Graphic Violence in Graphic Novels: Bleach

Bleach is an excellent example of gorgeous art (the story, not so much these days) and amazing use of black and white to create striking images from gore - puddles of blood, gaping wounds, severed limbs, you name it. Though each character possesses various special attacks, the predominant mode of combat involves swords - hacking, slashing, slicing. In other words, lots of blood. In the early parts of the series the majority of the combat occurred between humanoids (literally "shinigami" or soul reapers) and "hollows" which are demons. In form, these hollows are often grotesque and monster-like, so the devastating form of the attacks on them is not too disturbing. These enemies are regularly chopped up and disposed of quickly and efficiently. As the plot of the series begins to unfold, though, the violence shifts and primarily occurs between shinigami and similar humanoids.

In virtually every fight the protagonist, Ichigo, is taken to the brink of death from severe injury and/or blood loss. These bloody and vicious fights are not very upsetting though, because they carry with them very little danger. No matter how devastating the injury, the main characters (of which there are dozens and dozens) escape death time and again, demonstrating to the reader that there is little or no need to worry for the characters' fates. Because of this, the violence is purely fore entertainment - without threat there is very little emotional involvement and little potential for the characters to grow and mature. Each episode plays out like those before it - an enemy appears, seemingly too difficult to defeat, but somehow the heroes manage to narrowly achieve victory. This formula is repetitive, but it also works well most of the time. The first story arc, contained in the first 180 or so chapters is amazing - well developed, thought out, with interesting glimpses of a very large supporting cast of characters (see video 1). However, following the culmination of this arc, the storyline devolves rapidly and loses its sharp focus. A new set of enemies is introduced, but there is no real threat - not only do the main characters come through each fight eventually, but the forces of the enemy gradually deplete as they are defeated one or two at a time. A new story arc attempts to recover the dynamic quality of the first - even mirroring the structure - but it fails miserably due to several immeasurably obnoxious supporting characters and the lack of strong supporting characters from the first arc. Eventually, the story manages to come out of this muddled period and regain some of its clarity and interest, but even then it's more of the same formula.

What moments of self reflection exist within Bleach are presented as artistically as the violence. Frames of action alternate with inner monologues or flashbacks, taking the reader inside the characters' heads. I myself am particularly fond of the splash pages that accompany the manga volumes - they present a sliver of a frame, a few cryptic words or poem-like fragment that captures a theme from the volume. For example, these lines from volume 5: "Unless I grip the sword, I cannot protect you. While gripping the sword, I cannot embrace you." One of the more interesting aspects of the series for me is its personification of the shinigami's swords - their zanpakuto. Their weapon is not simply a tool, it possesses a life of its own. The strongest shinigami are able to communicate directly with their weapon, call it by name, and work as a pair to grow stronger. True strength does not come simply from training the body, but also meditation and training of the mind and cultivation of this relationship. This also allows for diversification of weaponry - in the basic "sealed" form, each zanpakuto looks similar though often with unique sword hilts or varying size. However, once released (shikai is first release, bankai is a much rarer second release) each weapon becomes unique. Physically some transform into different weapon types altogether - spears, tridents, daggers, projectiles, and various other variations of bladed weapons (see video). The capabilities expand and diversify as well, with some weapons acquiring elemental capabilities, for example. In his "inner world" Ichigo fights with his alter ego (see video) to gain strength without sacrificing control over his body. Here he converses with his zanpakuto and his alter ego at various stages in the story. This inner world is literally turned on its side and inverted - black is white, up is down.

Bleach is also interesting for its stunning chapter covers (which are frustratingly repetitive in Naruto, though occasionally wonderful) and frequent use of single image double page spreads (several pictured below). These are used to great dramatic effect in the large images, and to express many things happening at once in fragmented images. The structure of combat in Bleach is typically singular head to head combat, so there are generally multiple individual fights developing simultaneously. This leads to many striking images and is a recurring visual theme - multiple characters initiating battle, struggling, or finally proving victorious.

Though the manga I read is admittedly limited, I've never seen such dramatic use of black as there is in the more recent chapters of Bleach. I'm not trained in the dissection of visual art, but I have a strong (and overbearing) aesthetic sense. The art of Bleach can be incredible - it has clearly developed and matured over the years since the series began. The frames overlap and images spill from one into another. The boundaries between the frames often erode and one image blends into the next. There are often entire pages without words, sometimes several in a row. The story is told so much in image that they are often unnecessary. The anime for bleach is, in my opinion, one of the worst around. It drags horribly and begins each episode with a large chunk of the previous episode. Though it renders well in color, the anime is dull and uninspiring. Fights that are comprised of a chapter or two of striking, bold images drag out to 10 or 15 minutes worth of animated fight. As with anything that gets diluted, the watered down version is far less potent than the original.

Graphic Violence in Graphic Novels: Black Lagoon

Black Lagoon is an excellent example of extreme violence in manga. The language is as rough as the fights, and it's certainly not appropriate for kids with its allusions to and outright representation of pornography, drugs, abuse, organized crime, terrorism and a number of other dark elements. The gunfights are extreme and the art is clear about the level of violence, often showing gaping bullet wounds and piles of bodies. Beyond the graphic nature of the fights, the magnitude of the violence is often extreme. Various mafia organizations, terrorist cells, mercenary armies and bounty hunters struggle to coexist in a city where the underworld exists without any fear of the police and criminals run free. Chaos and vice proliferate: gunfights occur in the streets; buildings are burned, bombed and demolished; bystanders are killed in the crossfire without any remorse. Violence is not stigmatized - there are no apologies. The characters do what they need to to survive, and many enjoy their violent work.
The violence of the series spills over from the physical to the psychological, philosophical and spiritual, providing some brilliant insight into human nature - both comical (see left for the debate over what weapon Jesus would carry) and serious. Personally, my favorite part of the series are the gun running nuns from the Church of Violence (see clip), though crime bosses Mr. Chang of the Chinese Triad and Balalaika of the Russian Hotel Moscow mafia are close seconds, with their pragmatic nihilistic views of the world. This is a dark, violent manga set in a fictional portion of the real world. There are no demons or ghosts, futuristic machines or cyborgs - just man facing himself in a society without morals.
Though the violence is over the top, there is a strong push for realism in the design of the weapons and the language of each character. This is well represented in the english translation of the manga and through the choice of voice actors for the dubbed anime. Normally I dislike dubs, but the majority of the voice actors for Black Lagoon are excellent, and capture the strong and varried ethnic portraits of each character. With such a diverse set of characters, using voice actors with strong accents adds dimension to the carricatures. Even in anime form (I watched the series through before reading the manga - the anime adheres very closely to the manga but I still prefer the manga for the little touches and the quality of the art) the blood and gore in Black Lagoon is surprisingly managable.
One of the most interesting sequences involves several short interactions that Revy (the hired gun protagonist) has with a group of small Japanese children while on an assignment in Japan. Removed from the violence of the primary setting, Revy and Rock are both forced to act according to the rules of civilized society. Stripped of her guns, Revy is left feeling powerless. Conforming to proper behavior in a civilized city forces her to remember her youth in New York and the crimes she commited as a child, and forces Rock to re-evaluate his decision to walk away from his mundane life as a Japanese businessman to live in a lawless city as a member of the Black Lagoon's crew. The "outsider looking in" model is common in literature, but in my experience it is most commonly used as a commentary on one culture from the perspective of another - here it is two people looking in on civilization, realizing that they've crossed a threshold and cannot return to it. I found this segment of the manga and anime fascinating because it played out as the Heart of Darkness in reverse - people living in darkness and chaos forced to confront their loss of humanity when faced with civilization.
With the proliferation of vulgar and incredibly politically incorrect language and the high volume of violence, I would have anticipated disliking this series. Instead it remains one of my favorites. The vulgarity and violence of the plot and character interaction comes across honestly, as an unashamed representation of many darker human elements. Apart from often surviving gunfights and explosions without major injury, there is no happy ending for the crew of the Black Lagoon, just a never ending string of dangerous and mostly illegal work as they try to get by from day to day. When marketing Black Lagoon to friends, I usually describe it as an "R rated Firefly on the East Asian sea." I suppose that overly vague summary holds, as it is really the story of people up against themselves and an unforgiving world, trying to scrape by from day to day on the fringes of society. I suppose the very first page sets up pretty clearly what is to come (see image at right).

Graphic Violence in Graphic Novels

I was having an interesting conversation with my office mate last night on our way out of the office, one that continued all the way to my car a few blocks away. She had, over the weekend, gone to see Watchmen (for full disclosure I have not seen or read it yet. It's on the list so I don't want to hear any crap. I am a few years behind and I know it!). This is not her normal type of movie and she has very little experience with graphic novels or manga, though her son reads them. Her general view of the movie was that the violence was too much - that while certain things (she mentioned specifically splitting a head open with an axe) might have made for striking images on paper, they were disturbingly violent and graphic in a film, especially live action. Her secondary observation was that some films chose to show you everything, every bit of violence and gore (such as Watchmen, apparently) while others leave some measure of the violence up to the human imagination. I thought these were both good observations and deserved more consideration.

I've never been able to stomach much of what I call "realistic violence." Yet when violence is described in literature I do not have a problem with it, nor when I see it in manga and anime or practice it in video games. I know from personal experience that the medium can have a tremendous impact on the quantity and type of violence that a person can take. Where I often find myself tolerating violence in films as the price I pay to enjoy the larger story, I often find myself enjoying it in graphic novels. I believe this is tied to the level of realism and the decision of many Hollywood films to show as much violence and gore as possible. Though I usually find the level of violence in films to be unnecessary, there are times that it is used not just as part of the plot, but for dramatic or psychological tension. The first example that comes to mind is the "would you like to see a magic trick" moment from The Dark Knight. Sudden, violent and unexpected, the absence of blood and gore add to the unsettling aspect of the violence. Instead of opting to "show everything," this scene capitalizes on what is not shown. The moment passes so quickly that there is barely time to process what has happened before the scene moves on - for me, the surprise and shock at the unexpected violence remained for some time as the scene continued.

When taking a narrative from one form to another, as in graphic novel to feature film or manga to anime, there is a review process in which certain aspects may be altered. Sometimes this is a positive force - slight changes can make a positive impact on the visual representation. The clearest example to my mind of a bad example of this occurs early in Naruto. The devastating effect of Kakashi's signature attack (he literally punches a hole directly through an enemy's chest with his bare hand) is an incredibly powerful 2 page image in the manga, that is lead up to by a full page of blood splatter and reaction shots. It's a moment of breathtaking gore. In the anime, however, this was apparently deemed too violent, and instead, Kakashi is left with a palm to the chest of his victim who is covered in blood. Weak. The work up images of blood splatter that add artistic flair and tension to the moment in the manga are distracting in the anime, as they linger too long and draw out the moment (a common and repetitious problem). With both Naruto and Bleach many of the best and most striking manga images are ruined by slow pacing and repetition in the anime.

When this transition from paper to screen is done right, these types of images make for excellent anime. Reaction shots, closeups that focus on small elements, and large frames focusing on large scale devestation are some of the best visual tools for storytelling. For example, Death Note is able to make writing in a book or scheming or even a "casual" game of tennis full of tension and anticipation because the pacing and music are fantastic (and the art quality as well) and it frequently cuts back and forth between primary action shots and background action, or uses split screen to teriffic effect. Unfortunately, the anime versions of popular weekly serializations are lower in art quality, music quality, and tend to drag out terribly. Bookended with recap and preview each episode only contains perhaps 15 minutes of new content (of which, there is often other recycled content) and even the new content tends to progress at an agonizingly slow pace. Rather than presenting the material in the best fashion, it is stretched to take up as much time as possible, and when the anime (which by necessity uses several manga chapters per week) eventually gains enough ground on the manga that it enters into "filler" content that is created by the anime studios. This filler is generally terrible - because it is content that doesn't exist in the manga, it cannot contain any plot or character development. Perhaps it's this watered down format that makes the violence so easily tolerable - without dramatic tension it's not nearly as upsetting as a tightly wound thriller or action movie.

It was an interesting perspective to hear - I've been thoroughly desensitized to violence in black and white. I love violent mangas like Black Lagoon and Bleach and I tolerate the (non filler) anime, but violence in television and film greatly unsettles me. There is an artistic sense to some manga that is, though violent and a bit grotesque, beautiful.

Currently Reading: The Egyptologist, Arthur Phillips

I decided on my next project: The Egyptologist! I have begun to read it on three or four separate occasions, so here's hoping this one sticks. If not I have plenty of other options...but they were all feeling a bit dense last night (literally, The Time Traveller's Wife weighs a freaking ton for a 500ish page book) so I'm taking it easy for a bit. I was thinking of reading A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by David Eggers, but it's very dense so I am postponing until my brain feels more alert.

I remember buying this one after reading Prague while I was still living in NYC and working at the Lincoln Center Barnes and Noble (and the 69th and Broadway Anne Taylor up the block, and as a personal assistant...ahh those were the days!). As usual I spotted it offhand and was unable to pass it up - a novel about an archaeologist by an author I had previously enjoyed? Sign me up! The beginning is catchy and fun, and I knew I'd enjoy it but never really managed to dig in deep enough to get rolling on the plot - I always put the book down a few pages in and never came back to it quite fast enough to resume with any sort of clarity.

Review: Veronika Decides to Die

Veronika Decides to Die marks the third of Paulo Coelho's books that I have read in the last year and a half. It all began when I spotted the "gift" edition of The Alchemist while I was at a Barnes and Noble browsing. Being incapable of passing up such a beautiful book, I bought it. I was impressed with the simplicity of the story and language - it's not a tense or difficult read, but it's intriguing and inspirational without being preachy or obnoxious. I enjoyed it enough to snap up The Witch of Portobello on my way down to San Diego in July, and I found that to be a better book by far - well written, cleverly structured, and full of fascinating contradictions (plus, I'm an absolute sucker for stories told by unreliable narrators). So naturally, I tend to stalk the C section at Half Price books, and I picked up this volume around Christmastime this year.

Focusing on the nature of mental illness and its ties to social constructions of "normalcy", and written with considerable personal experience, Veronika is an interesting perspective on individuality and mental health. The novel frequently remined me of his more recent work, The Witch of Portobello. Both books tell the story of a young woman discovering her identity and eventually chosing to live outside of social norms, chosing to be what she wants to be rather than what society asks her to be. Both women toss aside convention and embrace the chaos of freedom, and this choice is not without consequences. Finally, both stories focus heavily on each young woman's impact on the people she meets, allowing them each to narrate in turn.

Like all of Coelho's works that I have read thus far, both books expertly balance faith and fear, idealism and its practical applications. There is despair, emptiness, and embrace of existential values. But like me, Coelho seems to find teriffic meaning in these voids. After all, as my daily Nietzsche quote is currently reminding me, "if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you." Coelho's journeys of self discovery feel genuine to me, and reinvigorate my own precisely because his characters are not afraid to stare down the abyss and find what they will within themselves.

Though I preferred The Witch as a novel, I enjoyed this one as well. It was peppered with some excellent observations about the nature of being normal, the stigma of being labled "insane" and how fine the line between those two states really is. Like Coelho's other works it wasn't suspensful - the story itself was predictable and proceded as expected from the earliest pages. However, it's not suspense that makes Coelho's novels a pleasure to read - for me it's the gentle, accesible style and raw portrayal of people as individuals. In this particular case, it's watching people rekindle their desire to live, serving as an excellent reminder to the reader to do the same. Knowing where the story is going doesn't matter when it's literally the journey for each character (and yourself) that matters. The gentle reminder in Veronika is to live life without restraint or regret. To embrace change and motion, to not stagnate or fear chaos, and not to bind yourself by the expectations of others.

There are still many more of Coelho's books to read, but after Witch, Veronika, and The Alchemist, I am left with this simple message: with personal bravery comes the chance for redemption. Live and love without fear, and appreciate each moment. Truth to oneself is the ultimate expression of God.

NYT Recognizes Manga and Graphic Novels with Best Seller Lists

And not surprisingly, Naruto and The Watchmen dominate (embarrassing admission: I still haven't read it, nor have I watched or read Sin City). Though, seriously, 8/10 manga volumes is a bit over the top! There's plenty of other good ongoing series out there, and I was shocked that not a single volume of Bleach made the list, considering how widely read that is as well.

I may have to do some sleuthing this weekend to compare the numbers they used to generate this list with online sites that offer faster turnaround, be it streaming or downloading of manga chapter by chapter as it is released. While I'm all for Naruto taking over the world (Believe It!), it would be nice to see a broader representation.

I've been considering tracking my reading habits for a year in a further attempt to thin out the unread volumes on my shelves - perhaps I ought to begin counting the manga by volume as well, since that's where most of my reading hours are lost!

Full listing for the first week listed:
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/introducing-the-new-york-times-graphic-books-best-seller-lists/

Currently Reading: Manga Edition

I suppose it bears noting what I am reading in terms of manga since it occupies such a large portion of my free time:

Naruto 440 (caught up so 1 chapter weekly)
Bleach 350 (caught up so 1 chapter weekly)
Black Lagoon 71 (caught up, infrequent updates)
Yakitate Japan 205 (starting from the very beginning)
Fullmetal Alchemist 93 (starting from the very beginning)
Death Note 110 (possible re-read)

I might reread Death Note soon to give it a solid comparison to the anime, which (as far as I watched it until my sub group dropped out) is excellent. It's streaming now on hulu in Japanese, as is Naruto Shippuden (for some reason they're still back in the first part of the horrible filler for Bleach).