Opening a few years after the end of World War II and cover- ing almost a quarter-century, here is comics master Osamu Tezuka's most direct and sustained critique of Japan's fate in the aftermath of total defeat. Unusually devoid of car- toon premises yet shot through with dark voyeuristic humor, Ayako looms as a pinnacle of Naturalist literature in Japan with few peers even in prose, the striking heroine a potent emblem of things left unseen following the war. The year is 1949. Crushed by the Allied Powers, occupied by General MacArthur's armies, Japan has been experienc- ing massive change. Agricultural reform is dissolving large estates and redistributing plots to tenant farmers-terrible news, if you're landowners like the archconservative Tenge family. For patriarch Sakuemon, the chagrin of one of his sons coming home alive from a POW camp instead of hav- ing died for the Emperor is topped only by the revelation that another of his is consorting with "the Reds." What sol- ace does he have but his youngest Ayako, apple of his eye, at once daughter and granddaughter? Delving into some of the period's true mysteries, which re- main murky to this day, Tezuka's Zolaesque tapestry delivers thrill and satisfaction in spades. Another page-turning clas- sic from an irreplaceable artist who was as astute an admirer of the Russian masters and Nordic playwrights as of Walt Disney, Ayako is a must-read for comics connoisseurs and curious literati.
Osamu Tezuka (1928-89) is the godfather of Japanese manga comics. He originally intended to become a doctor and earned his degree before turning to what was then a medium for children. His many early masterpieces include the series known in the U.S. as Astro Boy. With his sweeping vision, deftly interwined plots, feel for the workings of power, and indefatigable commitment to human dignity, Tezuka elevated manga to an art form. The later Tezuka, who authored Buddha, often had in mind the mature readership that manga gained in the sixties and that had only grown ever since. The Kurosawa of Japanese pop culture, Osamu Tezuka is a twentieth century classic.Photo by Unknown, scanning and editing was done by Ogiyoshisan (Last edited Desember 27, 2013) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
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