Jan 5, 2009
Jiro Matsumoto’s short story collection is packed with explicit sex, death and quotable lines throughout.
Keep On Vibrating is a sex-mad world where people are either screwing or watching people screw. The story is about a neighbourhood calligrapher simply called 'sensei' who walks around naked for the entire tale and his relationship with two abused women. There's also a dude in a business suit with a horse for a head. Yep.
Morning Glory revolves around a possible clairvoyant, naturally sex-obsessed, in a shallow relationship with a woman, and his hijinks in his neighbourhood culminating in sex and death, such good bed partners as
...
they are.
Land of the Sacred Spirits is a great Twilight Zone episode-style Groundhog Day-like nightmare for a dude who just wants to get on with his life without a nasty divorce settlement ruining everything. The tale provides one of the quotes of the volume with: "You're a zombie! How can you eat ramen after I killed you!?"
Sanpol and Krezol is about two kids, wearing gas masks, with the enviable ability given to all kids. The ability to escape reality with their imaginations. At some point you realise they're the smartest characters in the chapter to remove themselves from so much suffering going on around them. And the reality itself is pretty damn harsh depicted in this chapter, but the payoff is glorious.
The Cat Ritual. The setting of the last chapter is so good, Matsumoto continues with it in this chapter with the continuing adventures of the two kids. We thought they were the smartest kids in the last chapter, but when they beat a cat half to death in this chapter for hilarious reasons that you’ll find out yourself, well, you realise they're not that smart. This time we see more of the city they live in and get more trademark quirky detailed backdrops from Matsumoto. There is such personality in his art; it's a nice change from mainstream manga which is more concerned with bizarre superhero outfits and special effects than with world-building.
Give and Take is about an investigation of a rape/murder of a schoolgirl by a cop who isn't afraid of hitting on high school girls himself. There's a cameo appearance of characters from a previous chapter and a bit more Twilight Zone episode shenanigans involved.
Hardboiled Sakata is the best story (although Matsumoto himself doesn't like it much in his afterword) and is saved for last as a master sniper is charged with the task of staking out a rooftop via an apartment room belonging to a prostitute. The ultimate test for the man of pride is to keep his focus on his scope and ignore everything around him, including the pesky hooker with a heart of gold. The story progresses in satisfying ways with humour and imagination, rising above the ludicrous premise to attain that great height of allusion and allegory, commenting on 21st century life. I'll save the analysis as it'll just ruin the story for you, but needless to say it's smart, funny and rolls along to a brilliant climax that avoids all of the sex and death before it in this volume, but instead aims for emotion.
There is a strange way in which Matsumoto uses sex in his stories; it just never feels titillating to me. It's always either hilarious or just disturbing. The ramshackle nature of the art, the mundane conversations, the disturbing backdrops, the kooky humour, it doesn't feel exploitative; it doesn't have the same purpose as hentai. It’s all in service of story, as depraved as it is coming from Matsumoto's mind, it's still story and not a money-influenced attempt at exciting the reader.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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