Eagle: La Forja de un Presidente, Vol. 1

Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President #1-4

by Kaiji Kawaguchi

Inteligentísima novela gráfica de ficción política que se ha comparado con la aclamada serie de televisión El ala Oeste de la Casa Blanca, y cuyo protagonista es un senador asiáticoamericano que decide participar en la carrera presidencial por el Partido Demócrata en las elecciones de 2000 en Estados Unidos. Para darle mayor realismo a la obra, Kawaguchi se inspiró en personalidades políticas del momento para construir a algunos de sus personajes: el presidente Bill Clydon (Bill Clinton), el vicepresidente demócrata Al Noah (Al Gore) o el asesor de campaña George Tuck (Dick Tuck). Sin embargo, y por esas casualidades de la vida, es un personaje de ficción el que parece sacado directamente de la realidad. Y es que las similitudes entre el protagonista, el senador Kenneth Yamaoka, y Barack Obama son asombrosas.

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

416 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2000

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

[Seth T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Bill Clinton, living the Republican Dream.]

You may as well know from the outset that I'm not really in any way optimistic over the American body politic. It's a system that, for everything I can see, is essentially and fundamentally broken. As nation-wide protests have asserted in the last year, a very distinct minority wields the power in a nation that teaches its children to believe in democracy. "The will of the people" is routinely dismissed by those who would purport to be its servants. And even if the desires of the general populace were taken into consideration, the 99% are too ill-informed in the realms of history, economics, strategy, and political philosophy to be able to make adequate decisions in either national or international realms. We the people are puppets to our news sources, whether liberal or conservative or international or backwoods. If we are to gain leaders who will usher us into a golden age of peace and prosperity, it will be by accident.

You may call me a bit of a cynic—and you would be correct in that estimation. So what's a guy like me doing pretty thoroughly enjoying a book like Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President: a book that in many ways is a celebration (or fetishization) of the American electoral process?

Honestly, part of it is novelty. The bare concept alone is interesting: 2264 pages following a candidate's campaign from the lead-up to the Democratic National Convention all the way through to the results of the Presidential Election—but written by a Japanese creator for a Japanese audience. Seeing how an outsider views and understands and interprets something that remains mysterious even to many Americans is a treasure of cross-cultural appreciation. When he mythologizes Texas, through heavy play on ranchers and late-night T-bones as big as your head, you can see where he's coming from. When he follows a trail into the sordid realm of labour union politics, American readers may well wonder how closely the author's original audience could relate (what with the differences in American and Japanese business ethics and practices). And when the book's candidate-of-choice, Kenneth Yamaoka, a third-gen Japanese-American senator (D-NY) is confronted by some of the racial difficulties that confronted Obama, you wonder how much it hurt to write those sentiments and how much author Kawaguchi was able to empathize with the more hateful elements he had to portray.


[Wait. Isn't the organ grinder the one in charge? If this guy doesn't like East Asians, shouldn't he be happy that Yamaoka would be this guy's puppet? Racists, man: how do they work?]

Eagle's subtitle (The Making of an Asian-American President) is interesting because you're pretty sure that Kawaguchi is giving away the whole bag of cookies at the outset. While reading, there may be some doubt in the occasional reader as to the author's destination, but as the story unfolds, presidential hopeful Yamaoka unveils to be perhaps the ultimate Mary Sue. There is no obstacle that he will not overcome—no scandal that will not either fade from memory instantly or turn out somehow to work in the anointed man's favour. It might be annoying if Yamaoka was ever really the point of the book. But he's not.


[I like how similar Kawaguchi's people style is to Katsuhiro Otomo's.]

Kawaguchi's primary interest seems almost wholly concerned with exploring what it takes to become president of the United States. And since someone is undoubtedly going to become president, for Kawaguchi's purpose, it hardly matters who. He just needs readers to willingly tag along for the ride—most likely to see just how crazy a ride it actually is. Or at least how crazy it is in a Very Dramatic reading of the quad-annual script. To that end, he offers up a bit of melodrama.

Takashi Jo is our window into Senator Yamaoka's world. Jo is an unknown journalist for the Mainichi Shimbun and is mysteriously invited to all-access coverage of the senator's campaign the day after his mother mysteriously dies in a home gas leak. This mystery plagues Jo for the story's duration, but at least part of it (the fact that Senator Yamaoka is the secret father that Jo never met) is revealed in the first thirty pages of volume 1. Then Jo falls in love with Yamaoka's daughter, but it's okay because she's his adopted daughter. Probably. As I said, a bit of melodrama.

Still, Eagle is paced like a thriller. Whether we're wondering how Yamaoka is going to gain points on his latest rival or how Jo is going to react to the latest bombshell about his life, his love, or his parents, the trip is an exciting one. I first read Eagle as it was released in America around the turn of the century, but with all the presidential campaign hoo-ha going on the last couple months, I thought I'd like to reread the book. After all, I remembered enjoying it a decade ago. When I say it's paced like a thriller, I'm not kidding. I blew through all five 400+ page volumes in two days. I may have stretched my one-hour lunch breaks to an hour and ten. I had a hard time putting Kawaguchi's book down. It's like if you took Twilight or The DaVinci Code and made them smart and interesting. Basically, Kawaguchi created something like crack in bound paper form, which makes it all the more tragic that VIZ is no longer publishing the book. Apparently, it just wasn't as popular as I believe it probably ought to be.


[I would, too. It's a good book and deserves continued circulation.]

And again, this is coming from someone who doesn't like American politics. Kawaguchi asked me (through his series) to empathize with a politician and support a candidate for a presidential election—something I traditionally have found myself unable to do. It says something that, despite my jaded perspective on the political realm, I was happy to read about Senator Yamaoka and his dreams and purpose. Basically, Kawaguchi did for politics what Mitsuru Adachi did for baseball—he got me following the game. At least for the space of his book.


[Just to prove I meant it with the promise of melodrama.

Also, you can't tell here, but Kawaguchi draws naked people funny and his women have awkward boobs. (Note: please don't be offended real people who look just like Kawaguchi's naked people.)]
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[Review courtesy of Good Ok Bad]

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eagle is a story of a third generation Japanese-American lawyer-turned-senator, Kenneth Yamaoka, running for president in the 2000 election. Yamaoka has personally invited a journalist, Takashi Jo, writer for a Japanese newspaper, to follow his campaign, for reasons unbeknownst to Jo.

I found the first volume to be rather captivating, finishing it in just a couple hours. Eagle kept me wondering what was coming next. Seeing an American election told by a Japanese author/artist was most definitely an interesting portrayal. I did, however, feel that some of the characters reflected more Japanese characteristics rather than your "average American", although it's easily overlooked. I also found the introduction of a romantic interest for Jo was somewhat unnecessary.

Overall, I enjoyed this volume. Will be picking up the second volume to continue the story.

[Jeremy Bautista · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I saw this on my friend's desk at work, I knew I had to read it. The words, "Asian American President" really stuck out. I mean, it's more than half the title. And normally, I'm okay with a great story that simply has Asian American representation, but here, my expectations were a little more specific.

I'll start by saying I think this is a great story about the brains and gears that run a political campaign. As one who used to enjoy observing politics (I'm from Chicago where politics is bloodsport), this is a pretty cool story. But because it's billed as an Asian American story, I felt like that aspect was missing. Maybe it's in Volume 2, but this story could have easily swapped "Japanese" with "Italian" or "English" and the core of the story would remain the same. This is not a deal breaker. I will read Volume 2. But this time, I'll keep my expectations limited to the political rather than expanding it to the cultural exploration of Asian American in the 2000's.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow

[Abel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesante comienzo. Muy bien contado. Quedé con ganas de seguir la historia