Manga Book Review
A Silent Voice written and illustrated by Yoshitoki Ōima
At the urging of Miss Liz, I decided to give Manga a try. You know, the graphic novels from Japan. I don’t usually read comic books, but there must be something more than meets my eye because so many young people are reading them and making some pretty fantastic doodles in their notebooks. So, Miss Liz picked out A Silent Voice for my first experience. The first challenge was opening the book to the first page – it starts in the back and you read to the front, and you read from right to left. I caught on pretty quickly after a page or two.
The story line is about a teen who bullied a handicapped student in middle school and is now trying to make amends for his behavior. The language (which has been translated from Japanese) was precise. That is a good thing because, otherwise, it wouldn’t fit into the dialogue bubbles. The vocabulary was not sophisticated but rather imitated the speech and thoughts of the teenage characters. There was a lot of meaning conveyed in a few words. I found it to be engaging and timely, so I read all 7 books in the series.
What I found particularly fascinating were the drawings, especially since Oima was both the author of the script AND the creator of the illustrations. These illustrations moved the plot forward and helped me follow the story line. Every frame of the graphic novel shows the characters with different expressions that illustrate the actions and the emotions taking place at that moment in the story line. Now that takes talent! No wonder the teens of our community want to imitate the characteristic style that is Manga.
Even though I may not read many more graphic novels (and there are a lot of them in the children and teen departments at our library), I am able to say that now I am familiar with that genre and can appreciate the effort that goes into it. It is a pleasant way to give your brain a “vacation” from some of the heavier reading that we do, or should I say, that I do. But, more importantly, there is a lesson for ALL of us: Bullying is wrong and it takes a courageous person to recognize that he is a bully and to make every attempt to redeem himself no matter how hard it is.
Visit the teen department, grab a graphic novel, and spend a comfortable evening venturing into the world that is Manga.
-Sherrel, Library Assistant
