Genre: Romance comedy (sort of)
Range: 16+
Price: 12.95 USD
A romance comedy by the writer of Blade of the Immortal with cover art based on a Thin Lizzy album cover…translated into English? Yes, yes, (the album “Fighting”) and an enthusiastic yes! Welcome to the unique and rarely explored modern world of Hiroaki Samura's Ohikkoshi
Don’t let the simple “romance comedy” genre throw you. There is nothing sappy or sticky here. This collection of stories is funny, frentic, and surprisingly moving.
Ohikkoshi is the story of a group of college friends, bumbling and stumbling through life. The most simple of decisions are made with the help of heaping amounts of alcohol, in an effort to avoid the real issues of finding love and starting adult-hood. The multi-branched story is honest and touching, while at the same time very entertaining.
Also included is “Luncheon of Tears Diary (Vagabond Shoujo Manga-ka”, a fantastic tale of a manga-ka (comic artist), Natsumi, who takes poor advice from her perverted editor, and ends up ruining her serial comic. Depressed and frustrated she quits the comic world and goes on a 14-year life adventure with so many unfortunates twists, losing her manga series is only a drop in the ink-well. From gambling with gangsters to fetishist boyfriends, Natumi’s luck always runs out at the most inopportune moments, leading her deeper into more dangerous and harrowing situations. Where the travel-worn and experienced manga-ka finds herself in the end wraps up this treacherous tale nicely.
The final short tale, “Bloodbath at Midorigaike (Kyoto Super Barhopping Journal)” is a funny little ditty about a visiting a supposedly haunted lake in Kyoto.
Bonus pages include a afterward actually worth reading, and bonus drawings. Translator notes (with page and frame number references) give explanations to the dozens of pop culture references most non-native Japanese speakers wouldn’t catch or understand. How translator Kumar Sivasubramanian is able to assemble these tidbits and trivia is beyond me, but the non-Japanese reader can come very close to enjoying the same experience as the readers of the original Japanese.
Hiroaki Samura’s drawing style is on of the most attractive things about Ohikkoshi. Compared to the clean and sharp titles I have looked at recently (i.e. MPD-Psycho) Samura’s style seems rough, yet calculated. It doesn’t feel rushed – quite the contrary – some of the pen strokes shading clearly took patience and time to complete. As a result his style exudes a certain warmth and personality which is very appropriate for how close we get to the characters we meet. The art creates an intimacy that fits perfectly with the storyline.
As a reader, it’s easy to appreciate Dark Horse’s reverence for Samura's writing, and there is a real sense that they are attempting to create a complete and definitive document of his original work in English. Ohikkoshi is smart and smarmy. "Traditional" manga fans might be confused by what they find, but mature readers (especially those that remember at least a portion of their college days) will find that Ohikkoshi cuts surprisingly close to the bone.
8.5