Asadora!, Vol. 4

あさドラ! [Asadora!] #4

by Naoki Urasawa

Asa reluctantly agrees to accompany Yone to an audition at an entertainment agency. However, before they can leave, Mr. Jissoji shows up with news—the mysterious creature has been spotted! With Kasuga nowhere to be found, Asa prepares to take flight to identify the creature. But before she can, Nakaido runs in claiming to have found its weakness, earning himself a seat in Asa’s plane as they take to the skies.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Seinen, Historical Fiction, Fiction

184 pages, Paperback

First published August 28, 2020

About the author

Urasawa Naoki (浦沢直樹) is a Japanese mangaka. He is perhaps best known for Monster (which drew praise from Junot Díaz, the 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner) and 20th Century Boys.

Urasawa's work often concentrates on intricate plotting, interweaving narratives, a deep focus on character development and psychological complexity. Urasawa has won the Shogakukan Manga Award, the Japan Media Arts Festival excellence award, the Kodansha Manga Award and the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. In 2008 Urasawa accepted a guest teaching post at Nagoya Zokei University.

Series list (not including short stories collections):
- Pineapple ARMY (パイナップルARMY) 1985-1988, written by Kazuya Kudo;
- YAWARA! 1986-1993;
- Master Keaton (MASTERキートン) 1988-1994, written by Hokusei Katsushika;
- Happy! 1993-1999
- MONSTER 1994-2001
- 20th Century Boys (20世紀少年) 1999-2006
- 21st Century Boys (21世紀少年) 2007
- PLUTO 2003-2009, based on Tezuka Osamu's Tetsuwan Atom
- BILLY BAT 2008-2016
- Master Keaton Remaster (MASTERキートン Reマスター) 2012-2014
- Mujirushi (夢印-MUJIRUSHI-) 2017-2018, collaboration with Musée du Louvre
- Asadora! (連続漫画小説 あさドラ!) 2018-ongoing

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a moderate slowdown in the previous volume Asadora! is back on track as the monster appears off Enoshima Light, swamping a fishing vessel. That means that the government is in a panic to mobilize, especially since the opening ceremonies of the Olympics are a mere 24 hours away.

A lot of things come close to reaching their zenith in this volume, which is a welcome change from volume three, and they should make for a crowded volume five. Asa takes off with the young scientist at night to see the monster, her mentor pursues a reporter who has been taking photos of Asa and the plane thinking they're anarchists, the youngest brother gets sick, Yone's big break into showbiz is looking super duper shady, and Miyako, following after her, is taken by some ubiquitous manga thugs. Only so many of these things can be counted on to come out okay next time, which feels like a metaphor for the shifts the world was going through in the 1960s. Nothing that held true before WWII could really be counted on anymore, and understanding that the safe world of before is gone feels like the underlying theme of the volume.

As metaphors for the 60s go, it's a pretty good one. But I think it's going to take more than peace and love to get everyone through the next book intact.

[Jenny Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This continues to be a great series! Asa is trying to balance her life between her siblings, her friends and her new job of being a pilot on call for if "that thing" shows up. We get a plot of Yone and Miyako as well, and I'm not sure either will turn out well. All three of these end on a cliffhanger, making me glad I have the next volume.
I also love the found family with Kinuyo and
Kasuga, it shows how people can change.
Check out my YouTube channel for bookish videos and monthly wrap ups!

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

A towed car, a silly car chase, a sick kid, and a questionable talent audition are among the little distractions that clutter the road to a big confrontation. It's a little weird to see Urasawa try to inject so much humor into one of his series when he is usually so deadly serious.

[Anna Quilter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really have no idea where this series is leading me 😃 but as it's Urasawa I'm just happy to be along for the ride

[Kesa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continues on being intriguing but what worries me are Asa's two best friends Miyako and Yone. The audition at Akasaka is suspicious ...

Will Asa and Keiichi Nakaido succeed in eradicating "that"? Also the question arises on what "that's" weakness is.

[Emi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cada vez más emocionante!

[Tom Ewing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewing this particular volume because it’s such a beautiful bit of choreography, a runaround in which the actual storyline creeps forward by an inch at best but Urasawa is spinning his character plates so confidently you hardly care.

It’s the day before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, it’s pissing with rain, and what should have appeared somewhere off the coast but the kaiju from Vol 1. Time for Asadora to take to the skies and find out more about it, right? Well, eventually, but first there’s a day of chaotic farce involving her younger siblings, starstruck friends, a snooping journalist and a secret agent’s impounded car. It could be frustrating, but the pacing and deft scene switching turn it into a joy - the opening sequence with Asa trying to get her siblings ready for school is particularly delightful. As usual with Urasawa there’s a marvellous sense of time and place - the hopes and hustles of an early 60s city with a ton of period detail.

If anything, he gets you too invested in the subplots for his own good - by the final chapter of this volume, the drama of Ada’s flight into danger was fully overshadowed by the much less fantastical peril the book leaves her two naive friends in. You never quite know what you’ll get next in a Urasawa manga but 4 volumes in this feels like a tighter and more effective work than the deranged ambition of Billy Bat.

[Fetch · Rating 4 out of 5]

“professor Yodegawa, always used to say…
10 meters from here…
a reality that defies all common sense could be waiting for you.
and for that reason alone you will be forced to walk though the jungle for a long time.”

questo volume è stato il più difficile da leggere ma anche il più interessante.
sono presenti molti avvenimenti.
piano piano le cose stanno prendendo il via.
mi chiedo solo se ci sia solamente questa macro avventura, sinceramente.
sto anche rivalutando il personaggio di Asadora, speriamo bene (l’unica costante è kinuyo-san)

[Ignacio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Urasawa demuestra su buena mano para el thriller en un tomo en el cual el argumento prácticamente no avanza pero intercala, con vigor, varias tramas paralelas que desarrollan los personajes.

[Matty Dub · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best volume yet! Things come to a head as the creature appears on the eve of the Olympics. Great page turner with stunning art by Urasawa!

[Keiko, the manga enthusiast ♒︎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE THING APPEARED!!!! We're so ready now for the anticipated action time (even without Kasuga :<)

[Doc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rise creature. RISE!

With the Japanese hosted Olympic games not far away Kasuga and Asa are ready for their secret mission to scout the monster which has been showing often enough to become noticed by the locals. Their sponsors will do whatever it takes to save Japan from this potential threat posed by the giant creature that took away a majority of Asa's family when she was very young and flew for the first time. In the mean time Asa is dealing with not only family but also school problems and Kasuga discovers someone has broken into the hanger so he prepares a little surprise for the journalist turned hanger invader. What more I find myself worried for Asa's pop idol crazy fans with one being "scouted" by an agent and the second dealing with some louts while she was trying to figure out what the other was up to. I'll just have to wait to see if everything will turn out all right as the mission begins in full.

[ribbonknight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything’s starting to come together here, where storylines that hadn’t seemed to connect to the main one (except through characters) are shown to be directly related.

Asa takes charge in a crisis, and you can’t help but feel pride when so many side characters step up, too. The central conceit is fantastical, but there are so many historical details and everyone’s human reactions are so realistic that it remains a moving thriller. Everything is mundane, until it isn’t.

Urasawa is the undisputed master, and this still isn’t even the climax of the story!

[Emmett Budisalovich]

I think it had a lot more shady and cool work behind the seen they were planning something that would be beneficial if it works they would be saying that we want piece wail trying to defeat a creature.

[Keneil B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need 5, ASAP!

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Story feels somehow tighter and better. I really like where this is going.

[Lightwhisper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uno más tan bueno de dibujo y historia!

[Jelka · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was exciting start to finish. Read it in one sitting.

[Met · Rating 2 out of 5]

Forse è la volta buona che si smuove un po’ la trama... ma solo io mi sto annoiando?

[Marc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grosse montée en tension tout au long du tome, ça fonctionne très bien.

[Lia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ahhh, I hate the cliffhanger ending. I want the next volume!

[Matthew Vickers · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[kuusela harry-pekka · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real tension builder, like a real time thriller.

[Care · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm getting slightly fatigued on how the "mystery antagonist" is being teased without finding out much each volume. That being said, I'm still loving the tension and intrigue in this series.

[Baylor Heath · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most exciting volume since the first. The long exposition has ramped up into the moment we’ve been waiting for.

[Mark Schlatter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m surprised how many types of stories Urasawa wants to tell here (and at least one subplot isn’t addressed in this volume). There’s some merging of the threads and one big appearance moving everything forward, but I am finding the inclusion of the “girl pop star audition” plotline somewhat confusing.

[April Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume turns things up a notch, both in the slice of life parts and the secret kaiju chasers bits! A big storm has arrived, drenching the area in rain. Yone, one of Asa's friends, comes to Asa's house one morning to ask Asa to go to an audition with her. Asa can't go, she has to be ready to fly in case the monster appears, but she can't tell her friend that. As they hurry off to school, A-Kura, the bodyguard, is waiting outside; it seems he got a parking violation and his car has been towed, cutting off his communication. The girls go on their way, and A-Kura hears a camera nearby, but can't tell who it might have been. At the airport, Kasuga discovered signs of a break-in at their hanger, and finds a space close by being rented by a newspaper reporter who has been spying on them. When the reporter shows up, Kasuga confronts him, demanding his camera and film, along with all the photos he's taken. A car chase ensues, ending in an accident that ties up Kasuga, keeping him unavailable. Meanwhile, there's been another sighting near the Enoshima lighthouse- the time has come! Asa is collected at school and is about to fly the plane herself, when the research assistant arrives with important information about the monster, and volunteers to fly with her. What will they see out there in the storm?
In the slice of life parts of the story, we have drama between Asa and her two friends, each asking Asa to keep an eye on the other- one is doing secret things, the other knows something's up and wants to know what it is. With Asa distracted, Yone goes to her audition alone, and the other friend (I can't remember her name) follows her, and sees her meeting a man in a cafe. She accidentally bumps into a couple of guys, who become menacing when she knocks them over. We're left worrying about both girls in another city, involved with sketchy men who are likely up to no good, and no lie, I'm more worried about them than the monster right now. Where's Volume 5? I need to know what happens!

#AsadoraVol4 #NetGalley

[Emil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Volume 1 started off amazingly well, and was one of the best single comics I've read. Volumes 2 and 3 slowed down a bit as Urasawa moved his pieces into place, but they were still excellent books. Now in Volume 4 the pace and the suspense pick up again dramatically. I'm in awe of every page of this series, so much that it's almost distracting. To me it seems Urasawa's genius lies in his ability to combine disparate influences into a unified whole, and to keep flawless control over every element of his story. He combines various types of realism with cartoonish exaggeration on every page, and somehow it all works. I've read other graphic novels that use ultra-realistic settings inhabited by characters who are basically cartoons, and it often feels like the characters just don't belong -- it's kind of a Roger Rabbit situation in most cases. In that movie it worked because the mismatch was the point; it was the source of the humor. But it rarely works that well. But with Asadora! it works perfectly -- somehow the characters all truly inhabit the world we see them living in. They all feel like real people, and Urasawa makes us want to know more about them, even when they're creepy or mean. Paradoxically his cartoon faces seem to enhance the story's realism rather than detracting from it.

I'm excited to see where this goes. But it will surely end up being around 15 or 20 volumes, and if they keep on being published at the rate of 1 or 2 a year, I may up in retirement before the end of the story. But I will definitely keep following to the end, no matter how long it takes. If Urasawa keeps the promises he's already made in these early volumes, and maintains this level of quality to the end, then there's no question Asadora! will come to be known as a classic.

[Gigli · Rating 5 out of 5]

»»» A compra:
Tal como o anterior, veio com o subsídio de Natal via amazon.es por ser o mais barato na altura, mas veio com muito amor e carinho.

»»» A aventura:
Asa tinha combinado com uma das melhores amigas acompanhá-la a um encontro com um diretor discográfico, que a amiga acha poder lançá-la no mundo da música, mas acaba por a deixar porque é convocada para entrar em cena na proteção do Japão… uma base militar no meio do mar acabou de reportar movimentos estranhos na água.
Asa acaba a ter que levantar voo por si porque Kasuga desapareceu em perseguição de um repórter metediço que pode expor toda a operação de segurança do país e os jogos olímpicos.
No entanto, ela não vai sozinha, a acompanhá-la está o estagiário cientista que pesquisava as pistas que podem dar resposta sobre o monstro que Asa viu em tempos e que pode estar agora a caminho, ele estará lá para a ajudar a identificar misteriosa ameaça.

»»» Sentimento final:
Mais um volume de tirar o fôlego.
Entre a coragem e honra de Kasuga, a coragem, camaradagem e audácia de Asa, o medo de voar do jovem cientista, o incómodo da amiga de Asa às mãos do produtor discográfico e a entrega inesperada do agente do Governo encarregue de vigiar Asa e Kasuga tudo é inebriante e fantástico.
Fui a correr comprar o volume seguinte.

»»» Nota final (capa e outras considerações):
--- [Capa] – Mais uma excelente capa.
--- [Ilustração] – Sublime como sempre.

»»» Uma espreitadela:

[Alessandro Parisi]

Asa convince Yone a tornare a scuola e, lungo il tragitto, incontrano Akura. Quest’ultima riferisce di aver sentito il clic di un otturatore fotografico, come se qualcuno le stesse spiando.

Nel frattempo, Haruo si reca dal fotografo-giornalista responsabile degli scatti e lo minaccia per impedirgli di diffondere le immagini, che includono anche prove compromettenti riguardo ai lanciatori montati sugli aerei. L’uomo fugge, ma durante la fuga investe un passante. Haruo decide di assumersi la responsabilità dell’incidente in cambio delle prove legate alle attività in aeroporto.

Parallelamente, Miyako è determinata a scoprire cosa si cela dietro il comportamento enigmatico di Yone. Quest’ultima deve sostenere un provino, e Asa dovrebbe accompagnarla, ma viene convocata all’improvviso dai servizi segreti. Miyako allora decide di seguire Yone di nascosto, ma finisce nei guai a causa di due uomini molesti.

Il provino ha esito positivo: l’uomo dell’agenzia promette a Yone una visita allo studio dove si esibiscono le Peanuts.

Asa, nel frattempo, riesce a organizzarsi anche per l’uscita da scuola del fratellino. Viene poi raggiunta da Kaido, che sostiene di conoscere il punto debole della “cosa”. Successivamente, Kinuyo scopre che Koushichi non è stato riportato a casa da Asa.

Costretta a intervenire, Asa parte per un volo di ricognizione per localizzare il mostro, evitando accuratamente qualsiasi scontro che potrebbe provocare uno scandalo mediatico e compromettere il successo delle Olimpiadi giapponesi. Kaido decide di partire con lei. Ed è così che, per la prima volta, i due vedono un mostro con i propri occhi…