Manga Review: Disappearance Diary's Escape from Reality

What would make a man to run away from his "normal" life to live, eat and sleep on the streets? In the case of manga artist Hideo Azuma, the pressure-cooker of deadlines, writers block and demanding editors drove him to drink in excess and to "disappear" at several times in his life. Disappearance Diary from Fanfare/Ponent Mon is Azuma's award-winning account of his experiences as a homeless person, as a gas company laborer and a hopeless alcoholic stuck in rehab.

But before you think this is another of those grim autobiographies of a lost soul in the merciless city, Azuma tells his readers straight up that "This manga has a positive outlook on life, and so it has been made with as much realism removed as possible." Instead of the melancholy, dark stories that you'd get in say, Yoshihiro Tatsumi's gritty gekiga ("dramatic pictures") graphic novels, Azuma treats his travails like a merry adventure where this cartoon everyman meets lunatics and lowlifes, figures out how to turn dumpster diving into a gourmet pursuit, and later, endures hallucinogenic episodes where monsters pop out from the sake vending machines. Even though there's lots of puking and and more than a few moments of despair in this story, Azuma somehow makes it all, well, fun (and funny) to read.

Disappearance Diary was also the 2005 Grand Prize Winner at the 2005 Japan Media Arts Festival - Manga Division -- an honor it shares with previous years' winners including Fumiyo Kouno's Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms (2004) and Takehiko Inoue's Vagabond (2000) to name but a few. There's a brief, but interesting interview with Azuma-sensei and the jury's comments about why they singled out his work for top honors at the Japan Media Arts website (thankfully in English).

While this manga won't be readily available until Summer/Fall 2008, it's worthwhile to pre-order it or seek it out when it's available. See my review of Disappearance Diary, and preview the other upcoming releases from Fanfare / Ponent Mon that are worth the extra effort to find.

Image credit: © Hideo Azuma