漫画雑誌 山坂 第七号 by 山坂書房

I am currently translating one of my recent dōjinshi purchases from the folks over at Otaku Republic - which also happens to be one of my frequent impulse purchases, dictated by cover design alone. I have to admit I have a soft spot for that hyper-realistic, 劇画 inspired visual style that this cover nails perfectly. The book is, however, actually an anthology by the circle 山坂書房, which very loosely follows the title's 'countryside' theme, declining it in a variety of ways. Results are uneven, but there is some really good stuff in there. Six mangaka are featured, each one with their distinctive visual and narrative style - and all of them, at least from what I could gather, are fairly well known fixtures of the underground manga scene.

 My personal favorite from an art point of view is がんばれチャグ by ひうち棚, the heart-warming misadventures of a rural factory worker, whose wild fantasy puts him at odds with a variety of increasingly zany coworkers. Tana really nails the old-time, 'serious' manga style visually (and, in a way, keeps true to its origins as societal critique), yet from a storytelling point of view the accent is on a brand of bittersweet comedy I really happen to dig.

Another highlight are the bizarre, surrealy 4-koma by 山坂ヨサンセン: almost entirely devoid of words or dialogue, as well as background or context, their little skits entirely focus on the two main characters' strange interactions, largely based on punny wordplay and manzai-like routines. Mileage greatly varies according whether you consider - as I do - manzai one of the greatest forms of comedy under the sun. Otherwise, 山坂ヨサンセン's stunt might fall a bit flat.

The remaining works range from bizarre tributes of Osamu Tezuka that completely flew over my head, to the standard 'countryside nostalgia' stories the Japanese seem to love so much, peppered with nearly unintelligible country slang and inflections. They're not bad, but they don't reach the quality of ひうち棚 or 山坂ヨサンセン's work. All in all a pretty good anthology (and one of many from this circle) for those who are not into moe or the usual illustration fare.