I've been so busy and so occupied with work and the holidays and family that I haven't had time to geek out recently. But I just had an otaku moment I wanted to share...
I've been a huge fan of the manga Genshiken for years now. I really think it's one of the best examples of how to capture and portray character interaction and emotional relationships in comic storytelling in recent memory in any graphic genre. I picked up Genshiken Volume 9, the final volume, the last time I was in Japan and devoured it that night. However, I just now finished rereading the last volume, in English this time, and suddenly found myself all choked up at the end. It was so damn depressing. I'm extremely disappointed it's over, on an emotional level. Even when I read it in Japanese, I didn't get this feeling, but now having read it in English, I just can't believe there will be no more. The next to last chapter of this volume, which is completely silent, really got to me the most. It was so brilliantly executed, bringing out every characters' thoughts and feelings just through their gestures and facial expressions. The fact that there were no words made it even more emotional. That final pin-up with the characters all looking out at the reader made me put the book down and sigh out loud. It drove home that fact that it truly, sadly, was the end of Genshiken.
2 comments:
Aw! I haven't gotten into this...but if it ends at nine, then I just might. I just can't get started on another never-ending manga series!!! :)
It's ironic you post this becuase just today I was listening to an episode of The Joy of Living Creatively podcast which kind of addressed this.
The theory was that in order for artists to do their jobs 'Nature' had given them kind of 'hyperactive emotions and sensetivity .'
It makes sense that you, a writer, would be emotionally touched by a comic ending.
My wife, an engineer, would never be affected by a comic ending.
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