The manga this week
Manga Shonen, Sora o Tobu
Stories and drawings by Sukenori Yamasaki, with additional materials by Ren Inaizumi (Kaisei-sha)
It's difficult to say that the book I'm introducing this week is manga, because the amount of text overwhelms the number of drawings. In spite of that, I want to feature this book because I believe it's one of the best war manga ever.
In March 1945, five months before Japan's defeat in World War II, a 19-year-old navy pilot named Sukenori Yamasaki from Kochi Prefecture died off the coast of Kyushu in a tokko suicide attack. A boy who had longed to be a pilot ever since he was small, he had a special talent for drawing manga.
Yamasaki used the pseudonym of Takashi Aozora, and always drew sketches and illustrations on the postcards and letters he sent to his family. He even produced a personal manga booklet compiled from works that he drew about life as a soldier. The manga book this week is a compilation of almost all of Yamasaki's works, as well as letters he wrote in the 2-1/2 years after joining the navy, all the way up to the time he flew his bomber Ginga on his final tokko flight.
This may give the impression that the content is heavy and serious, but Yamasaki's manga are actually cheerful and enjoyable. Dexterously using simple lines, he captured the comical expressions and actions of soldiers, and the drawings are adorable. He also had a good sense of perspective, and conveyed considerable artistic talent.
I was startled to find some drawings that Yamasaki modeled after Mickey Mouse. The militaristic youth who wrote war slogans such as "Beiei dato" (Defeat the United States and Britain) in letters to his family was also attracted to that character from an enemy country. Is this contradictory? I remembered that the great Osamu Tezuka also drew Mickey in his notebook during an air raid in Osaka.
Manga cannot stop war, but the joy it offers dwells in each person's heart, and may eventually evolve into a power that can overcome hatred and conflict between countries. I feel that Yamasaki's Mickey exemplifies such an essence of what manga is.
The course of the war continued to worsen. During intensive training before his tokko flight, Yamasaki found no time to draw manga. His elder brother, who Yamasaki admired, also died in the war. About one month before his final flight, he flew for the first time in his bomber in the skies right above his hometown. His letter expressing the excitement he felt is a beautiful piece of touching prose.
"What do you think, my dear parents? Did you know or have a hunch, by any chance, that I was staring really hard at our house? I did come home, to just 2,000 meters directly above."
Nonfiction writer Ren Inaizumi wrote thoughtful additional materials for this book that are a big help in understanding its contents and context, and makes it quite readable even for elementary school age children. There must have been numerous other young "Osamu Tezukas" with enormous talent. If they'd survived, they might have changed manga. I repeat, there is no other war manga that has inspired so much thought.
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/
