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Jason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga - Red-Colored Elegy




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Wooga



Joined: 22 Jun 2007
Posts: 916
Location: Tucson
PostPosted: Fri Oct 26, 2012 12:19 am Reply with quote
the first time I read this manga, I was utterly confused and distracted by the unconventional style.
The second time, I could actually figure out what was happening.
The third, I was emotionally invested. I understood.
The art reminds me of the box man, although the box man doesnt really have much of a story
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khaos1019



Joined: 28 Nov 2007
Posts: 93
PostPosted: Fri Oct 26, 2012 12:10 pm Reply with quote
Just placed an order with RightStuf for this. I'd never heard of it before, but I'm really intrigued. Thanks, Jason.
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erinfinnegan
ANN Columnist


Joined: 31 Jan 2005
Posts: 598
PostPosted: Fri Oct 26, 2012 7:50 pm Reply with quote
I had the good luck of reviewing Red Colored Elegy for Publishers Weekly when D&Q put it out. My review is still in the editorial section of the amazon page.

It's the sort of book that reminds me of The Simpsons episode 1F02 "Homer Goes to College":
Quote:
Lisa: Dad, don't let these application essays throw you. Let's see: "List your three favorite books and how they've influenced your life."
Homer: Is "TV Guide" a book?
Lisa: No.
Homer: "Son of Sniglet"?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Katherine Hepburn's "Me"?
Lisa: No!
Homer: Oh, I suck.
-- "Reading Digest" counts, though. Homer slaves away at the applications.
Homer: [writing] "...It was the most I ever threw up, and it changed my life forever."

This is my long roundabout way of saying that Red Colored Elegy receives my highest possible rating; it changed my life. Great books have a way of changing the way you see books as a medium, or changing the way you see the world around you, or both.

It also hit me with an arrow straight to the heart, since I was working in animation, living together with my boyfriend, and getting really into manga and learning about Garo at the time the book came out.

(1F02 is easily one of my top ten favorite Simpsons episodes.)
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ptolemy18
Manga Reviewer/Creator/Taster


Joined: 07 May 2005
Posts: 357
Location: San Francisco
PostPosted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 3:11 pm Reply with quote
I also read this while going through a breakup, and it was just what the doctor ordered. (I think?) It's really powerful, all the more because there's not much 'obvious' melodramatic conflict or confrontation between the two characters, and because their actions & thoughts run on different tracks with no obvious attempt to reconcile them. Such is life.

The short anime, while fascinating -- I wonder if it'll ever get any sort of English release? -- has a very different feel because all the rough spots and narrative/stylistic craziness is sort of smoothed over. And because the occasionally goofy, cartoony love interest of the manga has now become, 40 years later, this sort of distant idealized goddess (not in her actions as much as in the way she's drawn). Now she's Hayashi's muse, his Ideal Woman, apparently. (And/or, he could just have settled to a style where he draws all his 'attractive women characters' exactly the same. Both explanations are simultaneously possible.)

I hadn't thought about the funeral expenses! Thanks for pointing out your great Publisher's Weekly review.
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Bonham



Joined: 20 Nov 2010
Posts: 419
Location: NYC
PostPosted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 7:00 pm Reply with quote
Red-Colored Elegy is the closest I've seen any manga get to something like Ingmar Bergman's Persona.

Nice article, Jason.
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