Doing Time

 

By Kazuichi Hanawa (Fanfare/ Ponent Mon)
ISBN 8493340901

Something of an obscure recommendation, this, but I wanted to add some different Manga, as I’m a little burned out with big eyes, big explosions, and big hair at the moment.

Doing Time doesn’t fall into any perceived Western understanding of Japanese comics. For a start it’s an autobiography/documentary. The creator served three years in prison for owning replica guns, which seems pretty stern to me but Mr. Hanawa clearly feels he deserved every moment of it. It’s a journal along the lines of Samuel Pepys with disquietingly intimate revelations calmly rolled out at every available juncture. It’s a shining insight into the psychology of the Japanese culture and mind set.

The thoughts here portrayed couldn’t come from any other nationality. Mr. Hanawa constantly and genuinely bemoans the quality and quantity of the food. It’s too good for the likes of him.

“Is it right for us to live so well in spite of having perpetrated such misdeeds?” he asks. The attention to detail almost makes this a cookbook. The narrative structure is so fluid that all one comes away with is a fine pattern of detail and no big picture.

I have to admit that I was bewildered and captivated in equal measure with this collection of strips drawn with astounding veracity and authenticity (Japanese prisons apparently allow no records of any sort – even drawings – to be kept by inmates and all the work was produced from memory) but if you’re of an adventurous mien this may brighten your jaded day.

© 2000, 2004 Kaziuchi Hanawa & Ponent Mon