Japan (Dark Horse)

Given the pair’s past output, one would expect a book of this ilk with the two of them on board would be a match made in heaven.

JAPAN
(Dark Horse; 218 pgs B&W; $12.95)
(W: Buronson; A: Kentaro Miura)

Katsuji Yashima is a thug with a heart of gold, a yakuza gangleader who has traveled with his brother all the way to Barcelona to meet up with his honey Yuka Katsuragi, a TV news reporter there to cover the then-current 1992 Olympics. After interviewing four young Japanese students on what it means to be Japanese, Yuka goes on a tirade about how present-day Japan’s trade-centric economic policies will make them the envy—and eventual enemy—of the world. Japan, she argues, is the new Carthage, the West is the new Rome; hopefully you don’t need your high school history book to remember how that one turned out.

A cautionary tale with a heaping helping of patriotism, Japan finds our cast of seven heroes thrust into the year 2031 where Yuka’s nightmare has come true: Japan has been decimated and its people live as refugees, serving as slaves to the people of Neo-Europa. The book’s creators are well known for their skill with hyper-violent dystopias—Buronson with the post-apocalyptic bloodbath Fist of the Northstar, Miura with the swords-n-sorcery bloodbath Berserk—and the world of Japan is what you would expect from these two: one lone, muscle-bound hero protecting his friends from hordes of roving gangs who raid villages to kill the men, rape the women, and steal the food. Given the pair’s past output, one would expect a book of this ilk with the two of them on board would be a match made in heaven.

Not so fast. Buronson has crafted a fascinating take on Japan’s role in world politics and the possible consequences of the east-versus-west trade competition, but the story falls off the rails once these consequences become the book’s reality. None of the characters in the book are fleshed out particularly well, and the book’s main protagonist, Yashima, has trouble holding the plot up. Where the leads in Fist and Berserk were silent men of mystery, Yashima’s a big, dumb gangster, which on some level works, but with a story that strives for complexity of thought, it doesn’t help to have a main character whose idea of political repartee is lines like, “That ain’t survival!! It’s bullshit!” His gal Yuka starts out loaded with potential, but by story’s end, she and the other female character are reduced to love interests whose constant endangerment serves only to throw in more fight scenes.

Miura, for his part, does a solid job on art, but even he is capable of better. The static scenes utilize fine linework and oodles of crosshatching, giving the art a rough texture that is far sketchier than the much cleaner Berserk. For the action scenes, Miura transforms objects into billions of short lines that are supposed to reflect motion, but instead simply muddy the artwork and confuse the reader. (Also aiding in the confusion, Dark Horse has chosen to not translate the sound effects, which leaves the artwork clean but renders many panels unintelligible.) The character designs seem lifted right out of Fist of the Northstar, with Yashima in particular being preposterously huge—probably the first ten-foot-tall man in Japanese history. It’s a mess, to be sure, but some fans of Miura’s work on Berserk may find it interesting to see how his art has evolved since Japan’s publication 13 years ago.

Unlike most manga, Japan is a one-shot story told entirely in this lone volume. The book is a quick read that is easily digestible in one sitting, and its uniquely Japanese political perspective makes for an interesting read. There is too much that is unsteady about the final product, however, to recommend the book. When Yashima’s might-makes-right rebellion meets up with the non-violence-obsessed Azuma—a Christ-like figure not only in terms of philosophy but in appearance, too; how’s that for obvious?—the result is so ham-fisted and obvious that you’re liable to smack your forehead in disbelief. Japan isn’t necessarily a bad book, just a decent idea ruined by mediocre execution from two creators who can—and have—done better.