Mar 23, 2022
one can be nothing but stunned thinking of how much Tsutomu Takahashi is as a storyteller (and if you ask me, also as a drawer).
Being in love with the bosozoku phenomenon, I was more than delighted discovering that one of my favourite mangaka used to be a gang member himself and even wrote a story that resembled his own experience with such fidelity (you can read him talking about his teen years after the epilogue). I've read tons of delinquent manga, but many of them romanticize the idea of being in a gang. all you see is cool kids riding their bikes at night, getting
...
into trouble, outsmarting the police, and having a blast every day of their life. that's also portrayed in Bakuon Rettou, that feeling of invincibility, like you're gonna stay young forever, forever challenging society and its rules. but reading this work, you don't get to see only the charming part of being a bosozoku. the main protagonist Takashi strongly despises the idea of becoming an ordinary salaryman, and he joins the Zeros in the conviction that this is the only way for him to do great, extraordinary things. as the years pass, he slowly realizes how this decision has made him a sort of a social outcast forever. being a bosozoku means you can't just turn back to your past self, getting a degree and an office job. people will always look down at you, and it's not that without education you can do much...
that's why i say i got the sense i was reading a slice of life manga. most delinquent manga I've read only depicted the violent, exciting, attractive sides of Japanese biker gangs, with the characters almost never second-guessing their decisions. it's not that Takashi somehow
regrets his choices, but he does recognize how ineluctable are their consequences despise his bosozoku period will last very short. you're always being reminded how soon it will be over for Takashi as a bosozoku, and there is always a non-hidden deep feeling of sadness in him giving his 100% to organize the greatest biker gathering of all times.
it sort of reminded me slice of life comics, i say, because we get to see even the small details in the life of a gang member, his thoughts, his relationship with other members and how they develop, how the other members deal with life choises (becoming a normal person at 18? becoming a yakuza? staying a good for nothing, jobless rider forever?) with great psychological insight.
the whole manga is filled with melancholy and nostalgia, of course because the author is essentially writing his autobiography, but I guess it's something most of us can resonate with. the very short time of your life you get to be young, strong, untouchable, and you think nothing can bring you down, that everything is possible. and in fear of losing it all, you just ride as fast as you can, so reality won't reach you. but you know, you can't just run in eternity...
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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