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A Zoo in Winter
THE PLEASURE OF DRAWING
Kyoto, 1966. The young Hamaguchi is working for a textile manufacturer whilst dreaming of becoming an artist, when an incident at the zoo forces his hand. He moves to Tokyo at the invitation of an old school friend who also arranges an "interview" at the studios of the famous mangaka, Shiro Kondo. Here he quickly discovers both the long hours of meeting studio deadlines along with the nightlife and artistic haunts of the capital.
For the first time ever, multi-award winning Taniguchi recalls his beginnings in manga and his youth spent in Tokyo in the 60's. It is a magnificent account of his apprenticeship where all the finesse and elegance of the creator are united to illustrate those first emotions of adulthood.
231 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2008
8 people are currently reading
485 people want to read
About the author
Jirō Taniguchi
205 books608 followersName (in native language): 谷口 ジロー
Zodiac: Leo
He began to work as assistant of the late mangaka Kyota Ishikawa.
He made his manga debut in 1970 with Kareta Heya (A Desiccated Summer), published in the magazine Young Comic.
From 1976 to 1979, he created several hard-boiled comics with the scenarist Natsuo Sekigawa, such as City Without Defense, The Wind of the West is White and Lindo 3.
From 1984 to 1991, Tanigushi and Natsuo Sekigawa produced the trilogy Bocchan No Jidai.
In the 1990s, he came up with several albums, among which Aruku Hito (歩くひと), Chichi no koyomi (The Almanac of My Father), and Keyaki no ki.
In 2001, he created the Icare (Icaro) series on texts by Mœbius.
Jirô Taniguchi gained several prizes for his work. Among others, the Osamu Tezuka Culture Award (1998) for the trilogy Bocchan No Jidai, the Shogakukan prize with Inu wo Kau, and in 2003, the Alph'Art of the best scenario at the Angoulême International Comics Festival (France) for Harukana Machi-E.
His work has been translated in many languages.
Far from the violent storylines often associated with the manga, Taniguchi has developed a very personal style, more adult. Along with other writers, like Tsukasa Hōjō, his comics focus more on the Japanese society and culture, with a subtle analysis of its customs and habits.
Zodiac: Leo
He began to work as assistant of the late mangaka Kyota Ishikawa.
He made his manga debut in 1970 with Kareta Heya (A Desiccated Summer), published in the magazine Young Comic.
From 1976 to 1979, he created several hard-boiled comics with the scenarist Natsuo Sekigawa, such as City Without Defense, The Wind of the West is White and Lindo 3.
From 1984 to 1991, Tanigushi and Natsuo Sekigawa produced the trilogy Bocchan No Jidai.
In the 1990s, he came up with several albums, among which Aruku Hito (歩くひと), Chichi no koyomi (The Almanac of My Father), and Keyaki no ki.
In 2001, he created the Icare (Icaro) series on texts by Mœbius.
Jirô Taniguchi gained several prizes for his work. Among others, the Osamu Tezuka Culture Award (1998) for the trilogy Bocchan No Jidai, the Shogakukan prize with Inu wo Kau, and in 2003, the Alph'Art of the best scenario at the Angoulême International Comics Festival (France) for Harukana Machi-E.
His work has been translated in many languages.
Far from the violent storylines often associated with the manga, Taniguchi has developed a very personal style, more adult. Along with other writers, like Tsukasa Hōjō, his comics focus more on the Japanese society and culture, with a subtle analysis of its customs and habits.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 131 reviews
October 26, 2018
I just read Taniguchi's more lyrical Furari, and recently, too, his also pretty poetic Venice, so his A Zoo in Winter feels less magical than those two, but it is still compelling and interesting. It's autobiographical fiction--I understand it to be mostly autobiographical--about Taniguchi's early life as an artist. More specifically, it is about a young man, Hamaguchi, who knows pretty much what he wants to do as a young man: Art. He works in a job where he has to, among other things, be a "chaperone" for the boss's daughter. The boss wants to keep his daughter away from a man--a designer--who is courting her. The daughter and her secret lover still manages to meet, with Yamaguchi's help. . . at a zoo in winter. The point of the title as I see it is that this seemingly random job assignment leads him to another job, in Tokyo. You can't make a clear thematic link from the zoo to Hamaguchi's career in manga, but he seems to be saying that life sometimes works like that; one thing just leads to another.
That single story of Yamaguchi's teenaged work is probably one of the most memorable events in this volume, but the focus of the book is really on what happens next, when the young man, still a teen, goes to Tokyo to check out a job as an assistant to a mang-ka, a well known manga artist, with whom he immediately begins to work--and frantically, he jumps right in and works for hours on end--and for whom he works for years. This middle part of the book is learning the craft, which makes the book remind me of other artistic memoirs or "making of manga" manga I have read, such as Bakuman, written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, the same creative team responsible for Death Note. The picture book illustrator Allen Say also has several books now about how he became an artist, the first of which I read 6 years ago, Drawing from Memory, which bears some resemblance to some aspects of Tanuguchi's story (both apprenticed under a famous artist).
https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit...
The last third of the book is also memorable in that it tells of Hamaguchi's difficulties making his own art until he is inspired by a young (and sick, frail) woman to complete his first manga story. There's some bittersweet aspects of this part. At more than 200 pages, A Zoo in Winter is delicately drawn, and pretty straightforwardly told. I really liked it and will continue to read everything that gets translated into English from Tanuguchi.
That single story of Yamaguchi's teenaged work is probably one of the most memorable events in this volume, but the focus of the book is really on what happens next, when the young man, still a teen, goes to Tokyo to check out a job as an assistant to a mang-ka, a well known manga artist, with whom he immediately begins to work--and frantically, he jumps right in and works for hours on end--and for whom he works for years. This middle part of the book is learning the craft, which makes the book remind me of other artistic memoirs or "making of manga" manga I have read, such as Bakuman, written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, the same creative team responsible for Death Note. The picture book illustrator Allen Say also has several books now about how he became an artist, the first of which I read 6 years ago, Drawing from Memory, which bears some resemblance to some aspects of Tanuguchi's story (both apprenticed under a famous artist).
https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit...
The last third of the book is also memorable in that it tells of Hamaguchi's difficulties making his own art until he is inspired by a young (and sick, frail) woman to complete his first manga story. There's some bittersweet aspects of this part. At more than 200 pages, A Zoo in Winter is delicately drawn, and pretty straightforwardly told. I really liked it and will continue to read everything that gets translated into English from Tanuguchi.
August 16, 2018
Quiet, interesting lightly fictionalized look back at the beginning of Tanaguchi's career in manga in Tokyo in the 1960s. It's not plot-driven, but rather a blend of character, environment, and nostalgia, and both C-Man and I were blown away with it. One of those books that doesn't hit you over the head with being about something while you're reading it, but you're left thinking about it long after you close the book. If you're into new adult / coming-of-age / people finding themselves themes, this is definitely one you should check out. It's been recently reprinted, so it's not a billion dollars to get a hold of anymore, yay!
November 11, 2023
Taniguči se ovde osvrće na sopstvene početke stvaranja mangi i "šegrtovanja" u manga studiju u Tokiju. Ova priča je dragocena zbog toga, ali nekako mi je bila sporija, manje emotivna i magična od njegovih ostalih dela.
July 29, 2020
Una storia di formazione sulla falsariga dell'esperienza autobiografica dell'autore, che nella Tokyo della fine degli anni '60 si faceva le ossa come giovane aiutante nello studio di un affermato disegnatore.
Delicata e genuina, forse a tratti gira un po' in tondo e si ripete, ma a pensarci bene le giornate di ciascuno di noi sono quasi sempre uguali e la vita è un monotono tran tran intervallato da pochi momenti che spiccano e si distinguono.
Delicata e genuina, forse a tratti gira un po' in tondo e si ripete, ma a pensarci bene le giornate di ciascuno di noi sono quasi sempre uguali e la vita è un monotono tran tran intervallato da pochi momenti che spiccano e si distinguono.
December 26, 2013
My goal wasn't especially to do sketches...
...but, somehow or other, this is where I'd end up.
This is a story about a teenage kid who knows what he wants. He knows that he doesn't want to work in a textile office. He wants to do something with pictures, maybe. Maybe he wants to sit on a bench and draw the animals in the zoo. If he has a day off he might like to do that. If his boss says chaperon my wayward daughter so she doesn't get into trouble. If he loses his job because she ran off on her husband with her boyfriend then he'll fall into a job as an assistant to a manga artist.
Jiro Taniguichi made an autobiographical manga about his own uprising in 1960s Tokyo. I guess that's what he wanted to do and, yeah, that's what this is.
But the background surrounding Hamaguchi is more vivid than the blah blah blah of the speech boxes. I wanted to ignore the speech boxes. The events leading up to Hamaguchi finally realizing that he wanted to write a manga after all weren't that interesting. Less interesting was how IMPORTANT it was for him to write. The good stuff happened to everyone else. He didn't notice them but I did. I don't know about Jiro Taniguchi. It is in his pictures so he must have had some inkling. Maybe he felt the pulling outside of his peripheral vision. Maybe his hands were speaking what his mouth was blind to.
A polar bear snarls in his cage as the kid absently holds his drawing pad. By the way, I had wanted to read this because I hoped it would be as good as my own zoo in winter (a different Tanijuchi has sat on my goodreads to-read list for years. I will never be able to afford it. They want all of my appendages for it. Why not read something and see if it is worth the cost of even a finger). In November of 2011 I visited the Berlin zoo. The reindeer were my favorite (and the Swedish cows, and some kind of an otherworldly pig whom I felt a connection with). There was something haunting, or something magical and hauntingly magical about the animals living in the grim forest. Prisoners still eating, maybe they didn't care. I was frozen to my toes. I've never been that cold before or since. An old lady chatted to me about the reindeer and I didn't understand a word she said. I wonder if the reindeer were happier living in the zoo than they would be as a Sami meal. The kid doesn't seem to think about how the animals feel. I know he doesn't. When he finally writes his super important manga he includes the animals at the suggestion of a girl he has just met (he knows her further because it is suggested to him he visit her in the hospital. Decisions just aren't this kids makeup). She has ideas about a girl a boy could save, and the animals. It is sweet how happy she looks, her belief in this story someone else could write. Why doesn't she write herself... He doesn't save the animals! They go on living, in the zoo, if they go on living at all. He never says. But in the pictures....
In the sweat and unsaid frame by frame his coworkers toil at the deadlines for a richer than their wildest dreams (at least enough to buy local brew and manga) manga-ka. Kondo seldom appears. His assistants, though. When one of them has written something the kid is envious that he hasn't been writing anything himself. Today doesn't belong to yesterday when someone else wasn't doing what he isn't. What I saw was his drunken eyes as the budding writer swears he will not be a washed up assistant for his entire career. The senior assistant is sitting at the same table and I don't know if he wanted to kill him or himself. The blooming artist won't be published after all, maybe doomed as an assistant for his entire career. I also noticed that it is commented a lot that his work bears a resemblance to Kondo's. Of course it did. They did all of the work! It probably wasn't unintentional this depiction of the bitter slide after "the big break" of getting a toe in the door slam of manga. You're only as good as your next. It just felt oddly as if it were happening out of Hamaguchi. His black cloud changes from silver to rainbows to black and it could rain or shine for everyone else, depending on who is waking up.
He had a brother. A big brother type with big shoulders and big everything. He gets up from the table to go handle it when a girl Hamaguchi knows has been giving a tough time by some creeps at the bar where she works. He watches out for mom and his brother. He had given up artist dreams to take care of everyone else. Hamaguchi never even knew. I liked his pictures. He wears plain white shirts and a face to take for granted.
So that chick he is set up with. The girl who is broken more every time you see her. No one ever touches her and she breaks. Her heart probably fainted at the unhelped thought no one ever would. I wish someone would have shaken Hamaguchi when he whines that the letter she writes about his manga getting published wasn't "enough". She's dying, you asshole! I'm not sure if she's really dying. More like a crumpled pile of clothes without the body still in it. She'll probably get moved to another specialist hospital for more tests and you can't do anything. I wish he had thought about her feelings more than how proud he was of himself, or rather wanted to be more proud but she had to tell him he was. Her worth as a person should have been more than giving him the idea that maybe he should write manga (and coughs the idea for the story as well). What a tool, really. I don't know if Taniguchi is off the hook because of the pictures knowing them anyway. It is never said what happens to anyone else. He wishes he could save her like in the manga. But what about everyone else? The only person he meets anything is ever said about is the first girl who inadvertently pushes him out of textiles. She's holding down a job because her boyfriend can't get work. I wonder if he takes care of their baby or if she does all of that too. She says she's happy. It doesn't feel like Hamaguchi asked. But did we only meet her again so she could give him the idea to go visit his sorta dying sorta girlfriend in the hospital? It was a funny way of showing a guy who doesn't know anything. The pictures were in the spite of him, the I don't know what I want and this is what is real, and the text bubbles were like him getting shoved into doing anything, I guess, and making unreal by being a stupid human.
...but, somehow or other, this is where I'd end up.
This is a story about a teenage kid who knows what he wants. He knows that he doesn't want to work in a textile office. He wants to do something with pictures, maybe. Maybe he wants to sit on a bench and draw the animals in the zoo. If he has a day off he might like to do that. If his boss says chaperon my wayward daughter so she doesn't get into trouble. If he loses his job because she ran off on her husband with her boyfriend then he'll fall into a job as an assistant to a manga artist.
Jiro Taniguichi made an autobiographical manga about his own uprising in 1960s Tokyo. I guess that's what he wanted to do and, yeah, that's what this is.
But the background surrounding Hamaguchi is more vivid than the blah blah blah of the speech boxes. I wanted to ignore the speech boxes. The events leading up to Hamaguchi finally realizing that he wanted to write a manga after all weren't that interesting. Less interesting was how IMPORTANT it was for him to write. The good stuff happened to everyone else. He didn't notice them but I did. I don't know about Jiro Taniguchi. It is in his pictures so he must have had some inkling. Maybe he felt the pulling outside of his peripheral vision. Maybe his hands were speaking what his mouth was blind to.
A polar bear snarls in his cage as the kid absently holds his drawing pad. By the way, I had wanted to read this because I hoped it would be as good as my own zoo in winter (a different Tanijuchi has sat on my goodreads to-read list for years. I will never be able to afford it. They want all of my appendages for it. Why not read something and see if it is worth the cost of even a finger). In November of 2011 I visited the Berlin zoo. The reindeer were my favorite (and the Swedish cows, and some kind of an otherworldly pig whom I felt a connection with). There was something haunting, or something magical and hauntingly magical about the animals living in the grim forest. Prisoners still eating, maybe they didn't care. I was frozen to my toes. I've never been that cold before or since. An old lady chatted to me about the reindeer and I didn't understand a word she said. I wonder if the reindeer were happier living in the zoo than they would be as a Sami meal. The kid doesn't seem to think about how the animals feel. I know he doesn't. When he finally writes his super important manga he includes the animals at the suggestion of a girl he has just met (he knows her further because it is suggested to him he visit her in the hospital. Decisions just aren't this kids makeup). She has ideas about a girl a boy could save, and the animals. It is sweet how happy she looks, her belief in this story someone else could write. Why doesn't she write herself... He doesn't save the animals! They go on living, in the zoo, if they go on living at all. He never says. But in the pictures....
In the sweat and unsaid frame by frame his coworkers toil at the deadlines for a richer than their wildest dreams (at least enough to buy local brew and manga) manga-ka. Kondo seldom appears. His assistants, though. When one of them has written something the kid is envious that he hasn't been writing anything himself. Today doesn't belong to yesterday when someone else wasn't doing what he isn't. What I saw was his drunken eyes as the budding writer swears he will not be a washed up assistant for his entire career. The senior assistant is sitting at the same table and I don't know if he wanted to kill him or himself. The blooming artist won't be published after all, maybe doomed as an assistant for his entire career. I also noticed that it is commented a lot that his work bears a resemblance to Kondo's. Of course it did. They did all of the work! It probably wasn't unintentional this depiction of the bitter slide after "the big break" of getting a toe in the door slam of manga. You're only as good as your next. It just felt oddly as if it were happening out of Hamaguchi. His black cloud changes from silver to rainbows to black and it could rain or shine for everyone else, depending on who is waking up.
He had a brother. A big brother type with big shoulders and big everything. He gets up from the table to go handle it when a girl Hamaguchi knows has been giving a tough time by some creeps at the bar where she works. He watches out for mom and his brother. He had given up artist dreams to take care of everyone else. Hamaguchi never even knew. I liked his pictures. He wears plain white shirts and a face to take for granted.
So that chick he is set up with. The girl who is broken more every time you see her. No one ever touches her and she breaks. Her heart probably fainted at the unhelped thought no one ever would. I wish someone would have shaken Hamaguchi when he whines that the letter she writes about his manga getting published wasn't "enough". She's dying, you asshole! I'm not sure if she's really dying. More like a crumpled pile of clothes without the body still in it. She'll probably get moved to another specialist hospital for more tests and you can't do anything. I wish he had thought about her feelings more than how proud he was of himself, or rather wanted to be more proud but she had to tell him he was. Her worth as a person should have been more than giving him the idea that maybe he should write manga (and coughs the idea for the story as well). What a tool, really. I don't know if Taniguchi is off the hook because of the pictures knowing them anyway. It is never said what happens to anyone else. He wishes he could save her like in the manga. But what about everyone else? The only person he meets anything is ever said about is the first girl who inadvertently pushes him out of textiles. She's holding down a job because her boyfriend can't get work. I wonder if he takes care of their baby or if she does all of that too. She says she's happy. It doesn't feel like Hamaguchi asked. But did we only meet her again so she could give him the idea to go visit his sorta dying sorta girlfriend in the hospital? It was a funny way of showing a guy who doesn't know anything. The pictures were in the spite of him, the I don't know what I want and this is what is real, and the text bubbles were like him getting shoved into doing anything, I guess, and making unreal by being a stupid human.
June 20, 2020
Molto dolce e poetico nella sua quotidianità.
September 20, 2016
Jiro Taniguchi je autor koji mi jednostavno leži. Njegovi životni likovi, jednostavna naracija i jasan i precizan crtež ukazuju na sreću koja se krije u malim stvarima i izazivaju u meni osjećaj mira i opuštenosti. Sve navedeno vrijedi i za ovo djelo iako je ono možda mrvicu "lakše" od ostalih radova koje sam čitao. Priča, temeljena na autorovom životu, govori o mladom momku koji ulazi u svijet manga crtača i posredno u svijet odraslih. Priča je to o sazrijevanju, prvoj ljubavi i mukotrpnom radu i činjenica da ne donosi ništa novo nimalo ne umanjuje uživanje u njoj. Taniguchi je svakako autor kojem ću se često i s radošću vraćati.
July 27, 2023
Taniguchi echa mano de un alter ego, Haniguchi, para construir una historia en parte autobiográfica sobre sus inicios como dibujante de manga. Con el ritmo lento y el tono intimista marca de la casa, la historia va yendo de menos a más.
January 1, 2024
Nova čitalačka godina nije mogla da krene na bolji način. “Zološki vrt zimi” je za mene najprisnije i najintimnije Taniguchijevo delo, za koje sam, još u toku čitanja, znao da će mi biti u vrhu njegovih omiljenih mangi. Divno je videti ovakvu istančanost nekog manga crtača, svaki panel isijava prepoznatljivom emocijom koju osećam samo kada čitam Jirove mange.
April 18, 2020
Una magnífica novela gráfica que me ha atrapado entre sus páginas.
Cuenta la historia de un joven de provincias que deja su trabajo en una fábrica para intentar cumplir su sueño de ser dibujante de mangas. Una historia preciosa de perseverancia y crecimiento no sólo profesional sino también personal.
Cuenta la historia de un joven de provincias que deja su trabajo en una fábrica para intentar cumplir su sueño de ser dibujante de mangas. Una historia preciosa de perseverancia y crecimiento no sólo profesional sino también personal.
September 15, 2015
I love Jiro Taniguchi's quiet nostalgic books, and this delivers that feeling to a tee.
I think this book is semi-autobiographical, but either way it's about a young man and how he begins his career as a manga artist in Tokyo.
This book has a very different feel to a lot of other manga published in English. Its a bit more sedate and covers experiences that many adults have had (e.g. the strangeness of moving to a new city and changing your lifestyle for a job). However, if that sounds a bit boring, I still found it to be an engrossing page-turner of a book.
I think that Taniguchi's previous 2-volume series, A Distant Neighbourhood, is slightly more successful in the storytelling though, as I found this one ended rather abruptly and I really could have done with 1 or 2 more volumes about what happened next!
Anyone wanting something similar but longer, maybe try out Yoshihiro Tatsumi's 'A Drifting Life' - its an autobiographical piece about Tatsumi's career as a manga artist, and the gekiga movement (when manga began to move from only being for children, to including darker comics for adults)
I think this book is semi-autobiographical, but either way it's about a young man and how he begins his career as a manga artist in Tokyo.
This book has a very different feel to a lot of other manga published in English. Its a bit more sedate and covers experiences that many adults have had (e.g. the strangeness of moving to a new city and changing your lifestyle for a job). However, if that sounds a bit boring, I still found it to be an engrossing page-turner of a book.
I think that Taniguchi's previous 2-volume series, A Distant Neighbourhood, is slightly more successful in the storytelling though, as I found this one ended rather abruptly and I really could have done with 1 or 2 more volumes about what happened next!
Anyone wanting something similar but longer, maybe try out Yoshihiro Tatsumi's 'A Drifting Life' - its an autobiographical piece about Tatsumi's career as a manga artist, and the gekiga movement (when manga began to move from only being for children, to including darker comics for adults)
November 1, 2018
I don't know about this graphic novel. I guess I felt like it was okay. It wasn't bad, but it also didn't really move me. I really liked the part where our MC connected with this brother, but other than that I just was kind of shoving through the book hoping that I would connect. Towards the end our MC connected to a woman and I started empathizing with her, but I didn't like their relationship (I felt like he was too centered on himself and his feelings rather than really getting what was going on with her life, which was massively serious, and I felt like she served as a muse in the story more than anything else).
It took me a while to get through the book as well because of this lack of interest. But I did get through it, and I wasn't offended or pissed off. I just didn't really like it.
It took me a while to get through the book as well because of this lack of interest. But I did get through it, and I wasn't offended or pissed off. I just didn't really like it.
February 15, 2016
Okay, maar niet wereldschokkend. Het verbaast me vooral dat Japan ook in comics zo ondoorgrondelijk is. Veel lijkt aan de oppervlakte te blijven, terwijl de grote motieven impliciet de personages voortstuwen. Grafisch is het weinig imposant en vooral erg schetsmatig. Het einde is ook nogal abrupt. Maar goed, ik heb nooit veel van Japanners begrepen.
July 3, 2012
Taniguchi coglie il momento decisivo come Cartier-Bresson nella fotografia: i momenti che sembrano inutili ai più, dischiudono l'essenza del vivere ai suoi personaggi.
Come farà a disegnare anche il silenzio?
Come farà a disegnare anche il silenzio?
May 31, 2020
As far as warnings go, being a rendition of generally someone (who ID's as a man) life in the 60s coming to the big city, there's some stuff... I'm still not clear exactly on what I should be tagging, but here's a list of things that are noteworthy. A literal zoo to start with, then a naked model that Hamaguchi has a hard time not oggling, lots of indoor smoking, drinking, teasing Hamaguchi because he was dancing with a "crossdresser", girls having to hide from bad guys (not Hamaguchi) and a literal being inspired by dying girl bit.
Flipping over the book, to introduce how the creator has decided to portray themselves:
"The Pleasure of drawing. Kyoto, 1966. The young Hamaguchi is working for a textile manufacturer whilst dreaming of becoming an artist, when an incident at the zoo forces his hand. He moves to Tokyo at the invitation of an old school friend who also arranges an "interview" at the studios of the famous mangaka, Shiro Kondo. Here he quickly discovers both the long hours of meeting studio deadlines along with the nightlife and artistic haunts of the capital.
For the first time ever, multi-award winning Taniguchi recalls his beginnings in manga and his youth spent in Tokyo in the 60's. It is a magnificent account of his apprenticeship where all the finesse and elegance of the creator are united to illustrate those first emotions of adulthood."
Slow, like A Distant Neighbourhood, this coming of age story was interesting but not particularly entertaining. There's that strong sense of nostalgia again and the art is conventional but in a way that is still striking.
As far as gender and sexuality goes, that was certainly one of the biggest drawback. It just felt like such a closed off boy's club sort of dealio. Hamaguchi seems like a nice enough guy, and some of his co-workers are women. But women (cis women) remain such an incredible mystery to Hamiguchi that there just these wispy creatures on pedestal, fragile, and this case also literally dying. And since we are dealing with a mostly dichotomous view of gender here, this leaves very little for people who do not identify as male to really go with. I guess however, in contrast, his portrayal of women in a Distant Neighbourhood seems all the more empowering.
Class is not really touched upon as, while Hamaguchi clearly does not have much money, things always seem to work out for him. We certainly do not spend that much time focusing on negative things, and the hectic work schedule of manga production is shown to be exciting.
I'm not sure if his chronically ill girl friend really counts for disability representation, but if it does it ranks pretty high on the inspiration porn kind of representation. I mean, it's difficult to critique someone's real life, but Taniguchi could have toned down the fervent sincerity just a tad. He certainly had enough time to reflect, although little to none of that really seems to have come through in any way. Much more just a rose tinted view of his own past.
Flipping over the book, to introduce how the creator has decided to portray themselves:
"The Pleasure of drawing. Kyoto, 1966. The young Hamaguchi is working for a textile manufacturer whilst dreaming of becoming an artist, when an incident at the zoo forces his hand. He moves to Tokyo at the invitation of an old school friend who also arranges an "interview" at the studios of the famous mangaka, Shiro Kondo. Here he quickly discovers both the long hours of meeting studio deadlines along with the nightlife and artistic haunts of the capital.
For the first time ever, multi-award winning Taniguchi recalls his beginnings in manga and his youth spent in Tokyo in the 60's. It is a magnificent account of his apprenticeship where all the finesse and elegance of the creator are united to illustrate those first emotions of adulthood."
Slow, like A Distant Neighbourhood, this coming of age story was interesting but not particularly entertaining. There's that strong sense of nostalgia again and the art is conventional but in a way that is still striking.
As far as gender and sexuality goes, that was certainly one of the biggest drawback. It just felt like such a closed off boy's club sort of dealio. Hamaguchi seems like a nice enough guy, and some of his co-workers are women. But women (cis women) remain such an incredible mystery to Hamiguchi that there just these wispy creatures on pedestal, fragile, and this case also literally dying. And since we are dealing with a mostly dichotomous view of gender here, this leaves very little for people who do not identify as male to really go with. I guess however, in contrast, his portrayal of women in a Distant Neighbourhood seems all the more empowering.
Class is not really touched upon as, while Hamaguchi clearly does not have much money, things always seem to work out for him. We certainly do not spend that much time focusing on negative things, and the hectic work schedule of manga production is shown to be exciting.
I'm not sure if his chronically ill girl friend really counts for disability representation, but if it does it ranks pretty high on the inspiration porn kind of representation. I mean, it's difficult to critique someone's real life, but Taniguchi could have toned down the fervent sincerity just a tad. He certainly had enough time to reflect, although little to none of that really seems to have come through in any way. Much more just a rose tinted view of his own past.
May 24, 2020
Good stuff. It isn't quite as soothing as The Walking Man. It has much more dialogue and a clearer story arc. Things happen. It's a really nice read though, and has some of the same muted aesthetic. The narrator is a manga art assistant, whose job is to fill in the background around the main figures, but who wants to create his own stories. The standards are high though, and it's hard to meet the requirements of the publisher. There's a real clear sense of how comics were produced in the sixties, and a realistic group of characters surrounding the protagonist.
The hardback edition is beautiful. Thick, creamy pages, solid cover. Lovely.
The hardback edition is beautiful. Thick, creamy pages, solid cover. Lovely.
November 24, 2020
I've come to associate Japanese writing with quiet, slow-paced stories, although I'm sure I haven't read enough Japanese pieces that I can confidently say that's an accurate take.
Either way, this was exactly what I expected, in that there are never any explosive or shocking plot points, but I was pleasantly surprised at how slower storytelling can better portray tenderness (I've not read a book before that made me think it was "tender" ???).
It sounds underwhelming to call this book 'pleasant' but it really was that -- in the way that a cool afternoon spent reading in the park, under the shade of a tree, is pleasant and enjoyable.
Either way, this was exactly what I expected, in that there are never any explosive or shocking plot points, but I was pleasantly surprised at how slower storytelling can better portray tenderness (I've not read a book before that made me think it was "tender" ???).
It sounds underwhelming to call this book 'pleasant' but it really was that -- in the way that a cool afternoon spent reading in the park, under the shade of a tree, is pleasant and enjoyable.
February 20, 2024
A Zoo in Winter by Jiro Taniguchi.
The first word came to my mind after finishing the book, was - 'poetic'. This nostalgic semi autobiographical manga isn't kind of a book that will hit you hard while you are reading it - rather - it will leave an everlasting impact on you long after you closed the book. I probably will be thinking about this book for the next few days if not longer. The story, the art, the characters, the emotions, everything is amazing. Jiro Taniguchi is amazing.
#jirotaniguchi #jirotaniguchimanga #azooinwinter #azooinwintermanga #jirotaniguchicollection #manga #mangacollection
The first word came to my mind after finishing the book, was - 'poetic'. This nostalgic semi autobiographical manga isn't kind of a book that will hit you hard while you are reading it - rather - it will leave an everlasting impact on you long after you closed the book. I probably will be thinking about this book for the next few days if not longer. The story, the art, the characters, the emotions, everything is amazing. Jiro Taniguchi is amazing.
#jirotaniguchi #jirotaniguchimanga #azooinwinter #azooinwintermanga #jirotaniguchicollection #manga #mangacollection
July 17, 2024
Vraiment un grand maître ce Taniguchi, ça faisait un moment que j’avais lu une des ses œuvres et ça donne envie d’en relire plus, surtout que la BD se porte bien à un mois occupé avec beaucoup moins de temps de lecture.
Le dessin est toujours aussi joli, les personnages et l’histoire même sont naïfs mais si authentiques. On dirait qu’on lit un Paul nippon. Et bien sûr ces histoires ancrées à Shinjuku hit different après août dernier, avec des beaux flashs de moments en bonne compagnie dans les rues de Tokyo avec Vinny et Loze.
Premier emprunt à la biblio Saint-Henri!
Le dessin est toujours aussi joli, les personnages et l’histoire même sont naïfs mais si authentiques. On dirait qu’on lit un Paul nippon. Et bien sûr ces histoires ancrées à Shinjuku hit different après août dernier, avec des beaux flashs de moments en bonne compagnie dans les rues de Tokyo avec Vinny et Loze.
Premier emprunt à la biblio Saint-Henri!
February 26, 2024
De Taniguchi solo había leído un par de capítulos de "El Caminante" (sobre los paseos de un hombre de la mediana edad) y con eso tuve para ser cautivado por su humilde aproximación al manga. Por lo que entiendo, "Un Zoo en Invierno" es semi-autobiográfica. Al principio parece ser un compilado de recuerdos, pero al final queda claro el camino que recorrió la obra. Suave y conservada. Sobre que el arte no es suficiente para sustentarse a sí mismo. La materia del arte es la vida: ¡hay que vivirla! Y de la vida el principal motor, parece ser, el amor. Entonces: ¡también hay que amar! Hermoso su final :')
February 25, 2018
A young office employee leaves his work to become a manga apprentice in the atelier from a famous artist. It is a very demanding work, but he is fulfilling his passion. While his dream is to become a manga artist, it is the acquaintance of a young, beautiful girl of fragile health condition who encourages him to try hard, and influences him. We follow as the character gradually matures from child to man.
March 22, 2024
3.5
Ha sido una lectura muy amena. Poco a poco te adentra en el mundo del protagonista y te hace empatizar con las situaciones que atraviesa. El final me ha dejado súper soft. El mensaje es bien bonito.
Ha sido una lectura muy amena. Poco a poco te adentra en el mundo del protagonista y te hace empatizar con las situaciones que atraviesa. El final me ha dejado súper soft. El mensaje es bien bonito.
January 31, 2021
Très intéressant et touchant, on voit l'envers du décors du métier de mangaka.
April 23, 2022
Otra novela gráfica del gran Taniguchi que te emociona y te atrapa en su páginas es una biografía encubierta de su propia vida, es increíble todo lo que me transmite en sus páginas
October 17, 2022
Wasn't good enough to keep my attention.
June 7, 2025
My first Taniguchi book, now I want to read more!
June 27, 2022
Meu primeiro Jiro Taniguchi. Que sensação agradável de ler essa obra, é como fazer algo simples que gostamos muito.
⭐*4,5
⭐*4,5
August 5, 2025
era un espacio extraño. sin embargo, me sentía a gusto en él"
me esperaba aquí una historia ultra crítica con las movida de ser creativo en el mundo del capitalismo y he terminado con el corazón tan calentito que podría ahora mismo hervir una sopa de sobre con él, así que también he ganado.
October 3, 2015
Dies ist jetzt die 3. Geschichte, die ich von Taniguchi lese. Diesmal geht es um den jungen Hamaguchi, der in den 70er Jahren in Tokyo seinen Traum als Mangaka arbeiten zu können verfolgt. Die Geschichte soll stark autobiographisch geprägt sein.
Taniguchis Stil ist auch hier wieder sehr klar erkennbar: feine klare Linien; reich an Details, aber nie überladen; die Panels sind sehr strukturiert angeordnet, die Handlung selbst wird ruhig und sparsam erzählt.
Oftmals sind Taniguchis Charaktere eher unauffällige, äußerst durchschnittliche Personen, die auf den ersten Blick etwas hilflos und unbestimmt durch das Leben zu gleiten scheinen. Dies ist in dem Manga ebenso der Fall. Aber er schafft es auch hier wieder, jedem Protagonisten etwas Besonderes zu verleihen. Seine Erzählungen fangen den Alltag ein und heben die kleinen Details & Schönheiten des Alltäglichen hervor.
Mir gefällt an "Ein Zoo im Winter" besonders, dass er so wertfrei und objektiv erzählt. Die Geschichte scheint sich wie von selbst zusammenzufinden. Keine melodramatischen Szenen oder ähnliches, aber dennoch fühlt man regelrecht mit, wie schwierig es ist seinem Lebenstraum zu verwirklichen und nicht auf halber Strecke aufzugeben.
Taniguchis Stil ist auch hier wieder sehr klar erkennbar: feine klare Linien; reich an Details, aber nie überladen; die Panels sind sehr strukturiert angeordnet, die Handlung selbst wird ruhig und sparsam erzählt.
Oftmals sind Taniguchis Charaktere eher unauffällige, äußerst durchschnittliche Personen, die auf den ersten Blick etwas hilflos und unbestimmt durch das Leben zu gleiten scheinen. Dies ist in dem Manga ebenso der Fall. Aber er schafft es auch hier wieder, jedem Protagonisten etwas Besonderes zu verleihen. Seine Erzählungen fangen den Alltag ein und heben die kleinen Details & Schönheiten des Alltäglichen hervor.
Mir gefällt an "Ein Zoo im Winter" besonders, dass er so wertfrei und objektiv erzählt. Die Geschichte scheint sich wie von selbst zusammenzufinden. Keine melodramatischen Szenen oder ähnliches, aber dennoch fühlt man regelrecht mit, wie schwierig es ist seinem Lebenstraum zu verwirklichen und nicht auf halber Strecke aufzugeben.
April 11, 2011
"Un zoo en hiver" m'a changé de mes lectures de manga habituelles. Je suis plutôt dans Monster, Nana voire Cyborg Kuro Chan: des histoires qui n'ont rien à voir avec celle-ci. "Un zoo..." raconte comment Taniguchi (on m'a dit que c'était son histoire) est devenu mangaka, ses difficultés à trouver un sujet. C'est une histoire toute simple, l'histoire de beaucoup de mangaka certainement, très poétique et romantique. Je n'ai jamais lu aucune de ses histoires mais celle-ci m'a donné envie de découvrir ses autres ouvrages. J'ai bien aimé le dessin: précis, mais pas surchargé. L'histoire, qui n'est pourtant pas une aventure comme j'ai l'habitude d'en lire, est bien menée pour qu'on ait envie de savoir comment il va évoluer et comment il va entrer dans l'univers du manga.
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