Manga Review: My Neighbor Seki
My Neighbor Seki by Takuma Morishige (Vertical Comics 2011 to the present)
by Lyn Jensen
Just like any other type of comics, manga works across a range of demographics, from adults-only material to subjects suitable for family newspapers. The latter includes the very popular My Neighbor Seki, which Vertical Comics is continuing to make available in America. The series started in Japan in 2010, was first published in the USA in 2011 and--last time we checked the Vertical website--was up to ten volumes and counting. In Japan it's inspired two TV series--one live action and the other animated.
Think of Seki as a little like a Japanese Peanuts--although that comparison is a considerable stretch. Like Peanuts, it's about schoolchildren, living in a children's-eye world where adults almost never intrude. The kids in Seki are a little older than the Peanuts gang--they're probably in junior high or middle school. To read the manga is to go along with Seki and classmates on juvenile flights of fancy, yet the characters remain students and the settings remain everyday scenes of educational life.
Seki contains very little dialog, mostly being played out internally in the mind of the main character--who's not Seki, but rather Seki's "neighbor" at the next desk, a nice quiet schoolgirl named Rumi who doesn't approve of Seki's antics. Through her eyes we see and laugh about what her troublesome classmate is doing in episode after episode.
Morishige, the creator/artist/author of Seki, is the younger brother of a very popular female manga-ka, Akiko Higashimura, who's probably best-known in America for Princess Jellyfish. In 2015 she created a controversial short-lived manga called Himozairu. Its concept was that young men might train themselves at domestic chores so that their lady friends might find them more likely prospective husbands. Apparently so many Japanese men found it so very offensive that it didn't last long.
Websites for more information:
http://vertical-inc.com/books/myneighborseki.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Neighbor_Seki
by Lyn Jensen
Just like any other type of comics, manga works across a range of demographics, from adults-only material to subjects suitable for family newspapers. The latter includes the very popular My Neighbor Seki, which Vertical Comics is continuing to make available in America. The series started in Japan in 2010, was first published in the USA in 2011 and--last time we checked the Vertical website--was up to ten volumes and counting. In Japan it's inspired two TV series--one live action and the other animated.
Think of Seki as a little like a Japanese Peanuts--although that comparison is a considerable stretch. Like Peanuts, it's about schoolchildren, living in a children's-eye world where adults almost never intrude. The kids in Seki are a little older than the Peanuts gang--they're probably in junior high or middle school. To read the manga is to go along with Seki and classmates on juvenile flights of fancy, yet the characters remain students and the settings remain everyday scenes of educational life.
Seki contains very little dialog, mostly being played out internally in the mind of the main character--who's not Seki, but rather Seki's "neighbor" at the next desk, a nice quiet schoolgirl named Rumi who doesn't approve of Seki's antics. Through her eyes we see and laugh about what her troublesome classmate is doing in episode after episode.
Morishige, the creator/artist/author of Seki, is the younger brother of a very popular female manga-ka, Akiko Higashimura, who's probably best-known in America for Princess Jellyfish. In 2015 she created a controversial short-lived manga called Himozairu. Its concept was that young men might train themselves at domestic chores so that their lady friends might find them more likely prospective husbands. Apparently so many Japanese men found it so very offensive that it didn't last long.
Websites for more information:
http://vertical-inc.com/books/myneighborseki.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Neighbor_Seki
posted by Lyn Jensen | 12:57 PM
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