Ça rechiale

À chaque relecture de ce chef d'œuvre (oui, oui, rien de moins), le charme opère et je me retrouve avec le protagoniste en plein Japon des années 60 avec son esprit de quarantenaire! En vieillissant, il vient à chaque année me bouleverser et émouvoir davantage. J'ai hâte de le relire déjà dans un an ou deux!

"Personne ne devient jamais vraiment adulte... L'enfant que nous avons été est toujours là, bien vivant, tout au fond de nous..."

Que donne l'histoire d'un homme de 48 ans qui se retrouve soudain à l'époque de ses 14 ans ? Une ode à l'enfance, au passé et à la nostalgie. Un voyage dans le temps réflectif et initiatique, un retour aux sources et au 故郷. La vie d'un enfant dans le regard d'un adulte donne un récit à la fois drôle et poignant. Une recette qui a drôlement bien fonctionné sur moi ! Je n'aurais pas dit non à quelques pages en plus...

Acabei de finalizar esse mangá e estou extremamente tocada. Não quero falar muito da narrativa em si, pois acredito que todos devem ler e fazer conexões com suas próprias vidas. No entanto, é necessário ressaltar a beleza estética e poética dessa história. A maneira sutil de falar sobre o tempo, a segunda oportunidade, e até mesmo uma certa autocrítica envolve o leitor de uma forma única. Esse mangá é uma preciosidade que eu agradeço ao universo por ter parado nas minhas mãos.

puhh, also die zeichnungen sind ja sehr schön, aber die story irgendwie super pointless?

Qu'est-ce que vous feriez si vous pourriez retourner à votre adolescence ? C'est la question que se pose cette belle collection. Un vrai plaisir à lire, par contre j'étais étonnée par la manque de profondeur vers la fin. Avec un tel sujet tu peux aller loin, mais la fin de ces deux BDs est tellement facile qu'elle est presque insultante.

Is it a dream, or...?

Jirō Taniguchi (1947-2017) had an almost-50-year career as a manga artist and writer but has only recently begun to be published in English translation. I first came across his gorgeous memoir-like [b:Jiro Taniguchi Venice|34679287|Jiro Taniguchi Venice|Jirō Taniguchi|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1490436313s/34679287.jpg|55852998] (original 2014, English 2017) and then found that "A Distant Neighbourhood" (originally from 1998/99 in Japanese) was also available in English translation.

The French edition of "A Distant Neighbourhood" titled [b:Quartier lointain|2189436|Quartier lointain|Jirō Taniguchi|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327401987s/2189436.jpg|2195155] seems to be the dominant one on Goodreads and the French certainly took Taniguchi to heart as the initial French publication in 2-parts was made in 2002/3 and a French film version was made in 2010. Taniguchi was knighted as a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts & Letters) in 2011.

"A Distant Neighbourhood" is a combined body-swap & time travel story with a 40-some year-old man being catapulted back in time to his 16-year-old body but with his future memories intact. Knowing the future as he does he has to choose whether to influence the path that a new timeline's future will take. No further spoilers from me on that.

I enjoyed "A Distant Neighbourhood" for its inventive multi-timeline story. It was slightly disappointing that only a few initial pages were colourized, as Taniguchi's cityscapes and landscapes really come alive when painted in. However the lack of colour didn't detract from the story itself. I hope to track down further Taniguchi and I see that his [b:Guardians of the Louvre|30086778|Guardians of the Louvre|Jirō Taniguchi|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463827229s/30086778.jpg|43687284] (Original Japanese 2014, English 2016) is another recent work that is available in translation.

Trivia & Links
The body-swap and time-travel themes made me wonder about how long those have existed as fiction genres and I was surprised to find that it is as early as 1882 for the body-swap of [a:F. Anstey|267063|F. Anstey|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1450553978p2/267063.jpg]'s [b:Vice Versa: A Lesson to Fathers|477483|Vice Versa A Lesson to Fathers|F. Anstey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348836474s/477483.jpg|465697] and 1733 for the time-travel of [a:Samuel Madden|556709|Samuel Madden|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s [b:Memoirs of the Twentieth Century|4471630|Memoirs of the Twentieth Century (Foundations of the novel)|Samuel Madden|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|23744726].

You can read more at the Wikipedia entries for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_swap and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_time_travel_works_of_fiction

Super wunderschön, ich muss jetzt das Anime finden.

Bellissimo, ora devo ottenere l'anime in qualche modo.