Fallen Words
Manga legend Tatsumi is renowned for his grim gekiga stories depicting buffeted souls struggling to survive in harsh post-WWII Japanese society. Here he’s inspired by a far earlier tradition, the performance-based oral storytelling technique of rakugo. Set in Edo-period Japan, these eight simple tales deal in archetypical situations: deadbeat guests hoodwink credulous innkeepers, a merchant tries to balance a wife and a mistress, a popular prostitute creates havoc at her brothel, a nebbish befriends and then tries to outwit the Grim Reaper, a shrewd wife teaches her spendthrift husband a lesson. The humor infusing these yarns is uncharacteristic of Tatsumi, but his fans will recognize the portrayals of ineffectual working-class men striving for a bit of pleasure. In their unstinting depiction of human foibles as well as their starkly effective visual simplicity, these tales aren’t as far from Tatsumi’s groundbreaking gekiga work as one would expect. While it lacks the dramatic impact of his best-known work, this collection attests that at 75, Tatsumi remains committed to exploring new styles within the manga format. --Gordon Flagg