is a good thing because the actual storyline is more of a disorganized ramble than anything else.  Yosuke’s story will be familiar to anyone who has read one about the struggles of a writer in regards to their creation process and their own personal hang-ups and imperfections.  Our main character isn’t meant to be a likeable person by any means, but Tezuka doesn’t foist him upon the reader as someone who is meant to be.  In that regard, the writer’s many disturbing and even horrific acts come off as an accurate description of his character rather than immediately off-putting.  However, the narrative doesn’t really start to coalesce until around the halfway point, so it wouldn’t surprise me if others were actually put off by Yosuke and Barbara’s actions well before that point.  This lack of focus also makes it harder to get involved with the story and less immediately accessible than his other later-era works such as “Ode to Kirihito” or the recently reissued “Message to Adolf.”

So “Barbara” is ultimately one for those already converted to the brilliance of Tezuka and certainly not something I’d give to anyone who has no experience with the “God of Manga.”  I realize that the entertainment this volume provides is more of an acquired taste, and those of you who aren’t amused by people being horrible to other people or books without likeable protagonists are warned to stay far away.