From: tal691@huxley.anu.edu.au (Tonio Loewald)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.manga
Subject: Re: Hisashi Sakaguchi's Version
Date: 12 Jan 93 20:48:31 GMT
Organization: Australian National University
NNTP-Posting-Host: 150.203.2.12

Hello folks,
 
Just some more comments on... Hisashi Sakaguchi's Version
 
As an Australian, I was very interested to read a Japanese view
of Australia, coming as it does on the tails of Iain Sinclair's
review of _Australia, My Australia_.
 
First, the story.  Although I liked it, I can see other readers
thinking it very slow.  Nothing really happens until the end of
the issue.  I think though, it will reward those who persevere.
The idea of the "EGOS" project is intriguing (although how the
organism actually ingests information isn't answered, it would
have to be encoded into the celluar formations or even in the genes
of the EGOS.)  It's a little like Eclipse's _The Lost
Continent_ (is that right?), although there's more action in
the latter.
 
The characters are interesting.  Happy doesn't look like he's
grown up.  A bit of a slimeball, but a lovable slimeball.  I
couldn't see the point of hiring him, though.  All he does is
explore the local landscape in Australia, an alien landscape.
Osawagi and Eiko would have been better off hiring a local
tracker, who would be more familiar in that area.  Even so,
three years without doing anything more... a bit suss.
 
Eiko is level headed IMHO.  She puts up with with Happy's
ignorance, but doesn't get angry.  She's also is a good judgement
of character, and resourceful.  Happy doesn't deserve her, but
will probably get her in the end.
 
The orang-utan ("Punky"?) draws some fire from me.  It would
not be allowed in the country.  Eiko would need a special
import and export permit- and not for a pet.  How do I know?  I
work for Customs.  ?:-)
 
Michael Edwards writes...
 
   I just picked up the first of the Dark Horse translation of
   Hisashi Sakaguchi's Version.  Quite fun to read a tale of a
   Japanese detective who is hired to find someone who had 
   disappeared in the Australian Outback.
 
   Of course so far there was only one "Australian" in it.  He's
   the pilot of the light plane that flys Mitsuru Happo (the
   detective) into the outback.  Mind you he appears in one
   small panel and says "A Wot?!?"  Looks more like an Italian
   than an Australian :-)  Everyone else is Japanese...
 
Actaully he looks like a *beer man*.  (Sorry, Australian
in-joke.)
 
   Most of the airstrips I've flown into outback don't have made
   strips, most are only cleared ground with rocks marking the
   edge.
 
Lucky you.  I'm afraid I'm only an urbanite.  I can't exist 5
meters from an air conditioning unit.  Lucky I live in
Canberra.  ?:-)
 
   They are usually near homesteads or mining towns not
   in the middle of nowhere... (honest).  [Actually the funny bit
   about this section is that the terminal building has aircon-
   ditioning but no powerlines in nor a generator building nearby.
 
(Maybe the terminal uses solar power? ?:-)  Eiko does say she
makes a living as a tour guide, so it looks like the unnamed
locality does some tourist business.  A terminal building
wouldn't be out of question IMHO.  In those two pages with the
terminal, I didn't think the panels neede to be flopped.
Tomoko Saito doesn't do any retouching, and so the lettering on
the terminal and the aircraft identification is back to front.
Plus one glaring mistake: Australian cars are right hand drive,
and Eiko is driving a left hand land rover!
 
   As for "rotgut Australian Whiskey" judging by the bottle he
   was drinking Bundaberg Rum... which has been known to generate
   hallucinations :-)  
 
I'll take your word on that.  I'm a tee-totaller (unsual for an
Australian ?:-)
 
   Michael
   --
 
I especially liked the biography at the start.  I'm interested
in his World War II story, _Flowers of Stone_.  Sakaguchi's art
style isn't one that thinks "war stories"..  It's fairly
loose, but sympathetic.  His figures at times are a bit stiff,
but I can live with it.
 
All in all I liked it, and am looking forward for more issues.
 
But's only two Australians' views.  Over to you, folks.
 
Widya Santoso
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Tonio Loewald | tal691@huxley.anu.edu.au | Life is short. Be nice.
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