Barakamon Vol. 1 TPPublisher: Yen Press
Release Date: October 28, 2014
Price: $14.99
Creator: Satsuki Yoshino
Format: 224 pgs., B&W, Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-3163-3608-6
Age Rating: 13+
ICv2 Rating: 3 stars out of 5
After punching a curator in the face at an exhibition of his work, Japanese calligrapher Handa Seishuu is sent to a remote island in the country to cool his head and figure out what he wants to do with his life. When he gets there, he meets all sorts of interesting people that he's never had to deal with before in his life having grown up in the city.
After watching a couple of episodes of the anime adaptation which premiered this past summer, I decided that I wanted to give the first volume of this manga a shot. The first thing that I noticed about it is that Satsuki Yoshino is a very talented artist who is capable of creating brilliantly beautiful full page images that just pull you into the setting and make you feel like you're actually there out in the Japanese countryside.
Sadly though, the same cannot be said for the writing. It's not to say that this is a particularly bad book but the humor is very hit or miss. Sometimes the jokes will have you laughing out loud and sometimes they will leave you with a stone face and yawning because the humor is always situational and very rarely character driven which is unfortunate since there are some interesting characters introduced within these chapters.
The hit or miss humor aside, this is a book that is all about finding yourself and rediscovering whatever your passion is. It's a lesson that everyone must learn at some point and this book delivers it in a mostly entertaining way. If you're a fan of dry situational comedy this is a good pick up so long as you keep your expectations reasonable.
--L.B. Bryant