Adolf ni Tsugu

Aug 9, 2009

Recommended

Adolf is one of Osamu Tezuka's later works and acclaimed as one of his best. Since it deals with Jews and Nazi's, comparisons to the masterpiece Maus, published around the same time, are bound to happen. But the works are incomparable since they deal with different parts of the Holocaust. Adolf, unlike Maus, focuses more on the mental state of one particular SS officer rather then the Jews themselves and what they go through.

Simply said, it is a very well crafted WWII spy story. Unlike most spy stories, it is fairly realistic in the timeframe of the story since it is told of the span ... of 9 years (excluding the very end) starting at the 1036 Berlin Olympics and mostly ending at the end of the war. The pacing is done very well as it alternates. The slower parts are used for two things, setting up for what is later to happen and character development. Even between events, years sometimes pass and some contains some of the rare instances where narration is used in manga to explain how the war is unfolding. Though mostly in-directly affecting to the characters, it is still helpful to show how the world is developing around them.

Though the story starts off and with the plot revolving around the missing documents of Hitler's origin, that is not the focus. In essence, it is a tragedy of the irreversible effects of brainwashing and blind devotion have on a person's psyche and their relationships. Though overarching theme is Adolf Kaufmann's mental state, the other characters also have problems large and small to make them feel real, but the focus isn't on their mental state so the story doesn't explore their psyche so much. There of course is the ever-present theme of racism, but that is quite self-explanatory.

I have only completed two of Tezuka's works, this and Metropolis. Since the two are on the opposite sides of his career, I can say that he has improved immensely as an artist with a profound influence from Gekiga. I have quiet a bit of Gekiga and I can say that the art is even superior to the majority of Yoshiro Tatsumi's (judgeing him by what has been published by Drawn & Quarterly) but falls short of Lone Wolf and Cub, Screw-Style, and Red Color Elegy (of what I've seen that is). The most impressive scenes are the narrative ones. Those scenes are visually-staggering, vividly-haunting (though it doesn't contain the alienating feel of Tsuge's works) and comparable to the austere beauty of the Himalayas in Buddha (though they do have a different feel). What is most impressive to me is the character designs. Tezuka easily has one of the most varied character designs that I have seen. Unlike many different designs, the design isn't dependent upon the upon the hair nor clothes, but rather the face of the person. Due to the old art, quite a few will be turned away, especially some of the people who are quite new to anime and manga.

Overall: It meets its potential. My only complaint is that there is not an extensive usage of symbolism and literary techniques to add depth, nor is it highly experimental. It is as I would define as a "progressive" comic. Separating the medium from other ones (animation most particularly), but in a more conservative way rather then the ground-breaking and experimental works of many of the works of underground and art comics (see Maus for that). A hugely enjoyable work that doesn't require much require intense thought. Lastly, there are mature themes (such as rape) presented, so this is definitely not for kids.

Availability: Despite only being 5 volumes, it is quite a scare manga to find with volume 1 going for even more then volume 4 of Phoenix. Since it was Tezuka's first work published in its entirety in English, it has been out of print for quite a while (started in 1995 and continued for only a few years). But for some reason all other volumes have been quite easy to find. With the exception of the first volume, I haven't really been able to find any scans. Since this is Tezuka that were talking about, there has to be scans of them out there, but I am at a lose to explain why all of them are so hard to find. In the past couple of years, there has been an immense surge in an interest of his works with the publication of Black Jack, Buddha, Phoenix, and MW (to name a few). So it is only a matter of time before it is republished in the US. But when is still iffy.

EDIT: It is currently being scanned, check for a comment by Curropt ID in the The Tokusyu Manga Club.

-Pierre Bezukhov
P.S.: Feedback is most welcome.

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Nov 16, 2013

TrenchKamen

Recommended

This is the story of three men named Adolf. It is a story with the grand sweep of myth, something that seems to rise from the unconsciousness, as told through a Japanese observer. At the opening of this story, in the early 1930's, it was a popular given name. Two Adolfs lived in Kobe, as part of the German expat community: one the son of a Jewish baker, and one the son of a Nazi diplomat. The coincidences interweaving their lives are so profound they should seem contrived, but they play out organically in the cadence of tragedy.

This is more painful to read the second ... (third, etc) time. The suspense is still there, but it is tinged with the tragedy of inevitability. That, I hold, is a hallmark of truly great storytelling. It is compelling no matter how many times you read it, and you realize different things each time you do. The dramatic irony that comes of the reader knowing history is brilliantly rendered. This is a masterwork of literature, skillfully plotted, driven by a vague sense of futility. And I am struck, each time, by the clarity of perspective with which Tezuka writes. It is a stunningly anti-war work, ruthlessly critical of the Japanese military state and the Nazi regime, but the atrocities of each country are laid bare. They are all guilty of unimaginable violence. The Manchurian campaign is to this day glossed over in Japanese textbooks (America is no less guilty of this sort of censorship of its history), but discussed openly in the story. The American firebombing of Kobe (recall most Japanese buildings were woodframe at this time) was an attack of equal cruelty as the Blitz and the atomic bombings. The Pearl Harbor ships were essentially dragged out as bait, the seamen left to die. The Russian army raped and pillaged Berlin with impunity, taking revenge, as is so often the case in war, on those who had no control over the situation from the beginning, many of whom were just quietly trying to survive. The Jews were ruthlessly persecuted by the Nazis, but then persecuted the Palestinians with equal ruthlessness, and the Palestinians responded equally heartlessly against Israeli citizens.

I am taken by the honesty with which Tezuka portrays a person's awareness of his own malleability, foreshadowed by a young Adolf Kaufmann not wanting to go to a Hitler Youth school, because he knows it will brainwash him to hate Jews--even though his best friend is Jewish. Even knowing this, he does indeed become a Nazi ideologue. This is one of the most stunning aspects of the story, not often explored honestly in literature, anymore. Usually, we assume awareness of the effect ideology will have on us is portrayed as sufficient to prevent its effects. It is so often not so.

Sexism and racism aside (of which there is plenty in his works), Tezuka was a man leagues ahead of his time and place. I ask the reader to keep this in mind with any of his works, and I am glad they were reproduced accurately. If we censor the casual prejudices of brilliant writers in hindsight, to make their works more palatable to contemporary audiences, we erase a record of how pervasive these prejudices actually were, to be entrenched even in people who truly believed in egalitarianism. It still took courage to write this stuff, even as late as the 1980's. As recently as this year, Miyazaki Hayao was catching heat for anti-imperialist themes in his latest movie, which takes place during the war. That's 2013.

I find it interesting Tezuka implies Hitler was a man who abstained from all forms of stimulants, as shown in a brief dinner scene. The pop culture version I had always heard here in the US was that he was a vegetarian, but a meth addict in his later years. I do not know if that was the Japanese version of Hitler that existed in the public mind back in the 80's. Maybe Tezuka was illustrating his hypocrisy.

Overall, I most highly recommend Message to Adolf, even if you don't normally read manga or comics at all. It is just a damn good story, and an illustration of the potential of graphic novels to portray stories of equal nuance and power as prose.

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Dec 13, 2009

Nekkro

Recommended

"Adolf" is another great work of Osamu Tezuka or so called the "God of manga".I could say this work is really a hidden gem.

Story: The manga is telling the story of three men called Adolf.It's following their lifes and shows how they change as a human beings through the years - psychologically and psysically.The story ,doesn't sound like something "new" or "original",but really once you start reading the manga you could not possibly leave it until you understand what happens.The story develops before and during the period of Hitler's ruling of Germany.So everything is resolving and starts from his character.He changes the lives of ...

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May 31, 2010

KoniraThax

Recommended

This is possibly the greatest Tezuka work I have read to this point. With a collection of: Nextworld, Metropolis, Astro Boy, Kimba, Pheonix and many other excellent pieces, this one is by far the most grasping.

Not only does it go into the more serious darker under side of WWII, it also brings a certain heart and drama to both sides of that world. Tezuka became bold when he did this one, going into many elements many not dare touch. Though pushing the envelope into this more serious work, he still managed to retain some humour and made it enjoyable to the reader. It truly keeps ...

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Apr 28, 2019

Gundroog

Recommended

Adolf is an extremely well put together thriller focused around the lives of 4 characters. The Sohei Toge who serves as the narrator and writer of this story and 3 men named Adolf.

If you’ve ever read Urasawa works before I feel like the formula here will be pretty recognizable. Everything starts when Toge goes to report on Olympics going on in Germany when his brother asks to meet him in his hotel for something extremely urgent. What Toge finds however is a ransacked room and his brother dead in a tree outside the window. Who did it? Why? What will Sohe do and where ... will it lead him? In very little time Tezuka establishes an intriguing mystery that smoothly transitions both reader and the main characters into a messy offer that will keep spiraling down throughout the entire story.

It’s hard to describe what follows without spoilers, while none of the individual reveals will likely affect your enjoyment too much, Adolf as a whole is still built on the excitement of following the footsteps of the characters and finding out what will happen to them. Tezuka doesn’t hold anything back when it comes stakes. Even if you know the main characters won’t die, the things they go through constantly put them under pressure to which they react in a believable human way and this pressure is near constant.

Toge constantly has to face a shadow of government hanging over him. There’s a real sense of overwhelming power watching his every step, making sure not a single thing goes his way. Torturing him mentally and physically in hopes of depleting his willpower enough to squeeze out the information they need.
Kamil’s perspective is a bit more mild until the concluding chapters but as a jew living in Japan, his side of the story serves to introduce some jewish characters and set some things up.
On the other hand, Kaufmann’s PoV might be the roughest of them all as you get to see a little kid who wouldn’t hurt a fly slowly turn into an irredeemable monster after he is forced to enroll in AHS to become a part of Hitler’s Youth at behest of his father. The things he is made to do are depressing enough but seeing him get brainwashed and become a slave to ideology is heartbreaking when you get to see the results of it.

The manga can see a little unfocused at first. At least that’s how I felt originally. While sure, it’s established early on that this will be the story about three Adolfs, we nonetheless spend a huge chunk of time with out narrator/writor - Toge. Sure it’s exciting and it connects with a lot of key characters but it makes the switch to young Kaufmann and Kamil a bit weird cause you go from intense chases, escapes and fights to kids listening in on their parents or some historical exposition about nazis, jews and other things. However everything comes together so nicely in the final chapters that it’s hard to call any part of Adolf unnecessary or unfocused. If anything I feel like maybe there could’ve been more chapters flashing out Kamil cause in the end, while he’s a very important character, he’s given the least room to breathe and develop.

However it’s worth noting, I think, that even though the characters are an important part of this manga, their development is not a selling point. None of them are deep but their believable behavior is what makes them interesting. It’s not often that you see someone go through the things they go through and having it realistically reflect on them is enough to create some curiosity and intrigue.

Despite thrillers often lacking in what people usually consider substance and focusing on emotional engagement, I think Adolf succeeds in both. As in the background a gripping adventure goes on, there’s an overarching point being being made about justice and how people can use ideology to manipulate others for the sake of achieving their personal goals. How this zealous loyalty can ruin people’s lives and lead to terrible, needless tragedies. Tezuka never beats you over the head with this but I feel like that’s intentional. It’s vague enough that people might interpret this differently but not enough to a point where you can say it’s about anything at all. This might just be a result of how impartial Adolf is for the most part. Not in a “nazis weren’t simply evil” kind of way but in the same way a history book would simply tell you about people and atrocities they did without telling you how you should feel about. History in general is treated with respect here, even though the story is entirely fictional, a lot of it is supplemented by real events without any huge rewrites or alterations.

One point that’s so-so to me is the art. I remember reading Astro Boy and being kind of put off by a chapter where some village in Asia gets bombed and a bunch of people die and it’s all done in Tezuka’s trademark cartoony art style which severely clashed with what was shown. While Adolf still have some kind of cartoony moments overall there wasn’t a moment where I felt it clashed or was inappropriate. Also Tezuka’s paneling is as always on point. Normal moments get mostly normal presentation but when Tezuka wants to add some emotional tinge to the page he knows just how to do it by arranging the panels just right.

Overall Adolf is an excellent manga. Being 36 chapters long it’s hard to not recommend it to anyone who wants a good read. Though if you’re queasy or easily upset some of the darker parts of it might affect some people.

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Jun 25, 2021

CrystalMountain

Recommended

So this is the first work of Tezuka Osamu that I've read and it was great.I was not clueless of Osamu's storytelling ,as I've seen the Dororo anime and it was amazing, if you ask me.

The story and its characters are probably the strongest aspect of this manga .The beginning takes place in Japan,some years before ww2 starts.The protagonist is a japanese reporter named Toge Sohei who gets mixed up with some documents proving that Hitler was a Jew.The whole story is a hunt for these documents by others and Toge trying to protect them.Later on another character takes a leading role and that's Adolf ...

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Dec 9, 2015

Chinomi-san

Recommended

I've always been a fan of historical fiction, and this manga is a great depiction of the trials and tribulations that the Germans, Jews, and Japanese had to go through during World War II. Right and wrong are mixed, people are killed on the basis of religion and race, and everyone's afraid of offending the wrong people and risking their lives. Historical drama is really quite exciting, but at the same time, the morbid theme of the Holocaust brings the reader down to earth about how close the world was to wiping out an entire race.

Adolf ni Tsugu is has a very strong and engaging ... plot. The story has three main characters and centers on each of them one at a time until one of them come to meet the other. Each of them have their own circumstances to deal with, so even if you dislike someone, you won't be reading about them forever.

Now, I don't know how historically accurate this manga is, but from what little I know, there is a large change in history done near the end of the manga, but I won't mention it. Other than that, I think the mangaka did a splendid job with depicting Japan and Germany in states of war. He paid attention to cultural customs and gender roles and did an outstanding job.

One flaw I'd point out is the romantic development in this manga. There isn't a romance tag, I know, but whatever there was of love, it was mostly love at first sight.

There are multiple characters, a lot of recurring ones and others not, and I think they were all splendid. They had distinctive personalities and features, and not one of them were boring. They had ideas, unique thoughts, and acted like real people. No one was perfect, of course, but that makes them all the more real.

I also love the way he depicts Hitler. Hitler was known for using exaggerated gestures and raising his voice during passionate speeches, and even if I couldn't hear him from reading the manga, he looked like he would burst out of the panels. His mouth stretched wide and he spit sometimes. I could imagine Hitler to be that way.

This is an old manga, so the panels are rectangular and the characters cartoon-like. I think in the mangaka's day, that was pretty good, so I'm not complaining. He's pretty good with drawing buildings in my opinion. And there is bloodshed and violence in there because of war injuries and fist fights; to me it looks like uncensored cartoon violence. Otherwise, uniforms are detailed and facial features smooth. There's nothing much to dislike.

Other than the Pearl Harbor incident, this manga really opened my eyes to struggles the Japanese had with deciding whom to ally with. There were other countries that took part in the war, of course, but I had never thought about struggles with mixed race families that were both Japanese and German.

For those who like a dose of politics and a dive into history (especially the Holocaust), Adolf ni Tsugu is a good manga to pick up. Though it's from many years ago, it's a good portrayal (though not entirely accurate) of history from the perspective of people who've been there to witness it. You really care for the characters' safety and hope for the best despite knowing how terrible World War II turned out to be. Therefore, this manga gets an 8/10 from me.

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