Search Results for: "I'll give it my all" + Shunju
I’ll Give It My All … Tomorrow (vol. 1) by Shunju Aono, English adaptation by Akemi Wegmüller
At 40, Shizuo Oguro lives with his cranky father, his helpful teenage daughter, and has had the same job for 15 years. He couldn’t exactly say “what was wrong with [his] life.” But his sudden need to “find [him]self” means quitting his job, starting up Playstation first thing in the morning, fighting with his father, and getting fed breakfast by Suzuko before she leaves for high school. A month into his new slacker-hood, Oguro announces he’s going to be a manga artist. His father cries.
But declaring his new path is much harder than he imagined. His … uhmm … shall we say … meandering artistic journey leads him to some strange places and wrenching revelations (especially about his young daughter!). He gets a day job at a local fast-food joint, makes some odd new friends, and declares (repeatedly) his undying determination to someday get published …!
Creator Shunju Aono’s plain line drawings perfectly mimic Oguro’s near-talentless but desperate state. But slacker wannabe Oguro does have his charm … and in spite of a recurring desire to give him a teeth-chattering shake or two (his poor daughter just breaks my heart!), he does begin to show regular signs of moving beyond his self-absorption. Just might be his evolving new life will provide the inspiration to finally make that breakthrough manga … stay tuned.
Having discovered manga late in middle-age, I find myself (almost) empathizing with Oguro’s life-altering decision to drop out in the name of manga. Sneaking into a manga store for a year and reading everything definitely has its appeal … but then, I’d miss my kids way too much (maybe I could sneak them in with me!).
Readers: Young Adult, Adult
Published: 2010 (United States)
OREWAMADA HONKIDASHITENAIDAKE © Shunju Aono
Original Japanese edition published by Shogakukan Inc. Continue reading
I’ll Give It My All … Tomorrow (vols. 3-4) by Shunju Aono, English adaptation by Akemi Wegmüller
Nope, tomorrow still hasn’t arrived for midlife slacker Oguro. As volume 3 opens, Oguro continues to struggle with his manga-making, his disappointed father isn’t above smacking him since “just telling [him] isn’t doing it,” and his teenage daughter has little choice than to detachedly watch the father/son duels.
In between having powwows with himself at 15, 17, 22, 32, his current 42-year-old self, and God (!), Oguro works at H Burger, drinks with buddy Miyata, and churns out middling manga. Told by an expensive fortuneteller that changing his name will change his luck, Oguro decides he’s now “Person Nakamura,” ready to break “this unconscious tendency toward safety.” His inaugural work as Person, Revamp Yourself: Sayonara Stressful Lifestyle, not only reflects his new renegade spirit, but his editor Murakami actually likes the story! Could Oguro’s manga career finally be a possibility?
Since he dropped out of corporate life to pursue his manga dreams, Oguro himself hasn’t gotten very far, but he’s ironically inspired others to find freedom elsewhere: Miyata announces he’s trading in his white collar for a white apron and open a bakery, and Murakami decides life’s too short not to live an honest life and resigns his editor-ship after two years of holding Oguro’s hand.
So close to being published by volume 4, Oguro is – not surprisingly – the last to learn that Murakami has quit. Newbie editor Unami, just 23, offers to take on Oguro when no one else will claim him. At their first working meeting, Unami is blunt: her “I think you need to know when to give up” sends Oguro into a downward spiral so pathetic that he might actually be done with manga.
In a late-night, drunken reverie in Miyata’s new bakery, the old friends remember their poignant shared youth, and how they’ve always supported each other, even against the biggest bullies. Oguro’s memories of fighting against all odds as a kid, no matter the bloody consequences, recharges his commitment to manga: “I’m sticking with manga to the death.”
Meanwhile, editor Unami is battling demons of her own. She equates Oguro’s not-yet-successful devotion to her own father’s writing failures, and empathizes with what she believes must be Oguro’s daughter’s anguish over being a failure’s child. But Suzuko is making plans of her own, announcing to a surprised Oguro that she’s off to Finland to study architecture.
Lives are moving on … and as Oguro grows older, he hardly seems wiser. Still, his determination to live a life in pictures might yet convince even his staunchest naysayers otherwise.
Fans of Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata’s Bakuman will definitely recognize many of the processes (obstacles?) of getting manga published, although the experience of reading both series couldn’t be less similar: Bakuman’s creators’ artwork is all about rich, glorious detail; Oguro’s maker Shunju Aono doesn’t move much beyond basic line drawing here. Still, Oguro’s simplicity exudes a certain naïve charm, and when even the “brutally honest” Unami gets pulled back into Oguro’s orbit, hope returns anew that even slackers might someday, somehow give it their all … even as soon as tomorrow.
Click here for previous volumes on BookDragon.
Readers: Young Adult, Adult
Published: 2011 (United States)
OREWAMADA HONKIDASHITENAIDAKE © Shunju Aono
Original Japanese edition published by Shogakukan Inc. Continue reading
I’ll Give It My All … Tomorrow (vol. 2) by Shunju Aono, English adaptation by Akemi Wegmüller
Shizuo Oguro’s definitely getting older, although not quite yet better. Having quit the corporate life at age 40 determined to become a manga artist in volume 1, Oguro is now 42 and facing creative rejection, trying to convince himself that “Great talents bloom late.”
His friend – the angry young Shuichi – is now working at a dubious bar with the usual seedy lot. Meanwhile, Oguro is still living at home with his disgusted father and worried teenage daughter. He’s sitting around in his underwear, glugging beer while glued to the TV … ironically watching a news broadcast on the current crisis of the “dramatic rise in shut-ins & slackers” among today’s youth. Oguro has his own theory: “There’s nothing wrong with the kids. The problem’s with the adults! The problem is that all the adults these kids see are pathetic!” Spoken like a true middle-aged slacker himself!
Feeling underappreciated at home, Oguro decides to venture out. His decades-old friend Miyata – divorced and lonely, barely hanging on to his necktie-and-suit career – won’t take him in: “Come on, two guys in their forties living together? What would my neighbors think?” So Oguro shacks up at young Shuichi’s, diligently filling enough manga panels to keep returning to the publishing offices with hope, especially when he meets an encouragingly sweet editor not his own. Talk about strange timing: Shuichi gets battered and fired, and ends up finding strange comfort with Oguro’s father who shares wistful, sad tales from his son’s past.
Two volumes in, Oguro has settled quite comfortably into his midlife artist’s life. Glimpses into his childhood – the devotion for his dying mother, his attempts to help his struggling father – are welcome interruptions that give Oguro enough depth, even sympathy to believe that his ‘all’ is coming in volume 3 or 4 or certainly by volume 5 …! In the meantime, his quiet determination – not to mention his changing eye fashions! – will surely keep you curious and engaged.
Readers: Young Adult, Adult
Published: 2010 (United States)
OREWAMADA HONKIDASHITENAIDAKE © Shunju Aono
Original Japanese edition published by Shogakukan Inc. Continue reading
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