I know it has been a while (almost a whole year, wow), but here we are again, hoping for 2019 to be the year I give myself more time and freedom to write in!
Today, I decided to talk about an under appreciated manga author that I think deserves a recommendation — as the title implies, this person is Toyoda Tetsuya.
It was during a time in my life when I was relentlessly looking for manga titles that weren’t “mainstream” that I stumbled across an odd title that picked my interest: “Mr. Bojangles” — which I later on would find out to be a loose chapter from a compilation of short stories by Toyoda Tetsuya named “Goggles”.
For those that are unfamiliar with the name, Mr.Bojangles is one of the most famous music by the singer and entertainer, Sammy Davis Jr., former member of the Rat Pack Trio, along with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra himself. Needless to say, I was immediately hooked by the title alone, since I myself enjoy Sammy Davis Jr.’s works, so I decided to give it a shot.
The premise is as follows: A young woman consults with a private detective to request a search after a man known as “Mr. Bo”, a beloved childhood neighbour that suddenly moved out and was never seen again in recent years. The reason why she seeks Mr. Bo is on behalf of her marriage, which she really looked forward for him to attend. Upon agreeing to take the job, our detective heads out to look for Mr. Bo whereabouts, solely relying on an old photo and his old address as clues, provided by the client.
Despite the simple plot, what really stood out to me the most was how well Toyoda Tetsuya sets the mood throughout the entire chapter, resorting to slow paced narrative by either using moment-to-moment or aspect-to-aspect transitions while also giving the reader a sense of melancholy and lethargy, provided by the characters inexpressive faces as means to convey how uneventful and dull this universe is, which unexpectedly enough feels all too relatable at times, bringing a sense of belong. Whenever I read a Toyoda Tetsuya’s work, I feel as if I, as a reader, am temporarily allowed into someone’s private life that just so happens to have something reasonably meaningful to share at that particular moment. It’s so casual and goes by before you even know it, because every story is meant to be a digression: they just come and go — and despite being about complete strangers, there’s something oddly familiar about them and in some cases, that happens to be actually true. There are a very few recurring characters that shows up in other stories such as the detective himself, playing an important role of bringing closure to those in need of it.
Sadly, Toyoda Tetsuya has long stopped making anything related to manga to my knowledge, but will still remain, to me, a hidden gem. I highly recommend his works, which aren’t too hard to come by online and there are only 3 total anyways! Here’s my brief synopsis of each:
➤ ゴーグル (“Gōguru”, Goggle):
Compilation of short stories, not related to one another.
➤ アンダーカレント (“Andākarento”, Undercurrent):
A one shot about a woman that runs a bathhouse all by herself after her husband simply vanished one day without a word. Struggling to understand why, she’s also slowly reminiscing a deep confined memory from her childhood that haunts her dreams. Everything unfolds, however, as a strange man shows up asking for a job.
Don’t be fooled by the premise as this is, in fact, a somewhat depressing story with no romantic development to be seen (thankfully), but rather, about piecing together the small happenings into the bigger picture.
➤ 珈琲時間 (“Kōhī Jikan”, Coffee Time):
Yet another compilation of short stories, and the last of them all, which in some way or another has to do with coffee. Some characters from Goggle shows up again in here as well.
Well, that’s all the time I have for today. I’ll try my best to be more active in here! See you next time, bye bye~
