It's been a long, long time since I've been to Norway - I think it was 1998 or something. Spent most of the trip skiing in Åre and the Ostersund area, so I didn't see a whole lot of the country. Still, it was a good trip, and the food was superb - except for the reindeer roast. That sucked.
Anyway, this blog is not entirely new to travelogues; while they are not a specific interest of mine, I'm always curious to see what a Japanese visitor might find interesting about Europe, as I usually get to experience the thing the other way round. 北欧旅行記 -デンマーク・ノルウェーの旅- ("Nordic Travelogue - a trip to Norway and Denmark) is an 82 pages, mostly B&W travelogue manga by artist Midori, of circle 道草パレット (Michikusa Palette), who pretty much specializes in the genre - a look at their Tumblr shows there is a lot more where this comes from.
The volume is quite beefy, both in page count and depth of content: the recounting of the trip across the two Nordic countries, which took place in September 2014 and lasted 10 days, doesn't skimp on technical information, as it includes information on the countries in general, maps for the specific routes taken, and some fairly detailed renderings of the main sights Midori got to experience. This is balanced by the tongue-in-cheek humour you would expect from a manga travelogue, ranging from broken packpack zips (they are super annoying, especially while travelling) and awkward encounters with the local food and inhabitants. To Midori's credit, perhaps given their experience in the genre, I have to say they don't overplay the 'funny gaijin' card, focusing instead on interesting, and occasionally funny mishaps (I think most of us had one of those newfangled keycard hotel doors fail on us just as we were about to board something).
Midori's drawing style is fairly straightforward, sometimes simplified to the brink of chibi, but at times very detailed and detail-rich, especially when rendering monuments and sights (some perhaps traced from pictures? not sure). The cover also has that "manga character on photo background" thing I absolutely love. The dōjinshi also came with a spiffy embossed card reproducing the same's cover.
Overall, a very nice travelogue, I'll definitely be on the lookout for more.
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