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Late Manga Creator Jiro Taniguchi's Final Works Published
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
Shogakukan released late manga creator Jiro Taniguchi's previously unpublished Kōnen no Mori and Izanau Mono works this week. The publisher held a press conference for the release on Thursday.
Taniguchi worked on both projects simultaneously for about two years while he was ill. He passed away on February 11 at the age of 69.
Kōnen no Mori is the story of a boy who grows into adulthood while interacting with a forest. The work is different from typical manga because Taniguchi created it in full color with landscape orientation on genkō yōshi (manuscript paper with squares). Taniguchi intended the work to have five chapters. However, he had only produced a complete manuscript for the first chapter and a draft of the second chapter at the time of his death.
The end of the book features messages from fellow manga creators Natsuo Sekikawa (The Times of Botchan, Hotel Harbour View), Masayuki Kusumi (Kodoku no Gourmet, Sanpo mono), and Baku Yumemakura (The Summit of the Gods, Onmyōji). All three creators provided stories for manga that Taniguchi illustrated.
Izanau Mono publishes Taniguchi's work based on "Hanabi" (Fireworks) from author Hyakken Uchida's Meido (Realm of the Dead) compilation book. The work was made using diluted ink, correction fluid, and pencil. Taniguchi first drew the illustrations in pencil, then an assistant traced over the main lines in the manuscript, and Taniguchi added the final touches.
Taniguchi was able to continue working on the project until early January. Taniguchi said that only 20 of the 30 pages were complete, but the editors also included the final 10 incomplete pages with the consent of Taniguchi's family. The same book also has shorts, essays, and notebook illustrations from leading years. The end of the book has a notebook entry from October 2016, in which Taniguchi shared thoughts on writing manga.
Other posthumous releases of Taniguchi's works include Fanfare and Ponent Mon's release of Venice travel book manga and Rue de Sèvres' publication of the La Forêt Millénaire (The Millennium Forest) project.
Source: Comic Natalie
