Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President, Book 2

Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President #5-8

by Kaiji Kawaguchi

Book Two comprises volumes 5-8. As "Junior Tuesday" primaries approach, what sort of deal is Senator Yamaoka cooking up? And how did a scarred young Japanese-American war veteran come to marry the blondest hair and bluest blood in New England?

Genres: Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels, Politics, Fiction

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Kaiji KAWAGUCHI (Japanese: 川口開治 or かわぐちかいじ) is a Japanese manga author whose works include Eagle and Zipang. Generally, his stories involve Japan and examine the moral choices that people make in extreme situations. He received the Kodansha Manga Award three times, for Actor in 1987, for The Silent Service in 1990, and for Zipang in 2002. He has also received the Shogakukan Manga Award, for A Spirit of the Sun in 2006 and Kūbo Ibuki in 2014.

Reviews

[Line Blue · Rating 4 out of 5]

La trama se vuelve más interesante en cada página.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great chapter in Eagle, the story of the making of America's first Asian-American president. Right off the bat, we get much more backstory on Senator Yamaoka in the form of flashbacks told by various characters to Takashi Jo, a Japanese reporter following the Yamaoka campaign, and Yamaoka's secret son. We see a very driven and questioning side of the Senator as he decides to enlist in the Marines and go to Vietnam, following his older brother's footsteps. We also are told the story of Yamaoka's courtship of his wife, Patricia, daughter of a very powerful bank mogul. As Yamaoka struggles to get Patricia's father's permission to marry her, we see a very interesting side of him.

Also developed in this volume are the relationships between Takashi Jo and Yamaoka's adopted daughter, Rachel, and his son, Alex. We find Alex struggling to live up to his father, and deeply desiring his approval not only as a son, but as a man. The burgeoning love story between Jo and Rachel moves forward ever so slowly, as Jo attempts to spend more time with her after their kiss at the end of volume one.

Behind the scenes, we see dealings between Senator Yamaoka and the mayor of New York City as both Yamaoka and his chief opposition, Vice President Noah (based on Al Gore), try to get the mayor on their respective sides. Seeing the author's take on not quite above-the-board political deals and agreements from a non-American perspective is something incredibly interesting and adds to the captivating flair of the story as a whole. As this chapter closes, we find Senator Yamaoka and Vice President Noah in their first debate, while Jo and Rachel face a tragedy.

Once again, this volume was a page turner. A lot of the scenes felt like they were taken straight from a television White House drama like The West Wing. Overall stronger than the first volume, and well worth the read.

[Abel · Rating 3 out of 5]

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