Solanin

Product Description

College graduates struggle to cope with the real world. Music offers refuge in this modern manga with an American attitude.

Meiko Inoue is a recent college grad working as an office lady in a job she hates. Her boyfriend Shigeo is permanently crashing at her apartment because his job as a freelance illustrator doesn’t pay enough for rent. And her parents in the country keep sending her boxes of veggies that just rot in her fridge. Straddling the line between her years as a student and the rest of her life, Meiko struggles with the feeling that she’s just not cut out to be a part of the real world.

Although the manga, Japanese comics, boom has settled down in recent years, in comparison to its height in 2001 or 2002, the number of manga in large bookstores has surpassed the number of available American and European graphic novels and, in some stores, surpasses the number of fantasy and science fiction novels available. However, while there are indeed a number of manga aimed at older readers, many of these books contain excessive violence and nudity which attempt to hide otherwise vacuous stories. Yet, there are some books, like Inio Asano’s Solanin, that squeak through into translation and show that manga contains simple but effective slice-of-life stories that are on level with Alex Robinson (Box Office Poison) and Craig Thompson (Blankets).

Solanin centers on the life of Meiko Inoue, a petite, cute, but not overly pretty 24-year-old who lives in Tokyo and works at a second rate company as an office lady (basically a job which consists of preparing tea and making copies). Having loss her youthful vigor and enjoyment of big city life, Meiko often complains to her boyfriend Taneda about her life. One day, a half-asleep Taneda suggests to Meiko that she quit her job and she does just that. Yet, instead of opening herself to a world of free time and opportunities to embroil herself in pursuits that she would not normally have time for, she lazes around as her savings dwindle.
Desiring change, but not willing to buckle down and change herself, Meiko encourages Taneda, and his college friends, the rotund, sloppy Kato and the hirsute Rip, to revamp their band for them to attempt to regain their youthful vigor and to capture their fading ideals. However, is this goal really obtainable, or is it nothing more than a pipedream?
While not drawn in an overly realistic style, Asano’s work does not feature the large eyes and small mouths that some might find irritating. The characters are of a relatively simple design, but are easily distinguishable from each other, and their overall features look Japanese which is often a rarity in the world of manga. Like many other manga artists, Asano’s true talent shines in his renditions of buildings, motorcycles, and guitars. An interesting aspect of the artwork is that Asano inserts a number of photographs within the art. These can be a bit off putting at first, but eventually they blend into the overall composition.
Although Meiko is the main character of the graphic novel, Asano gives each major character his or her fair share of pages. This aspect of the graphic novel is done quite well, so the reader can easily understand the intricate relationships shared between the characters and come to understand reactions which at first might seem a bit puzzling. The characters personalities are quite diverse with Meiko’s indecisiveness, Kato’s slovenly nature, Rip’s bizarre stoicism, and Taneda’s coolness. However, these characters are not limited to these qualities and they knit a tight web with each other.
Asano drew Solanin at a time in which he was the same age as the characters, 24, which was a time in which he too was struggling to find himself. Solanin reflects the vacuity that a number of the younger residents of Tokyo feel, as well as young people across the globe, and the powerlessness they feel when faced with such emptiness. Yet, Solanin is not without hope, and it shows that true happiness can be found in the mundane

Product Details

• Perfect Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: VIZ Media LLC; Original edition (October 21, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9781421523217
• ISBN-13: 978-1421523217
• ASIN: 1421523213
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches