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| Comic hardcover, 378 pages Published 2016 (contents: 2003) Borrowed from the library Read December 2017 |
by Moto Hagio
translation by Matt Thorn
I've been meandering through the translated oeuvre of shōjo manga master Moto Hagio for several years now; my latest read is the first half of Otherworld Barbara. It's interesting-- my introduction to her work was a series of short pieces collected in A Drunken Dream and Other Stories (1977-2008), and from there each book I've read has been longer than the last: A, A′ (1997) was four short stories, but they were linked; Heart of Thomas (1974) was a single 500-page story.* Otherworld Barbara will run over 700 by its end, I think.
I mention this not (just) because I love trivia, but because it's hard to judge Otherworld Barbara as a story on its first 378 pages. There's a lot going on here: a dreamworld where cannibalism is a normal practice that leads to immortality, a real world where people can dive into dreams, a father estranged from his son, an old woman pining for youth, a conference about the mysteries of Mars, a funeral, a line of robot dolls, an island that appears and disappears. It was a little tough to orient myself at first (not aided by the fact that I still struggle to recognize characters in manga consistently), but once I started to get a handle, I was drawn in. As always, Hagio's storytelling is prone to hugely dramatic emotions, gloomy tragedy, traumatic backstories... and goofy farce. I have no idea how it's all going to integrate, but I'm beginning to grasp the connections, and I'm on the edge of my seat to see how she pulls it off. Bring on vol. 2.
* You will note this is my progression through Hagio, not her progression, as I haven't been reading her work in its order of publication. Note also that I read her short story "They Were Eleven" (1975) between A, A′ and Heart of Thomas, which breaks my supposed pattern.
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