Sunny 5

Sunny #5

by Taiyo Matsumoto

Vom Ausreißen und Zurückkehren, von Elefantenspritzen, Goldfischen und Abendzikaden… Bei den Sternkindern tobt das ganz normale Leben: Während Sei und Haruo sich zu heimlichen Ausflügen aufmachen, muss Junsuke zum Arzt. Haruna versorgt einen Straßentiger, den sie Kenji tauft und der echte Kenji muss sich vor halbstarken Mitschülern behaupten. Ein Besuch für Megumu hinterlässt sie glücklicher als erwartet und als Makio den Kindern seine hübsche Freundin vorstellt sind alle aus dem Häuschen!

Das poetisches Manga-Meisterwerk aus der Feder eines der innovativsten und meistbejubelten Manga-Künstler der Gegenwart.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels, Seinen, Japan, Graphic Novels Comics, Comics Manga

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 2014

About the author

See also: 松本大洋 and 松本 大洋

Although Taiyo Matsumoto desired a career as a professional soccerplayer at first, he eventually chose an artistic profession. He gained his first success through the Comic Open contest, held by the magazine Comic Morning, which allowed him to make his professional debut. He started out with 'Straight', a comic about basketball players. Sports remain his main influence in his next comic, 'Zéro', a story about a boxer.

In 1993 Matsumoto started the 'Tekkonkinkurito' trilogy in Big Spirits magazine, which was even adapted to a theatre play. He continued his comics exploits with several short stories for the Comic Aré magazine, which are collected in the book 'Nihon no Kyodai'. Again for Big Spirits, Taiyo Matsumoto started the series 'Ping Pong' in 1996. 'Number Five' followed in 2001, published by Shogakukan.

Source: Lambiek website bio .

Reviews

[L.S. Popovich · Rating 4 out of 5]

A relaxing and contemplative series from a creator I now look forward to reading. The abandoned kids home, or orphanage, if you prefer that designation, which comprises the setting, provides a dense interplay of childish communications. The way the characters talk over one another reminds me of Robert Altman's films. This series is primarily a realistic portrayal of its times, alluding to real-world wrestlers, idols, and other celebrities to remind readers of its setting. The current of subtext is moving and ever-present. There are rock and roll lyrics, porno mags in the back of beat-up old car fort, kids playing in the pond, running wild in the streets, eating dinner amid a messy chatter of quibbling siblings. Despite the huge roster of characters, and the quick-cut method of storytelling, the ups and downs of these chilluns, and a few of the adults that orbit around them, makes for an entertaining and heartwarming read. The feels are there to be grasped. And I can only hope that the immersive atmosphere and soft-focus lens will guide me into further nostalgic byways of ordinary Japanese life.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh. wow. Exceptional! I was choked up holding back the tears. The best volume in the series so far! Each chapter still focuses on one child and is episodic, yet like the other volumes there is a theme. This time we see the real suffering and desperation these foster kids from dysfunctional families are going through. The book starts off pretty sad and continues in that vein almost bringing me to tears then comes a story where it's the child who has the strength in her unique situation and for the final story something a little different as everyone gathers together while a typhoon rolls in. Exceptional writing and excellent illustration make this the most literary manga I've ever read. Highly recommended!!

[Jason]

Ugh. This series is killing me. One thing I noticed was how amazing matsumoto is at portraying the beautiful chaos that is all children's lives, no matter their station. Out in the yard, at the dinner table, doing their chores, they're a mess of observations and accusations, exclamations and exasperations, here there and everywhere. And the adults are so rote and matter-of-fact in their responses to them, because like the storm that rages outside all you can do, especially with these children who are so full of anger and sorrow and longing, is to batten the hatches and hold on tight.
The way these kids carry on despite hopes continually deferred is heartbreaking and inspiring.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series. The art and characters just give me the feels. I don't understand why I love this series specifically---maybe it's just looking in this 'different' life in Japan that makes me go through so many emotions. Matsumoto just has this charming slice-of-life brilliance that radiates off the page as each child struggles with a lack of familial bonds. I'll be with this series until the end.

[Jeff Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Affecting, humane, and quietly inventive stories about foster children in the Star Kids Home in Japan in the mid-1970s. Emotional without being sentimental and beautifully rendered in Matsumoto's striking illustrations. The storytelling quality has been extremely consistent through all the volumes - and if anything, it's only improved. I suspect the cumulative effect of these stories will be greater than the individual tales.

[Thomas Maluck · Rating 5 out of 5]

These kids can rage against a storm because it's tangible and loud and makes itself known, unlike the emotional and familial barriers that surround their personal tragedies.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fifth volume of the collected Sunny doesn't deviate much from the previous installments, but that turns out to be a strength. Taiyo Matsumoto continues to explore how his young protagonists deal with parental abandonment and emotional dislocation.

In the very last chapter, the characters scurry to prepare for a typhoon that is headed their way, ending this penultimate volume on something of a cliff-hanger and a portent, making me quite eager to read the sixth and final book in the series.

[elif sinem · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 - kenji/haruna, haruo, and makio great as always but the one really taking the cake is junsuke's chapter of him catching a fever. So understated and pretty...

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fifth volume of Taiyo Matsumoto's Sunny does not miss a beat, and offers up instead what is the strongest volume in the series yet. The humor is slight and offbeat, present only in small doses to keep the entire story from coming off as too melancholic. Suffering and desperation are even more prevalent in this volume, where the foster kids of Star Kids Home continually ponder their state of abandon. And yet, together the kids form a series of formidable bonds with each other that injects hope for something better again. This volume tees up a massive incoming typhoon which the kids plan to weather together as a family.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am consistently impressed by the emotional honesty of this series and its ability to portray the conflicting emotions of its child protagonists with the weight and seriousness that they deserve. This is about children, but it is not a children's book - rather, it is a series for people who once were children and remember that it wasn't the idyllic picture painted by the nostalgic media.

[Katy Jean Vance · Rating 5 out of 5]

And for my 100th book of 2016, I read the 5th Sunny manga. Beautiful. Heartbreaking. Full of Love. Highly recommended.

[Mario Pimental · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, chaotic, and heartbreaking.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how grown-up the children are trying to be - Sei being methodical, Megumu trying to make her parents proud, Kenji trying to be responsible, Junsuke trying to be brave - knowing that it's all naive and there's so much more than what they can personally understand. There's this whole chaos of turbulent emotions and ups-and-downs and it's sad to see the kids having to go through it all. At the heart of it they're all scared and lonely and just want a family, and it hurts to see them being disappointed.

[Vittorio Rainone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un volume con minore presenza di Haruo (anche se veniamo a conoscenza del momento del suo arrivo alla Hoshinoko). Rimane un ritmo spettacolare, una narrazione mai sopra le righe, mai didascalica. Davvero un fumetto poetico.

[mica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm continuing to really enjoy this series. I like the art and I like the style of storytelling. I will say that I found this volume a little less enthralling than the first four, but I still just thought it was really freaking good.

[AndreaLectora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hacía tiempo que no leía Sunny, y sigue siendo maravilloso. Solo me queda el último...

[Muhammad Rajab Al-mukarrom · Rating 5 out of 5]

There were so many emotional moments in this series and it was great to see arts did something to your hearts.

[Arina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cried again.
I would die for any of those kids.

[Ally Yang]

[2022 .6]

捨棄開心的過往，悲傷的記憶也會一同消失喔⋯⋯難過得要死的感覺，會像騙人一樣，突然消失不見。（p.32）

[King]

This one was especially heartbreaking

[Manmangaboy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sei goes on a joy ride and is pretty much the best story in this volume

[Becky]

時間不會停下腳步，事情不會一直保持在這樣的狀態，這樣才有得救。
小惠！！(;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`)

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

[vera · Rating 5 out of 5]

chicos basta no puedo más soy un río

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a package, this book is beautiful: the brightly painted, off-white canvas covers, the green buffer pages, those occasional full colored splash pages before chapters. And as for the contents, Jesus its impressive to even think one man both draws and writes this masterpiece.
I don't even know which talent of his I like more at this point.
Hes writing heartbreakingly real characters that I never dreamed I could care about until he introduced them to me. Seriously nothing has choked me up while reading as much as a few of the panels in Sunny.
But its also the way his characters are drawn that further grounds this real emotion. With simple pen work and water color washes, Matsumoto forces the reader to anticipate the feelings, both happy and sad, of these characters. Though their feelings are often quite sad.

This is easily my favorite series in any medium, and feels like nothing else I've ever read or watched. It comes closest to feeling like something I have already experienced or lived and am truly grateful I was given a chance to relive.

The plot might be dull for some, but if your invested, you'll only be left wanting more.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although readers would do well to read the previous volumes before tackling this one, they will quickly be drawn into the world of several troubled children in Japan. Each chapter focuses on one youngster, allowing readers to explore the hopes, fears, anxieties, and disappointments of those children. As a typhoon heads for the area, the children and their adult caregivers batten down the hatches as they prepare for a bumpy ride. The weather may be threatening and unlike any weather they've ever experienced before, but these are children who have already endured the storms of life through losses, cruelty, and illness. I hope they'll survive this one just as they've weathered the others. This is an engaging, fascinating series from Japan, and it is one well worth the time it takes to read it.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first volume of the series where I detected a noticeable theme running through the individual chapters. 'Escape' has always been on a concept within the series (escape from the Star Kids Home, escape from one's circumstances or life situation), but in this volume that slow-burn build up finally materializes in concrete ways. Haruo's desire to live at a 'better' foster home, Sei's plans to travel and reunite his parents, Megumu's fear of leaving the home, Jun's cold-induced flights of fancy: each is an individual expression of that desire for escape, or more importantly coming to terms with it. It's only fitting then that the volume ends with Makio, a twenty-something former resident of the home, returning to pay a visit.

Exceptional as always. The next, and last, volume will be bittersweet.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Volume six doesn't actually come out until next month (November), so prior to delving into this one, I preordered volume six and threw volume one in there as well for free shipping. I can't tell you guys how much this series means to me. I've cried (in a good way) at every volume. The writing is great but the art is truly something to behold. At work we only have volume one, but it was enough to get me to order the others through interlibrary loan. Highly, highly recommended.

P.S. I may petition to move volume one to YA so it actually circulates. We'll see.

[dami · Rating 5 out of 5]

stan kumi and sei !! like seeing more of maki. haruo will never not make me emotional. so sad i only have one more volume to go.

reread this three years later, i have no recollection of this volume! i really liked it though but i’m convinced this review was meant for another volume that i got mixed up lol.

[Nate D]

Old characters reappear, new stories emerge. Nothing necessarily progresses, but this is the ultimate slice of life. It doesn't need to go anywhere in particular when so much subtlely unfolds along the way.