Showa 1944-1953

March 1, 2015
Volume three of this four-volume series stretches from the final year of the Pacific War through the Allied occupation of Japan. Picking up where the previous volume left off, Mizuki continues to stumble his way to survival despite the command that soldiers march onward towards their noble deaths. Weaving his personal story into his account of Japan's final push to win the war or die trying, Mizuki offers readers a glimpse of the desperation felt by the soldiers, the harsh conditions they lived in, and the struggles they encountered upon returning home. Mizuki's mix of cartoony figures, realistic settings, and historic photographs amplifies the starkness of life in postwar Japan and the powerlessness of the Everyman in the face of earth-shattering catastrophe. After returning to civilian life, Mizuki puts himself through art school and begins a career painting Kamishibai just as that art form begins to fade in popularity. The volume ends with both MacArthur's and Mizuki's careers fading away, leaving readers to wonder how Japan and Mizuki will reinvent themselves in the coming modern age.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)