| MW |
[Jan. 9th, 2008|11:55 am] |
In order for me to update this thing more often I have decided to make this blog more for the reviewing and criticizing of comics, books, movies, music and other things that interest or disgust me. Also because I have a boring life that I'm sure that no one is interested in reading about.
So here we go.
MW
by Osamu Tezuka
1976-1978
584 pages
Vertical Publishing
September 2007
Here is the synopsis from the Osamu Tezuka Wikipedia page.
"A diligent and efficient bank employee, Yuuki Michio, has another side: that of a brutal kidnapper who commits horrible crimes, one after the other. Yuuki frequently visits Father Garai at his church, repenting for his sins each time he commits a crime. The two had witnessed a terrible event on Okinomabune Island in the neighboring of Okinawa Island fifteen years ago. During the incident, all the island's residents were killed by a poisonous gas (called "MW," a secret chemical weapon), which leaks from the storage area of foreign military forces on the island. Yuuki also goes mad under the effect of the gas. While taking revenge on criminals who cover up the event, Yuuki finally locates the whereabouts of MW. Knowing that he has little time left, as his brain and heart are increasingly affected by MW, he plans to release the toxic gas all over the world when he dies, to bring the whole human race to extinction."
I had read Apollo's Song by Tezuka in one sitting over the summer while driving back to Lincoln from Illinois and it seemed to go much faster than when I read MW (which took about a week reading for no longer than 2 hours at a time) which is only 40 pages longer. This could be because MW's story line is much deeper and complex. Apollo's Song is more along the lines of a bitter-sweet fairy tale, although much more bitter than sweet with it's brooding main character being pretty much taunted by unrequited love. MW makes you think, both about what Yuuki will do next and what is going on in his sick and twisted mind, and that the government lies to it's people and that enough people stand up they can challenge it but there is always a chance of a silent consequence-free retaliation on their part. It is also interesting to see how the homosexuality aspect of the story is handled with the involvement of a priest and the fact that it was happening when homosexuality was still very taboo in Japan. The gore and murder scenes are quite unusual and interesting. Some are generic like an old bishop on R Air Base getting shot in the face three times. Some are a bit more inventive like the old bar keep who gets long needles shoved deep under his finger nails and then is released just to have his genitals bitten off by a trained dog.
If you're looking for a good book to kick off the new year this one would be on my list of recommendations and I don't even read that much manga.
I'll give it an 8 out of 10 stars. |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
marcustegtmeier's journal