Leader of modern manga, Inio Asano shocked readers in 2007 with the publication of “Goodnight Punpun”. His contribution is such that no written work has been able to match the emptiness Punpun left behind. On the occasion of the exhibition in his hometown Ishioka, ATOM looks back at the bibliography of a melancholy mangaka who endlessly questions the world.
“I’ve never written about things that made me happy.”
Inio Asano. This name has resonated in the minds of a whole generation for the past twenty years, since his first professional publication at the age of 17. But as we know, Asano isn’t the most popular author because of his pessimistic and critical view of Japanese society. Despite the criticisms, everyone would agree that it reigns supreme in the utsumanga category. Author of the “Goodnight Punpun” and “Dead Dead demon’s dededededestruction series”, as well as the one-shots “Downfall”, “Solanin” and “A Girl on the Shore”, Asano tackles real-life issues, no matter how pessimistic or crude. The entire Japanese society is being reconsidered. The storytelling signature seems simplistic and off- putting to many. The narrative’s subtlety is either adored or criticized, but the author has never hesitated to show his hand: life doesn’t produce miracles, and hope doesn’t appear as a gleam at the end of a tunnel. Nonetheless, it is possible to grow into the people we are through these life events, enjoyable or otherwise.
Crossing the forbidden line
In his latest work, “Dead dead demon’s dededededestruction”, Asano’s melancholy turns to an unbiased vision of a society unchanged by the absurd. Every theme dealt with in the story could be the same as those of our daily lives: friendship, politics and sexuality. Slowly, vigilance is replaced by ignorance, most notably in teenagers. Indeed, “Dead Dead Demon’s dededededestruction” highlights their naivety through their relationships. On the one hand, there’s Koyama Kadodo, an introverted high-school girl convinced that her teacher is the perfect husband. The latter is a thirty-odd-year-old in the throes of a break-up, looking for attention. The difference in age and maturity between the two brings into question the moral rules of our society. Is the adult really more mature than the teenager naively attracted by him? The morality of this relationship surprises, considering that the author has seen it as appropriate to bring it to a conclusion at the end of the series. On the other hand, her totally unstable best friend Nakagawa Ôran falls in love with an invader in the shape of a rockstar who disappeared on the day of the war.
Behind this story hides a reflection on tolerance towards others. Despite her age, often described as immature by Asano, Ôran doesn’t consciously change her relationship with the invader. When the absurdity that consumes our daily lives becomes a force, we’re not afraid to cross the forbidden for its sake. This temptation towards the forbidden can be found in other works.
So what defines the forbidden? In “Goodnight Punpun”, it’s suicide, in “Solanin” it’s adultery, and in “Bakemono Re’ Chan” it’s liberating dialogue about harassment. Prohibition is not necessarily considered as something negative, but as a radical opposition to society. This barrier, however tiny, creates a significant problem in Japan. Self-development is put aside for the sake of propriety. The tatamae concept sums up the problems encountered by Asano’s characters. Tatamae is all about appearances, and society’s expectations leading the Japanese to forget their own desires, which have become forbidden. In Japanese, the term honne designates a person’s true thoughts and opinions, and by definition, rests on oneself.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that depending on the country we were born in and the context in which we grew up, our personality changes, but the basis of man is the same everywhere.”
Sex as an everyday banality
Day-to-day life is rhythmed by elements of life, and sex is one of them. That’s how Asano introduces the subject, claiming “it’s nothing special”. This theme is at the core of his manga “A Girl on the Shore”. It’s a straightforward, sorrowful story of two lost teenagers expressing their emotions through sex. In this context, the two are forced to reconsider what they believe to be a love story. Love is thus bound up with sex for teenagers and adults alike, as a way of escaping a cyclical reality. However, sexuality is a subject taken for granted in Japan. “Downfall” depicts the problem of single people’s loneliness, and focuses on the relationship between a mangaka and a prostitute. To deal with the subject even further and more harshly, in Goodnight Punpun, Asano pinpoints sexual abuse without the slightest nuance. As if the silence and trauma of victims were also part of everyday life.
Making ends meet
Another of Asano’s hard-hitting themes is the precarious, alienating work that characterizes everyday Japanese life. The one-shot “Solanin” narrates the life of a Tokyo couple caught up in their lost adolescent illusions. Its characters are those who didn’t achieve the life they dreamed of, those who become unhappy by staying in their assigned box in society. Mikeo Inoue and Naruo Taneda have been a couple for 6 years. She’s a salaryman discovering a morose professional life, he’s chaining together baito in the hope of seeing his rock band succeed. Both have given up their dreams to fit the pattern, even if it means abandoning themselves. But the cumulative frustration inevitably leads to escape.
Asano depicts characters at the end of their rope, running away from all responsibility, whether to work, the city or family. “Tempest”, a one-shot published in 2018, describes a gutless, irresponsible Japan where the elderly are isolated in disenfranchised centers. Asano highlights a sexualized, dynamic youth capable of replacing older generations who are breaking out of the so-called mold imposed by society. Are we living for ourselves or to satisfy an economic model? In this story, the author raises the question of the economic cost of past generations on the coming ones, and leads us to question the treatment of others, and the never-ending question of immigration. Portraying a discriminatory, hypocritical society, Asano contrasts this story with our reality: sooner or later, everyone will be elderly, will we manage to make ends meet between the generations?
Living with the burden of regret
Alongside the publication of “Dead dead demon’s dededededestruction”, in 2017 Asano published “Downfall”, a more than personal one-shot. It tells the story of a mangaka in the midst of a quest for personal success, but also of uncertainty. He chooses the inevitable drift. “Downfall” oscillates between passion and mass production, ephemeral entertainment and sacrificed life. We don’t know if “Downfall” is an autobiography, but the narrative’s lucidity brings us to some uncomfortable conclusions. Like an attachment published years later, this disillusioned tale leaves youth and its foundations behind for the slow frustration of the adult realm. However, “Downfall” is not the first of his stories to express regret. A Few Years Earlier, “Goodnight Punpun” had no plot line except the one where there’s no meaning. The manga portrays real life and our deepest complex feelings. How can you build yourself as a child when your father goes to prison after sending your mother to hospital? That’s the first thought readers are presented with from the very first pages. Punpun is a child who unwillingly suffers the regrets and failures of adults. In spite of himself, he learns the feeling of not being able to turn back the clock, and to suffer the consequences.
Nevertheless, at the dawn of adulthood, the roles are reversed, and Punpun is no longer a child burdened by the regrets of those around him, becoming a young man traumatized by his own. Tormented by his love for the depressive Aiko and his desires for the fragile Sachi, Punpun follows his impulses without thinking about the harmful consequences of his repeated failures. As the story progresses, a sense of frustration emerges, and we realize that happiness is no longer within reach. Immersed in a life full of regrets, Punpun represents each and every one of us. From then on, regrets drive us to the point of misery. As an allegory of a perverted youth, through Punpun’s vices, Asano presents us with immorality rather than a model to imitate. This deep expression of regret is reminiscent of the famous Evangelion saga (1995-2020), in which the main character, Shinji, goes from one failure to the next, letting his regrets consume him.
Like a harsh ode to our society, Inio Asano continues to relate a bleak daily life, while retaining a certain subtle message. We must live.
- Utsumanga : “Goodnight Punpun” is qualified by Asano as a “depressing manga”. ↩︎
- Salaryman (サラリーマン) : Term for non-executive managers who are prepared to do anything for the company’s success. This mindset is above all a way of life and comes from social pressure in Japan, where the common good comes before self-fulfillment. Salarymen are most affected by Karōshi (過労死), literally death by overworking. ↩︎
- Baito (バイト) : Taken from the German “Arbeit” meaning work and can be translated as “little job”. A baito is often reserved for students and young people looking to earn pocket money. ↩︎