The manga this week
Mienai Chigai (La Difference Invisible)
Story by Julie Dachez, illustration by Mademoiselle Caroline, translated into Japanese by Masato Hara (Kadensha)
Outside of Japan, France is definitely the country where Japanese manga is read most. In France, about 1,500 Japanese comic books are translated and published every year. This figure is almost the same as the annual number of new bande dessinee (French comics) published. For French citizens, there is apparently no boundary between manga originating from one's own country and those from other countries.
I learned these figures from Masato Hara, who translates works from the original French into Japanese. He also told me sadly, "French manga is almost unknown among Japanese people."
This week, I would like to introduce to you a rather unique bande dessinee, titled "La Difference Invisible," which was translated into Japanese by Hara with the Japanese title "Mienai Chigai" (The Invisible Difference).
Marguerite is a 27-year-old woman who works for a real estate company. She wants to follow a rigid routine every day. She is very picky about what she eats, and it is difficult for her to enjoy conversations that have jokes. She lives with her boyfriend. Whenever he takes her to a friend's party, she can never stay very long and wants to go home after a while. Everyone tells Marguerite to open her mind. She begins to suspect that she may be sick, but doctors do not take her seriously.
Asperger's syndrome is a developmental disorder that has become relatively well known in Japan. The bande dessinee became a best seller in France for visualizing the world of people with the syndrome realistically, as seen through the eyes of Marguerite herself.
Julie Dachez, who wrote the story, was diagnosed with Asperger's when she was 27. She eventually earned her doctorate in social psychology, and works to promote people's understanding of the disorder.
Asperger's is categorized as a mild form of autism, and it is more difficult for women to be diagnosed with it as they tend to suppress their feelings and over-adapt to surroundings. This is why it is sometimes called an "invisible disability."
In Japan, manga that focus on the firsthand experience of authors with various illnesses form a major genre. For example, female manga artists such as Bakka Okita and Mimei Sakamoto featured their own Asperger's experience in their work. I was amazed that there is a similar manga genre in France.
Comparing the two Japanese works above with this week's manga, it seems that the former tend to express the illness through words spoken by the protagonists, whereas the latter expresses the protagonist's emotions through the brilliant use of colors. Marguerite's suffering and hope are visualized and conveyed directly to readers.
Even after reading many bandes dessinees, I continue to be impressed by French artistic sensibilities.
Ishida is a Yomiuri Shimbun senior writer whose areas of expertise include manga and anime.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
