Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms - Graphic Novel

Quick Summary: This odd little volume contains two connected stories about the bombing of Hiroshima. I enjoyed the first of the two stories, and disliked the second.

Title: Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms

Author: Kouno, Fumiyo

Translator: Amemiya, Naoko & Nakatani, Andy

Imprint: jaPRESS / Futabasha

Date of Publication: 2006

Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms is an odd little volume containing two related stories of the WW II atomic bombing of Hiroshima. I very much preferred the first story in the collection, Town of Evening Calm, to the second.

Town of Evening Calm is spare, efficient, and moving. It is the story of a young woman, named Minami. A survivor of the boming, Minami is racked by guilt - it was a mistake, she thinks, that she lived when others died. Meanwhile, a young man she knew from school begins to take a romantic interest in her, which throws all of Minami's problems into sharp relief.

The second story, Country of Cherry Blossoms, is about Minami's niece and nephew, in early 2000s Japan. Shockingly, as descendants of an atomic bomb survivor, the niece and nephew suffer discrimination. The story focuses on the niece’s attempts to discover more about their family history, and to help her brother overcome the bigotry of his fiancée's parents.

In general, this is a nicely produced volume. The art style is pleasant; although it has many stylistic hallmarks of the typical Japanese manga style, I felt there were occasional hints of Hergé in the settings and Carl Barks in the character design. The cover is decorated with a lovely watercolour image of Minami, and the book feels nice in the hand. The one major flaw in the design of the English-language volume is that the table of contents is virtually illegible. The ink the table of contents is printed in does not show up on the beautifully painted background of the page.

As mentioned above, I preferred the first story in the collection. I found the characters likeable and their feelings believable. The story was interesting, and moved very quickly to a satisfyingly melancholy conclusion. The second story is longer, drawn out, and a little dull. The characters aren't very nice (in fact, they are all either explicitly cruel or incredibly thoughtless), and they aren't very interesting. Many of their relationships/interactions made me feel both angry and uncomfortable, as well as seeming less-than-plausible. I had a strong emotional reaction to both stories, but with the second story, that emotion was primarily irritation! Ultimately, I recommend the first story highly, but I suggest you skip the second altogether.

Originally Written: September 27, 2011

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