The Troublemakers

by Baron Yoshimoto, Ryan Holmberg (Translator), バロン 吉元

A collection of some of the best stories by Baron Yoshimoto, one of the seminal Japanese manga artists who helped develop the graphic novel form in the 1960s and 1970s by targeting an older audience with scintillating and exquisitely drawn stories. The stories included are "Eriko's Happiness", "High School Brawler Ditty", "Dirt Bag", "One Stripper's Gambling Life", "Homesick", "The Girl and the Black G.I.".

Genres: Manga, Comics, Fiction, Short Stories

248 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2018

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baron Yoshimoto was a seventies mangaka, focused on a young, adult male audience, or gekiga. Part of a group of doing realist, black and white, working class stories, such as Tsuge Tadao's Trash Market, or Masahiko Matsumoto’s Cigarette Girl. One story, “High School Brawler,” seems to fit with those rough stories. But some of Yoshimoto’s stories might be described as “racy,” such as "Eriko's Happiness", where a poor eighteen year old girl is one of three girls “kept” by a wealthy businessmen, who sees her and treats her lavishly like a (kind of) queen for two hours a day, thus constituting her “happiness.” Or “One Stripper’s Gambling Life.” Not really explicit, but suggestive of life “in the gutter,” dealing with women and sex.

Some deal with racism such as “The Girl and the Black G.I.” Another deals pretty directly with anti-Korean feelings in Japan.

Editor and translator Ryan Holmberg’s essay is excellent, to help you see the manga of the times, and how some of it began to turn grittier and even more lurid in the seventies. Again, these comics were not widely available in English translation until Retrofit re-released them.

[Robert Boyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was wondering what would come of Ryan Holmberg's series of historic manga reprints after his previous publisher closed down. Retrofit has taken up the mantle. Baron Yoshimoto was a manga artist from the 70s whose work was aimed at young men. The stories here are fairly lurid (for example, the first features a 45-year old executive and his high school girl sugar baby--one of three young girlfriends he has), but Holmberg's excellent introduction places Yoshimoto in context--how gekiga evolved into fairly nasty comics for young men by the 70s. Yoshimoto deals frankly with issues of racism and anti-Korean feeling in Japan--the latter is discussed in depth in Holmberg's introduction.

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gekiga manga from the 1960’s and 70s. I haven’t read a lot of manga during my 45 years of comics reading but I liked this collection. It was expertly drawn. The stories were aimed at young men and explore topics of war, sex, addiction, and violence.

Without a doubt my favourite story was “ Insect” that had an incredibly hellish finale. High praise for Retrofit/ Big Planet for another stellar book. I can’t wait for their remaining 10 books from the 2018 Kickstarter.

[Derek Royal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely stunning! The stories, taken together, give you fine sense of the work and style of Baron Yoshimoto (I'm assuming). It's difficult to say which are my favorites, although I do have those. It's sad that this is the only Yoshimoto translated into English. I do hope English speakers see future volumes of this mangaka. And the essay by the editor, Ryan Holmberg, is, in many ways, the topper of this collection. Historical and context-setting, and it's scholarly without being "academic." Holmberg has done a lot to bring English readers translations of gekiga, and to that, we should be thankful.

[Przemysław Skoczyński · Rating 4 out of 5]

Świetny zbiór opowiadań słynnego mangaki, zawierający prace z lat 60. i 70. Yoshimoto - tak jak choćby bracia Tsuge - mówi o ważnych kwestiach społecznych, ale to nie przyćmiewa dobrych i często zaskakujących fabuł. Jego seinen-manga kierowana do dorosłego (choć wciąż młodego) czytelnika, nie jest wolna od charakterystycznych dla epoki uprzedzeń czy, z dzisiejszej perspektywy, trudno akceptowalnych motywów seksistowskich. Warto jednak dodać, że w założeniu były to zazwyczaj satyry, a autor był tak naprawdę postępowcem, wstawiając się np. za Koreańczykami traktowanymi w Japonii lat 50 i 60 jak gatunek podrzędny, czy pogardzanymi na wzór amerykański Afroamerykanami. Jednocześnie manga Yoshimoto jest łatwiej przyswajalna dla czytelnika spoza jej kręgu kulturowego niż bardziej alternatywne odłamy tej sztuki. Dynamika, oszczędne dialogi i bardzo precyzyjna kreska sprawiają, że całość się po prostu chłonie. Dość powiedzieć, że ostatnie zamieszczone tu opowiadanie - "The Girl and the Black Soldier" - garściami czerpie z ówczesnych Marvelowych wzorców.

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stunningly illustrated, these stories are also surprisingly progressive for their era and context, though their anti-prejudice message occasionally gets lost or muddled along the way. Nevertheless, a fascinating insight into 70s Japanese culture.

[Yuri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall an interesting collection by an author I was unfamiliar with. The drawings are much more detailed and in a different style than the other well known gekiga artists translated into English. While many of the stories are more straightforward than some of the Kafkaesque works by say the Tsuge brothers, they do have some more unique viewpoints, for the most part eschewing the overt misogyny that can be quite common in these kinds of works from the time period.

The works also take a look at different forms of discrimination, whether it’s against African Americans in Europe, Koreans in Japan or those of lower social standings. The two standout stories are “Insect” which follows a young impoverished man who is constantly beaten down by life before snapping and “Nostalgia” which is centered around a Zainichi who paints in his free time and becomes infatuated with a young woman. These two stories are less straight forward and even veer a bit into philosophical musings about the meaning of life, finding a homeland and overcoming life’s circumstances.

The explanatory essay at the end by Ryan Holmberg is as always fantastic and in this case focuses extensively on the creator, his background, and his career. The stories are explored but in less depth than in some other essays he has done. Despite this, I found it really interesting hearing about Yoshimoto’s rather unique character, his political and social convictions and how they played out while producing work under economic realities and a culturally conservative, and at times, racist and misogynistic culture. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for more work by Baron Yoshimoto to come out in English in the future.

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Six fantastic stories by seminal gekiga artist Baron Yoshimoto ranging from different points in his career. Most of the stories are dripping in dramatic irony, which is evident even in his earliest comics. The stories collected in The Troublemakers are meant to feel realistic situations, mostly on working class individuals. Some of them, like "High School Brawler Ditty" involve organized crime, while other stories like "Eriko's Happiness" and "One Stripper's Gambling Life" are a little racier. The earliest story in the collection, "The Girl and the Black Soldier", is the only deviation from telling stories about (mostly at the time) contemporary Japan, and instead follows a Black American soldier during the Nazi occupation of France. The social commentary is always evident in each of Yoshimoto's stories, and while they may lack the subtlety of more current comics, they were pretty well realized for their time. As always, any gekiga collection containing a Ryan Holmberg essay contextualizing the work is a must read as well. A splendid collection overall, and I can see myself revisiting this from time to time.

[Wombo Combo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed this. This really felt like a japanese Frank Miller comic, with some Kirby influence. There's nothing really fantastical about it, but the art and writing do have a kind of cartoon-ish style that causes the stories to feel more fun than you'd expect from stories about such seedy things.

All of the stories were solid, but I was particularly fond of how over-the-top "High School Brawler's Ditty" was, and I really loved "The Girl and The Black Soldier."

Despite the fact these stories are over forty years old, none of them really felt dated to me. Really, this is something that should probably be more popular than it currently is.

[André Habet · Rating 3 out of 5]

wish i had read the intro before reading these. the context of when these stories were released both in manga publication, and Japanese post-war history, really gave some solid insight. without it, the misogyny and racism are glaring and critiqued in counterintuitive ways.

skip and buy a book by a contemporary Japanese or Korean woman (including Korean because one of the stories attempts to a thoughtful portrayal of Korean immigrants in Japan).

[David Macpherson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am unfamiliar with manga and so this was a wild dip into a culture and style I am not used to. Some of the stoories were kind of sexist anbut that was the time. One of the stories about the way koreans were treated in Japan was amazing. The essay in the end put all the stoires in context and was really informative. Oh yeah, the art was stunning

[Erik Wirfs-Brock · Rating 4 out of 5]

If Ryan Holmberg wants to translate it, manga fans should buy it! (to give a little more depth- this is a collection of socially concious, slightly sleazy comics meant for young men dating from the late 60s and early 70s-fun stuff if not mind exactly blowing).

[Rob McMonigal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Manga is so varied and it's always awesome when we get some of the comics around the edges reprinted. These stories are raw, and sometimes hard to read, but it's so great to know they exist and get a chance to experience them.

[Comics Alternative · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://comicsalternative.com/manga-re...

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty dark stories. Felt a little flat at times, or else the ending "resolutions" didn't click for me. I liked the art a lot. I would like to try reading more from this author!