TROPIC OF THE SEA

I’ve been a fan of the late Satoshi Kon’s works for so many years. His animation movies. This is the first time I read his comicbook, and for me it is a new experience. In many ways Tropic of the Sea has the same spirit, tone and atmosphere as Millenium Actress. And quite different compared to Perfect Blue or even Paprika. Tropic of the Sea was his first long-form manga, released in 11 installments in Kodansha’s Young Magazine between March & June 1990.

Tropic of the Sea focused on faith and loyalty to a trust given to the main characters. Yosuke, a teen age boy, was trusted to take care of a ‘mermaid’s egg’ at his father’s shrine. The mermaid’s egg was originally trusted in the hands of Yosuke’s grandfather some 60 years ago, and he promised to look after it since that day. His son (Yosuke’s father) never believed the myth, though Yosuke’s late mother believed and adored mermaid-myths. The grandfather never disclosed the truth: did he meet a mermaid 60 years ago? Who or how exactly he found this mermaid’s egg? What will happen if he abandon the trust?

Some modern resort was developed in the area, including where the shrine was located. Apparently Yosuke’s father agreed to sell his shrine (or move to a new place), and also agreed to relocate the mermaid’s egg to a new place. This started the conflict in the story, as trouble occurred in the village. Fish went missing from the sea, strange incidents happened whenever the egg was around, etc. People from the village got divided, and tensions arose.

Then the initial mystery was reminded again: was mermaid a myth or what? Did it really matter if it existed or not?

I really like with what Satoshi Kon did. It was as if he aksed us to question ourselves: Do we still hold the legacy our elders/ ancestors trusted to us, no matter if we still hold the values or not? As time goes by, will we choose to lose our past? Will we embrace new values and forget the old?

The only weakness in this book is the English translation. I don’t speak Japanese, but the English text is not easy to follow. Lack of emotion, if I must say. Confusing in some places. Many times I have to re-read the panel, or the whole page, to understand the dialogues. I’m familiar with manga (japanese comics) format. Read from back to front, from right panel to left panel, from top row to lower row, and just follow the balloon texts. I shouldn’t meet technical problems reading manga.

In the last pages, there is an afterword from Satoshi Kon. Excerpted from the Bijutsu Shuppan’s 1999 edition.

I really wish Satoshi Kon is still alive and entertain us with his new beautiful works. Next manga on the list to be translated is Opus. At the time of this review, Opus is nominated at Angouleme (French comic festival) 2014.