Lucas Blogs About Solanin
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| Spoiler alert: the main character sustains a minor facial injury. |
So, what's this book's deal?
Well, Hypothetical Reader, you might want to brace yourself. This manga actually deals with the thing that scares us millennials more than anything else.
You can't mean –
Yep! Adulting! And not just the lame stuff like negotiating a trip to the dry-cleaners, it's actually about becoming an emotionally mature person.
That sounds even worse!
I know, but trust me, this manga is a good read. And since it's a comic book, you could probably read it in about two days. I know I did. Oh, and before we go any further, I've actually read this once before (about five years ago). It was my introduction to mangaka Inio Asano, and it remains my favorite of his works (also the only one to survive my semi-regular bookshelf purges).
So. . . are we gonna talk about it?
Yes we are. Solanin (which we later learn is named for a song written by the main character's boyfriend) follows a year in the life of Meiko Inoue. In the two years since graduating from college, she's been working full time as an office lady (just like millennial spirit animal Aggretsuko). And while it may pay the rent on the apartment she shares with her freelance graphic designer boyfriend of six years, Taneda, she just hates everything about it: the cramped commute from the suburbs to Tokyo, the tiny sliver of sky she can see from the alley where she eats lunch, getting chewed out/ hit on by her skeevy boss, never seeing Taneda because of their conflicting schedules. So one day she decides to quit. And why not, she's saved enough money to live off of for about a year.
So it's kind of a "young woman in the city takes some time off to find herself" sort of thing?
More of a "young woman in the city takes some time off and confronts the reality that her problems won't go away just because she stops doing something that makes her unhappy" sort of thing.
Sounds like kind of a bummer.
Well, I'll admit that it's kind of a bummer sometimes. But the manga does have a broad tonal pallet. Some chapters are humorous, some are serious, some are . . . You know what, before we get too much further, let's just say that the remainder of this review will discuss what some people might consider spoilers for the second half of the manga.
You mean, without making people highlight them?
Yes, so spoilerphobes should consider themselves forewarned that the rest of this review contains spoilers for the second half of the book.
You might as well just rip off the band-aid.
All right, so the first half of the manga is sort of carefree with Meiko, Taneda, and their friends trying to find their place in adulthood. Rip (nicknamed for the time his pants ripped in PE back in elementary school) is working at his dad's pharmacy, Kato is in his sixth year as an undergrad, and Ai has a job at a department store. Now, Taneda, Rip, and Kato have been in a band together since their freshman year of college, and they decide to finally make one last push, recording a demo to send out to labels and venues. The response (or lack thereof) pushes Taneda into a depressive spiral that ultimately results in his suicide. Leaving the rest of the characters to sort it all out. The remainder of the manga is largely about Meiko's attempts to cope with the loss of Taneda while figuring out what she wants to do with her life.
You're still making it sound like a bummer.
Well, I'd be lying if I didn't say that it's a bittersweet reading experience. Like I said earlier, this isn't a one-note story, which is part of why it works so well. Asano deftly juggles comic, tragic, and mundane elements to create a narrative that feels real. In his author's note at the end, Asano talks about how he wrote and drew Solanin when he was 24 years old, and as someone who has been 24 years old, I can attest that some of the characters thoughts and anxieties feel almost too real. Which provides a nice segue into Asano's style as an artist.
Isn't avoiding awkward segues one of the reasons you use me as a rhetorical device?
Yes. . . Oh, I see. Go ahead.
So, is that realism carried over into the art?
Thank you for asking. Yes. Asano's characters are somewhat stylized (but less so than in some manga) but his backgrounds and props are all detailed and realistic. Well, actually, I'd say that they possess just enough detail to be realistic without distracting from the characters or action. His page layouts are restrained, populated entirely by rectangular panels that are only broken by speech bubbles. While black panels inject the story with the characters' inner monologues.
Hmm, "characters" plural, eh? So it isn't just from Meiko's point of view?
No, no. It's mainly Meiko's story, but different chapters focus on different characters. So we get to learn, for example, about Rip's unrequited crush on Meiko, or Kato's insecurities about being a super senior and going out on job interviews. Again, the kind of normal, mundane issues that make up the bulk of twenty-somethings' lives. And, of course, it also shows these other characters struggling with their own grief at Taneda's death while trying to be supportive of Meiko. Meiko's grieving process includes the classic five stages: 1) wallowing in her apartment, 2) getting a part-time job at a florist, 3) dealing with awkward romantic overtures from an 18-year-old coworker, 4) smashing a television, and 5) a cathartic performance of one of Taneda's songs.
So are there any areas where you feel the manga falls short?
Not really, I'd say that it's one of those works that largely accomplishes what it sets out to. As far as elements that might not work for some readers, there are a couple of moments that have sort of a magic realist vibe like the gashapon prize that asks Taneda if he's really happy before his suicide or when Meiko plays guitar for a young boy who looks like Taneda and has vanished by the time she finishes her song. Wow, I just made a book I love sound really corny.
If it makes you feel any better, you're pretty corny, too. If I may ask, is there any reason you decided to re-read this now?
Well, not too draw back the curtain too far, but I like to maintain at least a few weeks buffer of completed content for my blog and since (shockingly) I don't always finish reading a book in a week, sometimes I'll read several comic books in a row to quickly accumulate review material.
That sounds like cheating.
It feels like cheating, until I realize that the only rules for my blog are the ones I impose on myself. Now that's adulting!
Solanin written and drawn by Inio Asano (translated by JN Productions), Viz Media Trade paperback edition, second printing, March 2012, originally serialized in Japan as ソラニン (Soranin) from 2005 to 2006, 424 pages, pairs well with a cold one and a night out with your friends
Links:
Asano apparently added an epilogue to the most recent Japanese edition, it's available for download from the American publisher, but I haven't read it.
Oh yeah, so the title of the manga comes from a song by Taneda's band, which actually became a real song by the band Asian Kung-Fu Generation when the manga was adapted into a film in 2010.
Their version is fine, but I'd actually imagined the fictional band, Rotti, sounding a bit more like the real band, the Pillows.
And even though these links are getting even more tangentially related to the subject of the review, here's another Pillows song I really like.
You might as well just rip off the band-aid.
All right, so the first half of the manga is sort of carefree with Meiko, Taneda, and their friends trying to find their place in adulthood. Rip (nicknamed for the time his pants ripped in PE back in elementary school) is working at his dad's pharmacy, Kato is in his sixth year as an undergrad, and Ai has a job at a department store. Now, Taneda, Rip, and Kato have been in a band together since their freshman year of college, and they decide to finally make one last push, recording a demo to send out to labels and venues. The response (or lack thereof) pushes Taneda into a depressive spiral that ultimately results in his suicide. Leaving the rest of the characters to sort it all out. The remainder of the manga is largely about Meiko's attempts to cope with the loss of Taneda while figuring out what she wants to do with her life.
You're still making it sound like a bummer.
Well, I'd be lying if I didn't say that it's a bittersweet reading experience. Like I said earlier, this isn't a one-note story, which is part of why it works so well. Asano deftly juggles comic, tragic, and mundane elements to create a narrative that feels real. In his author's note at the end, Asano talks about how he wrote and drew Solanin when he was 24 years old, and as someone who has been 24 years old, I can attest that some of the characters thoughts and anxieties feel almost too real. Which provides a nice segue into Asano's style as an artist.
Isn't avoiding awkward segues one of the reasons you use me as a rhetorical device?
Yes. . . Oh, I see. Go ahead.
So, is that realism carried over into the art?
Thank you for asking. Yes. Asano's characters are somewhat stylized (but less so than in some manga) but his backgrounds and props are all detailed and realistic. Well, actually, I'd say that they possess just enough detail to be realistic without distracting from the characters or action. His page layouts are restrained, populated entirely by rectangular panels that are only broken by speech bubbles. While black panels inject the story with the characters' inner monologues.
Hmm, "characters" plural, eh? So it isn't just from Meiko's point of view?
No, no. It's mainly Meiko's story, but different chapters focus on different characters. So we get to learn, for example, about Rip's unrequited crush on Meiko, or Kato's insecurities about being a super senior and going out on job interviews. Again, the kind of normal, mundane issues that make up the bulk of twenty-somethings' lives. And, of course, it also shows these other characters struggling with their own grief at Taneda's death while trying to be supportive of Meiko. Meiko's grieving process includes the classic five stages: 1) wallowing in her apartment, 2) getting a part-time job at a florist, 3) dealing with awkward romantic overtures from an 18-year-old coworker, 4) smashing a television, and 5) a cathartic performance of one of Taneda's songs.
So are there any areas where you feel the manga falls short?
Not really, I'd say that it's one of those works that largely accomplishes what it sets out to. As far as elements that might not work for some readers, there are a couple of moments that have sort of a magic realist vibe like the gashapon prize that asks Taneda if he's really happy before his suicide or when Meiko plays guitar for a young boy who looks like Taneda and has vanished by the time she finishes her song. Wow, I just made a book I love sound really corny.
If it makes you feel any better, you're pretty corny, too. If I may ask, is there any reason you decided to re-read this now?
Well, not too draw back the curtain too far, but I like to maintain at least a few weeks buffer of completed content for my blog and since (shockingly) I don't always finish reading a book in a week, sometimes I'll read several comic books in a row to quickly accumulate review material.
That sounds like cheating.
It feels like cheating, until I realize that the only rules for my blog are the ones I impose on myself. Now that's adulting!
Solanin written and drawn by Inio Asano (translated by JN Productions), Viz Media Trade paperback edition, second printing, March 2012, originally serialized in Japan as ソラニン (Soranin) from 2005 to 2006, 424 pages, pairs well with a cold one and a night out with your friends
Links:
Asano apparently added an epilogue to the most recent Japanese edition, it's available for download from the American publisher, but I haven't read it.
Oh yeah, so the title of the manga comes from a song by Taneda's band, which actually became a real song by the band Asian Kung-Fu Generation when the manga was adapted into a film in 2010.
Their version is fine, but I'd actually imagined the fictional band, Rotti, sounding a bit more like the real band, the Pillows.
And even though these links are getting even more tangentially related to the subject of the review, here's another Pillows song I really like.
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