No Longer Human Vol. 1

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I don't want to say that one piece is better than the other, if anything I think they should be read side by side. What Junji Ito gives to this piece, though, is visuals...and amazing visuals at that. He embellishes the darkness and grotesque within this piece and really adds an element to the sad story at hand. It is more vibrant when you see the artwork attached to the text, and I think that is why this is probably my favorite of all Junji Ito's pieces as well. I'm already a Junji Ito fan, so I'm leaning that way, but I want to know what others think about both manga's merits as their own art and as adaptation. I know Ito takes several artistic liberties, but does that necessarily mean that his vision is less in tune with Dazai's, seeing as Ito has an incredibly unnerving art style that seems to mesh well with Yozo's (and by extention, Dazai's) attitudes about life in the book? I've also heard that Furuya's is more accurate to the source material beat-by-beat, but it seems more visually subdued. This was my first experience with Osamu Dazai's novel No Longer Human, which has been considered his suicide note and which is, at least in this form, a haunting and painful tale of, well, lots of things, but perhaps mostly misery and the ways in which our own misery leads us to inflict misery on others. No Longer Human ( Japanese: 人間失格, Hepburn: Ningen Shikkaku), also translated as A Shameful Life, is a 1948 novel by Japanese author Osamu Dazai. It tells the story of a troubled man incapable of revealing his true self to others, and who, instead, maintains a facade of hollow jocularity, later turning to a life of alcoholism and drug abuse before his final disappearance. The original title translates as "Disqualified as a human being" [1] or "A failed human". [2] The book was published one month after Dazai's suicide at the age of 38. [2] No Longer Human is considered a classic of postwar Japanese literature [3] and Dazai's masterpiece, [4] which enjoys considerable popularity among younger readers. [5] It ranks as the second best-selling novel by publishing house Shinchōsha, behind Sōseki Natsume's Kokoro. [5] Plot [ edit ]

My interpretation of the original book and Furuya’s interpretation continue to differ wildly. Furuya’s Yozo is less sympathetic than Dazai’s (who, granted, tended to be pretty terrible), more likely to blame his father for his own problems, and more calculating. Rather than just sort of being taken in by Shizuko, he does his best to manipulate her into offering to take him in, making use of both his good looks and his abilities in bed.

a b "没後７０年、作家・太宰治を生んだ「三つの空白期」". Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese). 6 June 2018 . Retrieved 21 June 2023. The protagonist in this novel/manga is an arrogant, narcissistic guy, who at the same time hates himself for not being able to interact with other people at a simple level, without overthinking everything. It’s an oversimplification on my part. There are some explanations for his tendencies because of parents demanding perfection. The only thing Oba Yoza, our protagonist, understood in childhood is that humans (and him) should hide anything less than perfection. Afflicted with an intense feeling of alienation and otherness and finding it nearly impossible to understand those who surround him, Ōba resorts to buffoonery in early years to establish interpersonal relationships. Establishing the mood of the rest of the book, Ōba describes humans as he is separate from them, describing them foolishly and always perplexed by humans. He also describes numerous times that his antics is a way to not anger humans and not to be taken seriously to avoid reprimands. He is sexually abused by a male servant and a female servant during his childhood but decides that reporting it would be useless. No Longer Human focuses heavily on Yozo’s severely broken perception of the world and how he keeps destroying himself in mind and body (helped in no small part by his environment); and in stories like this, my expectation is that the character’s actions and mindset be clearly understandable. In this pursuit, the manga succeeds partially, but it could have done so much more.

i do not know how or what to feel about this manga just after finishing it. usamaru furuya’s adaptation of the novel no longer human drops you right into the life of a young, intelligent, and self-aware yozo oba. reading through this, i can’t help but feel that yozo isn’t real; he was articulate with his thoughts and feelings and too introspective for someone so young that it spoiled his childhood. so doubtful and guarded, this was no way for a child to live. yozo was a petrified child until the end. Digital goods, open DVDs and Blu-rays, smart art prints, mystery bundles, and final sale items are excluded from the return policy. I think I’ve finally accepted that this isn’t so much an adaptation of Osamu Dazai’s No Longer Human as it is Dazai’s plot and Usamaru Furuya’s Yozo. Although I still end up comparing the two works a lot in this review. Sorry. Ressler, Karen (January 19, 2017). "Junji Ito's No Longer Human Manga Ends on April 20". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on July 27, 2023 . Retrieved December 25, 2021. My favorite book is the original No Longer Human. My favorite manga is Ito’s adaptation of No Longer Human. But this adaptation… really misses the mark for me. By cutting out Yozo’s childhood completely you miss a huge part of his character. Also a more modern setting could have been interesting but aside from the blog subplot (which was okay) it wasn’t used much at all, and just changes things in weird ways.

Whether or not Yozo’s behaviour and mental state can be ultimately blamed upon his father remains uncertain. Ito, however, expands upon the bar madam’s words while also deleting them. The bar madam does not speak those words in his adaptation, but Yozo’s father is brought from beneath the surface of the novel and given a key visual role. We see more of him, we witness his facial expressions, and as such we are guided through more than just word-of-mouth implications of the effect that he is having on his son. Dazai's stand-in, Yozo Oba, seems to suffer from trauma and impostor syndrome due to childhood molestation and daddy issues. To compensate he becomes a class clown and womanizer in attempts fit in with other people -- from whom he feels separate and whom he hates and fears. He carves his way through the lives of others leaving suicide and murder in his wake, periodically attempting suicide himself. He alternates between living off a family allowance, being a kept man, and a life of poverty as a struggling manga artist and aspiring painter. He dabbles in Marxism and relationships but tends to betray everyone, really only committing to alcohol and drugs.

Osamu Dazai is considered a classic in Japanese literature. I have had no idea, because I didn’t study Japanese literature. Also, the book I want to talk about today is the manga adaptation of the same novel, No Longer Human. So, please bear in mind I am not familiar with the original content and anything I say may not be completely correct.I can't help but feel for Yozo. As a kid, he had an uneasy, pessimistic streak that he tried to hide under a buffoonish exterior, a mask that he soon regarded as tiresome but which he felt he can never take off. The abuse he suffered from lecherous servants must have cemented in his mind how untrustworthy and scary people generally are.

I heard there is another manga adaptation by Jinto Ito that gained more attention. Or if you want to read something about an anti-hero or an unlikeable protagonist, I recommend even the original novel. These books are usually hard to read because two reasons. Firstly, it’s hard to empathize with the protagonist. And two, if you empathize with him or her, then you may find yourself being revolted by this idea. Though, I do admit, the hardcover does work rather well for a saucer. That is when you take off the paper cover. Yozo manages to escape one prison only to end up in another. Having no other place to go, he ends up living with his friend Horiki's editor, Shizuko. She dotes on him, seeing his pretty face and nothing else. Although outwardly things appear to be going well for Yozo - he now has a roof over his head, a job as a children’s manga artist, and somebody willing to fork over money anytime he wants to go out and buy booze - he feels stifled by Shizuko’s love and her young daughter’s wish for him to be her real father. For fans of Dazai, or newcomers to the narrative, Junji Ito’s No Longer Human is a truly engaging and unnerving experience. No Longer Human is a dark, dark story. It is similar to Inio Asano’s Goodnight Punpun in a variety of ways, but is shorter and darker. You have to be in the right state of mind to read this, as Furuya pulls no punches at all. Speaking of Furuya, his art is amazing and reminds me of Takeshi Obata, the artist behind series such as Death Note and Bakuman.I never read the original, so can't say for myself who Dasai is in this work, but the story is of Yozo, an artist, rendering his soul on canvas such as other tortured artists like Van Gogh or Munch, though most of the time Oba draws manga. He plays the clown but is profoundly depressed. He is handsome and popular with many women, but he has fears and social anxiety about people. Oba, like Dasai, was sexually assaulted by male and female servants. He had a childhood friend commit suicide that seems to have haunted him all his life. In February 2019, Viz Media announced they licensed the series for English publication. [5] They released the entire series in one hardcover book. [6] Volumes [ edit ] No. After repressing his identity during college years, Oba managed to find a way of living by seducing women and using them to pay for his life, in a surprising twist of reverse gold digger. Powell, Nancy (December 30, 2019). "Review: Junji Ito's No Longer Human turns human folly into a haunting tale of misery and despair". Comics Beat. Archived from the original on December 24, 2021 . Retrieved December 25, 2021.