Review by Comix
Leonardo Da Vinci once said: “While I thought I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die.” Plenty of authors have attempted to capture the meaning of this quote, from Dante to Nietzsche, creating works that flared the imaginations of bummed out kids everywhere. With the perfect dystopia of a world where life is a game of chance, Ikagami proves that such sentiments cross over to the comic medium as well. Playing with morality, society, and the value of a human being, this manga follows the life of Kengo Fujimoto, a literal walking death sentence to anyone he crosses, as he battles with the cruelty of the government he works for.
In the world of Ikigami, life is pretty good. The citizens of Japan are well-fed, crime is low, and prosperity and productivity of their days are strong and pure. To help with the solid government and a pliant populace, each citizen is also injected with a vaccine in first grade in which one in a thousand has a nano-tech virus which kills the recipient sometime between the ages of 18-24. Twenty-four hours prior to each death, the victim gets a visit from a government delivery man carrying an Ikigami (death letter) announcing their impending doom. The comic is a mix of short works of the victim’s lives and their actions in the subsequent day and a longer, underlying story of Kengo Fujimoto’s struggle with his actions and possible revolt against the government itself, one that grows more appealing by the day. That is, if he can avoid the Thought Police in the process.
Ikigami is a comic that I’ve been reading on and off and every time I pick it up, I remember why I love it. If you’re a fan of 1984 or Brave New World, this is going to be right up your alley. One of the most appealing parts of the comic is that focuses on the lives of those effected by the ikigami, instead of just Fujimoto’s crisis. It really attempts to drive the fear of a too-good-to-be-true future home as it plays out the final days of students, workers, and parents. There’s nothing like watching the lives of everyday people self-destruct to really brighten someone’s day. The longer story of Fujimoto’s plight merely adds icing to the cake, giving the reader a hero to root for as he pushes past his ingrained sense of duty and becomes a person few people in his world ever achieve. A person in charge of his own destiny, who can think and believe whatever he deems appropriate, free of government intervention. Mixing flash-fire violence with political ideologies, Ikigami address’s what it means to be citizen in a country where true freedom lies at the bottom of a prison cell.
The author/writer of the manga, Motoro Mase, is no stranger when it comes to dystopian futures and demented personalities. Though not much is known about his personal life, he has done several other works, but unfortunately, none that have been translated into English (but have in French.) The descriptions of his works all run in a similar vein such as Kyoichi, about a cult that does the dark and twisted work of an enigmatic shadow leader and Heads, where a man gets into a car accident and winds up with a donated half of a very bizarre brain. Mase tends to shy away from the manga standards of big eyes and long thighs, opting more for a subdued, if not simple, drawing style, which works well for this more serious comic.
As with a lot of good manga, there is a film adaptation as well. I haven’t seen it, but it’s been out since 2008, so it’s definitely out there to watch. The comic itself was completed in 2012 after a ten-volume run, but the English versions are only on the ninth book, released through Viz Manga. The volumes are very straight-forward with no bonuses or pencil tests, but the story is all there and with a twelve dollar price tag, is about what you would expect, though honestly, you can get them for a lot cheaper. If you got some time and want to check out some of the under-the-radar comics from Japan, pick this up. It’s a solid read.