Breakdown Press Red Night.

by Hanawa Kazuichi, Akasegawa Genpei (Foreword), Ryan Holmberg (Translator)

“Hanawa’s comics, while linked intimately to the very foundations of culture and education, are imbued with the reality of nonsense.” - Akasegawa Genpei

Breakdown Press is honoured to publish another classic of underground manga in the shape of Red Night by Hanawa Kazuichi. A wild entry into a violent world of obsession, madness and the perversity of the gods. In Hanawa’s work cruelty and decadence go hand in hand, and desire is accompanied by a macabre twist.

Hanawa Kazuichi is one of the true pioneers of manga - his trailblazing work in erotic grotesquerie and folk horror has made him one of Japan’s most revered and imitated mangaka. Since his debut in the legendary alt manga magazine Garo in 1971, Hanawa has been skewering the morals of Japanese society through chilling tales of debauched medieval aristocracy, many of which are collected in this volume. First published in 1985, Red Night was Hanawa’s breakout book in Japan. This translation of the expanded edition is his first collection in English since his 2006 manga Doing Time, about the artist’s imprisonment for illegal possession of a firearm.

Genres: Manga, Horror, Comics, Short Stories

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Red Night is the English translation of a collection of short comics from Hanawa Kazuichi, spanning from 1971-86. A total of 16 comics are collected in this edition, most of which were originally published in issues of Garo and the remainder coming from various erotic/smut magazines. This marks the second major work from Hanawa translated into English, following the release of Doing Time (Fanfare/Ponent Mon, 2004), a book that recounts Hanawa's time serving a prison sentence for illegal firearm possession. Doing Time served to be an insightful description of the Japanese penal system, which a more western audience could find particularly engaging for just how contrasting the systems were. But most importantly - with respect to this review of Red Night - is that Hanawa's work for Doing Time was fully autobiographical and as such, realistic and descriptive work. The stories in Red Night are not at all comparable in any meaningful way.

There is very little contextualization of the various short comics found in this collection. A 1977 essay from the mangaka Akasegawa Genpai entitled "Hanawa Kazuichi, the Subtractive Realist", is the only supplementary material here. Cryptic for most of its length, Akasegawa lingers prominently on the meaning of Hanawa's name and how it relates to the style of comics he makes. But the salient point comes in Akasegawa's concluding remarks: "Hanawa's comics, while linked intimately to the very foundations of culture and education, are imbued with the reality of nonsense." It's the most apt descriptor of the comics found within Red Night. Very little can prepare the reader for the disturbing whimsy that is Hanawa's vision, even if they did encounter that one strange piece from Comics Underground Japan.

The sixteen pieces here are incredibly weird stories, no way around that. Familiar premises/backdrops begin most of the stories - burdened and often abused women, neglected children, dishonored and gutless men - all familiar enough within the context of the post-war gekiga landscape. The underlying horror of these stories, reflective of the realities of a harsh existence, are subsequently undercut by a dark whimsy and sometimes, humor, cultivating a disorienting sensation. Reflective of this is the second story in the collection, "Homecoming", which follows a woman who prays for her husband's safe return from war. But when he does return, his form is simultaneously sad yet nonsensical. Ending with a bizarre twist, one can only walk away from the story perplexed by what the point of the story even was.

Violence and perversion go hand-in-hand here as well, with stories like "Red Night", "Heinous Beast", and "The Priceless Jewel" fulfilling the norms of classic ero guro. It's interesting that there has been a recent surge in English translations of this kind of work (following the recent Bubbles publication of Suehiro Maruo's Beautiful Monster), but I'm glad that these smaller publishers are taking the chance with getting rarer works published. Despite the often exploitative nature of these kinds of comics, Hanawa's enigmatic storytelling adds a layer of style that other comparable cartoonists often struggle to imbue into theirs. The use of guts, blood and sex feels pointed and directed towards contextualizing realities as seen through Hanawa's understanding, and it works well enough. It's also a little interesting that most of the stories here are somewhat period pieces, as if Hanawa is less invested in romanticizing Japanese history and instead concluding that societal challenges remain largely the same.

What is going to be striking to any reader who picks up this collection is Hanawa's fine line art style. Delicate and precise, the designs are reflective of Hanawa's eagerness to capture realistic proportions and features in his characters. The use of photo collaging is used sparingly as well, but exceedingly effective at crafting the setting as needed. Though a lot of the panels feature some disturbing sequences, there exists sufficient restraint to Hanawa's aesthetic to not find it all too overwhelming.

[Przemysław Skoczyński · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zbiór krótkich opowiadań Hanawy z lat 70. i 80., w większości pierwotnie publikowanych w magazynie „Garo”. Można je chyba śmiało zakwalifikować do kategorii horroru, choć specyfika kultury japońskiej każe momentami przecierać oczy ze zdumienia, a sam autor lubi bawić się z czytelnikiem niedopowiedzeniami czy zaskakującymi pointami. Skala dziwności bywa naprawdę wysoka, a rzeczywistość pokazana w sposób surowy i okrutny. Elementy magiczne są zawsze upiorne i sąsiadują z perwersyjną erotyką. Bardzo ciekawa rzecz, szczególnie dla tych, których kręcą te bardziej odjechane pozycje w historii mangi, jakie powoli, lecz skutecznie przybliża anglojęzycznemu czytelnikowi m.in. „Breakdown Press”.

Sporo tu realistycznych teł i szczegółów, choć momentami ustępują bardziej oszczędnej kresce (sam autor nie kryje inspiracji twórczością Yoshiharu Tsuge) czy wręcz stylizacji na dziecięcą kreskówkę.

Dla fanów alternatywnej mangi z poprzednich dekad - rzecz bezcenna