There’s a trend I’ve noticed with abstract art where people will praise the series for being deep, but not actually expand on the meaning of the abstractions. This is often accompanied by some variation of “People much smarter than me have done a better job analyzing this masterpiece than I ever could.” Today, just like every day of my life, I have decided to be the smarter (read: more pretentious) person, as few analyses of ‘Freesia’ aptly describe the reasons I appreciate the work. On a surface level, the manga unfolds as an explicit action series where 70% of the characters have mental problems. Kano, our protagonist, constantly hallucinates, has an imaginary friend, suffers from PTSD, and can turn invisible with some kind of camouflage. Is that last part actually important to him being mentally ill? …Maybe, but we’ll get to that later. Anyway, Kano acts very odd and standoffish, but this makes him very effective at his job: killing people. In ‘Freesia’, perpetrators of murders are legally allowed to be killed by family members of the deceased, although this usually happens years down the line. If the family of the deceased doesn’t want to commit this act of vengeance themselves, they hire an Enforcer like Kano to do it for them.
One couldn’t hope to analyze Kano on a surface level, so I won’t even bother. Thankfully, other characters hide behind fewer abstractions. Mizoguchi makes a strong first impression, establishing himself as a very, very bad person. A character like this has purpose in this story; Evil people will take advantage of legalized killing. This happens in reality as well. However, Mizugochi overstays his welcome considering his lack of development and complexity. He could’ve been killed off much earlier, and the series would’ve lost little value. The third enforcer is Yamada, the sanest major character in the series. He begins as a lawful good presence, although he lacks the prowess of his two coworkers. Eventually his skills and confidence grows, but simultaneously, his morals begin to corrupt. Yamada stays a solid presence throughout the story, and I think it would’ve been a good idea to focus on him a little more.
If one read ‘Freesia’ as a conventional action story, they wouldn’t be entirely satisfied. There’s a lot of slow moments, and some details (Such as Kano’s aforementioned powers) lack a concrete explanation. The solid page layouts are held back by inconsistent art. Sometimes the art really enhances the work, but other times it looks extremely rough. Matsumoto has always had a sketchy artstyle, but Freesia takes this to another level. Good, self-contained stories appear throughout Freesia, but these still feature a very strange protagonist that lacks charm and tons of upsetting content. Many of these qualities don’t even enhance the story on an abstract level; I don’t see why ‘Freesia’ couldn’t have given more concrete explanations of its supernatural elements, for example. Look at a manga like ‘Eden: It’s an Endless World’. Not only does it (mostly) work as a literal story with great characters, worldbuilding, and presentation, but it also contains a lot of philosophical and abstract concepts that commentate on the meaning of life. If 'Freesia' was trying to mix action and social commentary, it should've given more attention to the former.
Thankfully, the meat of the manga lies within the latter. 'Freesia' contains some very interesting statements on people's place in society. Within this framework Kano’s place in the story becomes very interesting. In the general sense, I believe that Kano’s camouflage ability represents him “not being seen” by society. Even this interpretation could be taken in two directions. It could represent Kano’s pursual of sanity and normalcy, which he struggles with throughout the story. Much of Kano’s life is spent trying to live up to what others believe to be “normal” and “good”. Kano works, he has a girlfriend, and he takes care of his mother. However, looking past the surface, each of these elements of a man’s life that would generally be considered “good” are extremely dubious. His job consists of killing people. His girlfriend constantly cheats on him without trying to hide it. His mom might actually be some random stranger that he kidnapped? However, these oddities in Kano’s life don’t bother him at all. This could be because he only wants to keep up appearance for others, but usually it seems that Kano is so disconnected from normal emotions that he doesn’t realize that these things are abnormal or harmful. Nevertheless, his desire to “blend in” could be a parallel to his camouflage. The alternate symbolism behind Kano’s camouflage could be a representation of marginalized groups. Considering Kano is both mentally ill and a veteran, one could very easily draw a parallel between Kano’s camouflage and a sort of social isolation that stigmatized groups face; Kano has become invisible to others due to being ignored and neglected. He takes a dangerous job because that’s what he knows, and by the end he’s tossed aside when he’s no longer needed. I really think both interpretations fit, and they characterize Kano and his struggle of fitting into society very well.
Even beyond this, ‘Freesia’ contains a lot of commentary on law, justice, and wealth. The enforcement system’s place in the story gradually grows more important as people rightly begin to question the morality of such a law. It’s less so a justice system and moreso an industry; Cases are denied and accepted not based on volatility of a criminal, but instead on self-interest. Does this case bring publicity? Could it get our workers killed? The finale involves Kano’s boss setting up an anti-enforcement political activist for an enforcement, which nicely creates an excuse for a flashy but also compelling final enforcement.
Unfortunately, ‘Freesia’ doesn’t quite hit its full potential. Some plot points and side stories would’ve been better left out for one reason or another (such as Mizugochi’s aforementioned conclusion). As in many Matsumoto stories, the writing becomes strangely transparent near the end, which leads to a solid finale, but not a great one. I enjoyed the main villain’s character, but he doesn’t feel like a true final opponent for Kano. One could argue that another character, Higuchi, was the true villain from the beginning, but she has some problems herself. She’s said to be conniving and scheming, but these traits aren’t evident by merely reading. Honestly, she doesn’t actually do much, although her conclusion was very good in how it contrasted her and Kano’s worldview. The manga tries to tackle several themes and issues near its end (Maybe too many), but its closing moments truly strike me. It parallels the very beginning of the manga, where Kano talked to his imaginary friend. However, Kano now takes the place of the friend, and the reader’s perspective comes from where Kano once sat. Kano begins to muse on existentialism and says that existence is defined through connections with others. While Kano’s friend was imaginary in the manga’s world, Kano is imaginary in our reality. Kano is a manga character, but if his tale here had a profound impact on the reader, does that mean he truly exists? It’s a very interesting finale that puts the reader in Kano’s shoes, which is difficult for such an odd distinct character.
I could analyze many more moments, but we’d be here a while. ‘Freesia’ achieves a level of artistry few manga have, but those quirks and flaws do hold it back a little at the end of the say. Despite its popularity, ‘Freesia’ isn’t quite my favourite Matsumoto manga. ‘Mikai no Hoshi’ manages to tell a denser, less confusing story with compelling characterization in only two volumes, and ‘Alice in Hell’ contains more interesting worldbuilding and plotting while also being much shorter. However, I can’t deny that Freesia has earned its title as a premiere underground manga.
