Dobugawa

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There was once a beautiful city in the countryside where everyone liked to live. It had a limpid and gorgeous river flowing in the middle of it where people liked to gather as it was a perfect place to have a picnic and enjoy the surrounding scenery.

As the decades had gone by, this splendid river was turned into a sewage system. Eventually, most of the inhabitants forgot about its former beauty and have to pinch their nose when they go nearby because of the putrid smell. Everyone forgot except for an old lady that regurlarly takes a nap on the bench right in front of ... it. There, she dreams. She dreams of her past, a sort of idealized past seemingly coming right from the period novels she used to read as a kid, living a life of fake luxury to escape this sad reality.
No one really knows who she is but everyone likes to look at her peaceful sleeping face, the last ray of light in this now filthy place.

The story of Dobugawa flutters around the life of the many members of this town and shows how warmness can easily be communicated between people. Be it the students still in quest of identity and plans of the future, the young girl trying to become a professional ballet dancer, the middle-aged man that likes to listen to opera after a hard day of work or even the housewife that tries to find new meals to prepare to her family every day… None of them know each other but their destinies are linked, their lives intersect and improve for the better all thanks that one old lady.

I got interested in this after reading “Kagome Kagome” (this one is available online) and I’m still amazed at Aoi Ikebe skills at visual storytelling. Characters don’t even need to say a word to feel deep and her paneling is enough to convey all the necessary emotions across to the reader. The way she presents her world is poetic and soothing, dreams and reality intertwine perfectly to provide a once in a lifetime experience.
While it can seem the story tells nothing much, it’s surprisingly complex and dense once you try to reconstitute all the little fragments of memories scattered through the whole volume, leaving at the same time a lot of room for interpretation and to imagine the full length of their narrative.

If you’re sensible to onirical experiences and to slow-burn type of stories, then Dobugawa is an easy way to relax, Aoi Ikebe proving once again she’s a fantastic artist.