Ever since I started reading manga and watching anime at an early age, I learned a lot about Japanese culture, as well as different cultures around the world, including my own. Japanese artists are not as insular as commonly believed. They take inspiration from all kinds of media and genres outside of manga and Japanese animation. Tezuka Osamu is said to have watched one film a day for a whole year and remained a film maniac throughout his entire live, just as Urasawa Naoki, who also famously takes inspiration from Rock Music (“20th Century Boys”). “One Piece” creator Eiichirō Oda is well known for his love of Kabuki and Edo Japan, long before the current Wa no kuni-arc. Or take a look at the artistic influences on Miura Kentarō’s “Berserk”.
It is not an uncommon practice to read several books at the same time that overlap thematically in some way and mutually enrich the whole reading experience. However, did you ever read a manga or watch an anime accompanied by a piece of literature, non-fiction or a film?
This Cross-reading Recommendations will offer reading suggestions to enrich your reading experience and to broaden your horizon, enabling readers to discover works they probably wouldn’t have touched without knowing the manga that was inspired by it. If you like this idea, please send me your suggestions in the comments or on Twitter. Hopefully this list will grow as time passes. But now, let’s start:
Ichikawa Haruko “Hōseki no Kuni” – Franz Kafka “The Castle”
Imagine living in a world that does neither want nor need you. You are trying your best to make yourself useful, find a job and a place in society. But every step you take to improve your situation fires back. Sometimes you act egoistically, sometimes out of sheer desperation. The rules that govern this world and the authority behind it are absolute, incomprehensible and full of contradictions. Everyone suffers, but everybody around you seems to prefer the current situation rather than to question the status quo. You are ultimately left alone on your existential journey to justify your existence and find an answer, find meaning and a purpose.
That is the story of K, the protagonist of Kafka’s unfinished, yet massive novel “The Castle”. And it is also the story of Phosphophyllite, short Phos, the protagonist of Ichikawa Haruko’s “Hōseki no Kuni”. As outsider of the manga industry, Ichikawa brings up Kafka’s work as an important influence. “The act of reading [Kafka] itself is a ‘physical experience'” she says in an interview. All over the world, and especially in Japan, Kafka tends to be associated with his novella “The Metamorphosis”, one of the most misunderstood tales in world literature (Spoiler: it’s not about a bug).
Ichikawa however understood that Kafka is not about animal metaphors or surreal madness, but about alienation and the existential dilemma of humanity. Her excellent understanding of Kafka becomes more apparent once she leaves the formula of monthly battle manga and starts to turn reader’s expectation upside down in the later part of the series. No spoilers, but with Kafka as a philosophical groundwork of this manga, expect some of the most unnerving, painful and soul-crushing developments.
Additionally, there is a very faithful film adaption of “The Castle” by Austrian director Michael Haneke, which I can highly recommend to those who do not have the spare time to challenge this 400 page monster of beautiful but bureaucratic prose.
ABe Yoshitoshi “Haibane Renmei” – Murakami Haruki “Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World”
This is probably one of the most mind-blowing anime viewing experiences I ever had. “Haibane Renmei”, a 13-episode anime from 2002 created by illustrator ABe Yoshitoshi, famous for his character designs in “Serial Experiments Lain”, steps deeply into the realm of sin and redemption.
It starts with a girl, Rakka, falling from the sky. A crow shortly accompanies her and then leaves again. Rakka awakes in the city of Glie, where she meets other girls like her in a place called Old Home. These girls grew wings, in a hellishly painful procedure, and walk around the town wearing halos, marking them as outsiders.
Cryptic as the premise may sound, Rakka slowly adjusts to everyday routine in the eerily quiet town surrounded by large walls. There is a well too. And I mentioned a crow before.
Everyone who is familiar with Murakami Haruki’s world of recurring motives will have noticed by now, that this can hardly be a coincidence. Having read “Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of World” the more episodes of “Haibane Renmei” I watched, the more it started to feel like a déjà vu. Setting and tone were too familiar and
I will stop here, as I don’t want to rob anybody of the experience I had. If you’ve read “Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World” and didn’t know about this anime, or just don’t care about anime in general, refresh your memory of the novel and please give this series a try. Starting from ABe’s hauntingly beautiful character designs to the desaturated colors that give his work an otherworldly touch, this deep character study deserves appreciation outside the realm of Japanese popular culture (same goes for “Hōseki no Kuni”).
For those who haven’t read Murakami: I know many people dislike Murakami and his work, but in case you still want to give him a try, “Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World” is a perfect start. It is also one of Murakami translator Jay Rubin’s favorites (he didn’t like “Kafka on the Shore” too much though).
If you know both works and have not noticed any references in “Haibane Renmei”, this post here takes some quotes from Murakami books and matches them with scenes from the anime.
Dowman Sayman “Melancholia” – Lars von Trier “Melancholia”
My last recommendation is at least parrtly more uplifting and less emotionally burdening. Short manga artist Dowman Sayman is a master of random, obscure humor and refined references, spanning from Nisioisin’s “Zaregoto”-series to “Robocop”, “Drakengard” (known in Japan as “Drag-on Dragoon”, and even Lars von Trier’s apocalyptic, cinematic portrayal of depression: “Melancholia” (2011).
The several short stories in Dowman’s “Melancholia” are loosely tied together by the advent of a meteor threatening to destroy the world. And that is about everything this work has in common with Lars von Trier’s film.
Apart from that there is a lot going on in Dowman’s “Melancholia” involving a wizard cat, a chapter about the (pornographic) impact “One Piece” would have had in Edo Japan and a chapter taking us back to the “The Voynich Hotel”, Dowman’s beloved magnum opus.
I wonder how many Japanese readers of the manga looked up the title and ended up watch von Trier’s film. Hopefully, some will do after reading this post. But check it out for yourself. If you’re keen enough.
Postscript [29.01.2020]:
Thank you so much for your positive feedback and your suggestions. It will take some time for me to come up with new recommendations, as I am very busy at the moment. Also, I do not want to combine titles that just vaguely feel similar or that are direct adaptions (e.g. “Shin sekai yori”). That being said, I welcome recommendations from readers and would appreciate guest contributions too, so feel free to contact me either on Twitter or in the comment section of this post.
Dokugokan 