Yoshino's previous works chiseled away at the pessimism content to petrify the creative spirit of those for whom success came early and often but perhaps not so easily. Does a change in direction validate one's skill or does it seek to recreate one's brush with fortune? Does sharing one's work-in-progress articulate the emotional truth of the work in question or does it dilute the purity of the creative process altogether? Yoshino enjoys tendering questions within questions. In YOSHI NO ZUIKARA, the author continues this nesting game through the eyes of manga-ka Naruhiko Tohno -- a man overflowing with ambition but all too short on courage.
YOSHI NO ZUIKARA lands in rural Japan, specifically a backwoods lot occupied by a bedraggled manga artist (and his over-enthusiastic assistant) as he plots his next big hit. To the man's surprise, his editor convinces him to craft a rural, slice-of-life story, not a fantasy epic, not an isekai tale, a plain 'ol boys-will-be-boys kind of story. Sure, Tohno-sensei can draw it, but will it actually sell?
The odd and hilarious quirks and peculiarities native to the brilliant and the introverted guide this manga from start to finish. Tohno struggles to obtain reference photos of the subjects he labors to draw, worries furiously over whether he's annoying the locals, and absolutely detests the fact that his new manga is actually easier and more fun to craft than anything he's done prior to now. Isn't the creative process supposed to be painful?
Readers who are themselves familiar with the maniacal push-and-pull nature of worldbuilding and assemblage of character dynamics from scratch will enjoy this manga for its blunt comedy. The best example is when Tohno, as a teenager, confesses to his parents that he's not going to college so as to pursue the life of an artist. The poor guy; his kid sister thanks him for not sucking up the family funds for her trip to a trade school, his mother immediately praises the heavens, and his beady-eyed father offers an excruciatingly (hilariously) thin smile and a thumb's up ("Dutiful son.").
Another, later example, finds humor in the many ways Tohno hates to socialize because he's terrible at it, yet he somehow scrapes by, mumbling and jittery, whenever an old friend strikes up a conversation. When a childhood buddy mentions how proud he is of Tohno, "livin' your dream [of drawing manga] like this," the thirty-something comics artist is suddenly terrified he's been inducted into the class of "well-adjusted adults" without even knowing it.
Visually, YOSHI NO ZUIKARA showcases a level precision and detail that didn't really show until Yoshino was several volumes deep into Barakamon. Footpaths are lined with layered shrubbery, hillsides near the ocean are peppered with tall grasses and craggy rock faces, and the character designs are always on-model. YOSHI NO ZUIKARA is a fairly lighthearted and undemanding comic, but the pacing and composition speak to the creative team's multitude of experience. The meta-fictional nature of this volume, a slice-of-life manga about a slice-of-life manga-ka, will surely bore the brains out of some readers, but for those interested in a technically proficient project with clever and precise humor, YOSHI NO ZUIKARA is worth a read.