Satoshi Kon's Opus

March 15, 2015

Kon (Tropic of the Sea) is known for his anime that alter the borders between reality and imagination, 2007's Paprika being an award-winning example. Here he personalizes that approach: manga artist Chikara Nagai tumbles into the world of his characters and learns that being "God" isn't what he imagined. Heroine Satoko, sidekick Lin, and the evil Masque from Nagai's Resonance manga all refuse Nagai's authorial decisions, run away with the story, and jeopardize the precarious time-space continuum. "He's not God!" cries Lin. "He's just this asshole who f***s with us." Kon's near-realistic art demonstrates influences of former boss Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira), making the metafictional elements seem more uncanny in backgrounds continually ripping, shifting, or exploding as portals are breached. Although originally unfinished, the book concludes with a chapter that was sketched out by Kon later. The subtext touches on taking responsibility for one's creations as well as puckishly suggesting that the (real) God could be imagined as a cartoonist himself. VERDICT Kon's accomplished drawings together with his work's layered complexities and profundity will appeal to mid-teens through adults who like their manga with some intellectual meat.--M.C.

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