Saturday, May 20, 2006
Manga Review: Kamikaze by Shiki Satoshi, vol. 1-7 (end)
1000 years ago, 88 demons emerged out of the darkness and wrecked havoc on the delicate balance of Nature. However, 5 warriors representing the elements of Water, Wind, Fire, Earth and Air appeared and defeated the demons. But before the demons were forced back into the world of darkness, they left a curse: 1000 years later, the Wind, Fire and Air elemental tribes would resurrect the 88 demons and destruction would come once again.
1000 years have since passed, and the tribes have been written out of mankind's history, living a marginal existence apart from mainstream society, or "people of the Red Earth" as they are called by the "matsurowanai kegai no tami", the tribal descendants of the 5 elemental warriors. The Wind and Fire tribes have already begun working towards breaking the seals on the gates that lock the demons in the world of darkness. Both tribes hold the deep belief that the resurrection of the 88 demons will bring destruction and regeneration in order to create a new world where the tribes' existence will be acknowledged and accepted, and they can co-exist harmoniously with the people of the Red Earth.
However, the Earth and Water tribes disagree with Wind and Fire's vision. Mikogami Misao seems like an ordinary high school student until she is saved by Ishigami Kamuro, the chief of the Earth tribe, from a group of fighters from the Wind and Fire tribes. Misao regains her memory as leader of the Water tribe and together with Ishigami, fights against tremendous odds to prevent the resurrection of the 88 demons.
Shiki has created in Kamikaze an epic mythology for the 20th century that combines Chinese geomancy and Japanese Shinto with modern pop existential philosophy. Kamikaze is an epic myth of the nature of the universe and humankind, considering fundamental questions such as "Is the essence of Man destruction?", "Was there only destruction at the beginning of Mankind? What was at the beginning?" and "Does destruction have no place in the harmony of the universe?" These philosphical questions are symbolized in the epic struggle between a five year-old boy and the mysterious chief of the Air tribe, who are respectively the incarnations of the diametric forces of life and death, creation and destruction.
In a mythic ending, the diametric forces are reconciled, revealing how life and death are actually 2 sides of the same coin. Death's existence is recognized but neither life nor death necessarily trascends over the other. Misao brings both the demons and the spirits of the departed warriors together to form the "protector" of the very source of existence - the cycle of life and death. There is something rather Lacanian about this; death is necessarily absent in life yet is also necessarily present in order for life to exist.
Shiki's very creative use of frames also contribute to the mythic quality of the work. Frames juxtapose images of ancient art with modern manga art to create a sense of Kamikaze as an epic tale that spans the entire history of humankind. In one scene, the body of the Air tribe leader is also "broken up" into multiple small frames showing only single body parts, arranged in the form of a cross that follows the vertical position of the body from head to toe. This unusual use of frames seems to be a reference to ancient mythological art (perhaps Taoist or Hindu?) and gives the portrayal of the Air tribe leader the necessary air of a mythical god-like being.
The existential questions of "who am I?" and "what do I exist for?" are also central to the story. The story may seem to champion a philosophy of Fate but it doesn't. Misao constantly prompts the other characters to think about what they are fighting for, and the subsequent collapse of deeply-held beliefs (or ideology, to use a more Marxist term) and the self-identity based on those beliefs is shown to be a painful but significant self-revelation for the characters. The manga ends with an exhortation to survive for one's true essence in the face of death, but Shiki never loses touch with the inevitability of death as several of the main characters die in the bloody final battle with the demons. The highly elaborate artwork also captures the bloody reality of war without over-indulging in gore and violence.
Thus, Kamikaze is not a facile optimistic tale of good triumphing over evil. It is a highly-intelligent work that makes full use of its apocalyptic genre to reflect on post-Hiroshima issues of human nature and Man's place in the universe. I really enjoyed reading this manga and I highly recommend it!
kaoru said at 5:34 AM
|