Polen dorado

by Seiichi Hayashi

El presente volumen recopila una selección de las historias más representativas de la trayectoria de Hayashi. En ellas confluyen la estética tradicional japonesa y la sensibilidad del arte pop.

La recopilación nos ofrece un testimonio muy valioso de ese brillante momento histórico de experimentación. El nacionalismo, la Segunda Guerra Mundial y la gran influencia que Estados Unidos ejerció sobre la cultura juvenil japonesa en la década de los sesenta son el telón de fondo de su obra.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels, Japan, Short Stories, Asia, Fiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2013

About the author

Born in Manchuria in 1945, Seiichi Hayashi is a Japanese visual artist. Hayashi started his career in animation in the 60's, first working for Toei Animation, then co-founding the animation studio Knack Productions.
From 1967 on, he published comics in the alternative manga magazine Garo. His breakthrough came in 1970 with the manga Red Colored Elegy.
Hayashi was an influential figure in the Japanese avant-garde art scene of the 70's. A prolific artist, he has also worked as film and commercial director, children's book author, designer and illustrator.

Reviews

[E. G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

--Dwelling in Flowers
--Red Dragonfly
--Yamanba Lullaby
--Gold Pollen

Azami Light: Childhood Remembrances (1972) & Notes, by Seiichi Hayashi
Momoko and Manga: Seiichi Hayashi's Maternal Roots & Notes, by Ryan Holmberg
Introductions to the 4 Stories in this Collection & Notes

[Jeff Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hayashi's draftsmanship is never less than top notch - an exquisite combination of pop art, traditional Japanese design, French comix, and American funnybooks. From the unexpected layouts to the startling use of color, his visuals remain ravishing. His narratives are less exciting, sometimes overly self-absorbed and sometimes so dependent on cultural signifiers as to be opaque to Western readers. Fortunately this volume includes excellent essays that place his work in both historical and personal context. Rating rounded up for the whole package, including Picturebox's deluxe design.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting alternative manga from an artist associated with Garo, in Tokyo. The most remarkable thing about this collection of Hayashi's work here is the experimental art work. The stories are not that compelling, but the technique is fascinating with respect to its approach to story, design, color. I recommend for historical purposes, to see this creative decade of the late sixties and early seventies, and some wildly different approaches to Japanese comics vs the typical range of manga...

[Troy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hayashi demands a lot from his reader. His comics are closer to poetry than prose. He demands that you connect the dots and fill in the story. He asks you to make sense of the snippets of plot. If you're Japanese, he gives you cultural references to hang on to. If you're not Japanese, like me, then tough shit. You can work through it. You're all grown up.




My favorite comics right now teach me how to read them. I'm used to speeding through a comic. I'm used to inhaling it like water; thinking little of the artistry behind it, but enjoying the images and words all the same. Chris Ware says that comics are readable images, or that the cartoonist is writing signs. But Hayashi doesn't do that. Hayashi's images and text are dense and not always interconnected. Not only are the images and text not always connected, but often the connective tissue between two panels will be opaque.

[Neven · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s super interesting work in this collection of alternative manga, but either my cultural ignorance or something else is making it really hard to grasp what’s going on most of the time. I blame myself entirely.

[Eddie Watkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Top-notch gorgeous art but the narratives are too emo and self-absorbed for my tastes.

[rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never read his Red Colored Elegy, a story that got much love on samehat and other comix blogs across the 2000s. I picked this up and was smitten by its shameless worship of the material, all picked from the legendary Garo magazine. A nice oversized package with excellent cardstock holding an almost watercolor look in its printed pages, which again, are so nice looking they don't even look like prints. Starting from right to left presents you with 4 curious alternative comic pieces; staring from left to right grants you 2 excellent essays (one autobiographical—"Azami Light") that deepen the readers' understanding of the pictures. And that *is* the -ahem- drawing point of this collection of stories; the art is fantastic. I recommend going thru the stories once with no knowledge and then reading the essays before going back to the pieces a second time. "Dwelling In Flowers" (1972) is a story of familial disassociation and home life's ennui, and also introduces Momoko, the author's mother's character that reappears in his work and while confusing initially becomes intriguing with the knowledge the essays bring. Wonderful full colored piece. "Red Dragonfly" (1968) is a black and white piece drawn with little attention to details in the drawings but packs a punch as Hayashi tries to capture a very specific childhood trauma. "Yamanba Lullaby" (1968) is pure pulp art and stars western celebs, super heroes and Japanese battling robots. Fans of "fun" stuff like Mizuno and Sakabashira will like the amusement park ride that is this story. Its final pages go into a crimson/b&w ink fight between boy and bot.

The self titled story here is a surrealist masterpiece and even without the back story that the supplements give becomes a spiraling nightmare of Lynchian and Maruo-esque imagery. It concerns, like "Yamanba," a darker side of traditional Japanese story telling, using a minimalist approach to script and relies heavily on its complementary red/blue gorescapes of feudal Japan and its more demonic, Shinto mysticism.

The book was curated with a fervent love for the material and the research given to the essays makes a somewhat short book more succulent to the alternative manga fans (what few of us there are) and makes me eager for the Tsuge book and any other of what PictureBox is calling their "Masters of Alternative Manga" series. Sign me up.

[may · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slim volume compared to other translated collections, but worth it for it's divergent subject matter (compared to Red Colored Elegy & Red Red Rock).

This collection features works inspired by Hayashii's relationship with his mother and the traditional Japanese arts she had him practice as a child.

The highlights of the volume are the last two stories Yamanba Lullaby & Gold Pollen in which Hayashii's knowledge of eastern folklore and fine arts are displayed in a truly 'in=your=face' kind of way, mixed with his usual allusions to postwar Japan. Once again we see influences ranging from Edo period prints to the political realms of Sakae Osugi & the February 26 Incident (famous for inspiring works by Mishima & Yoshishige Yoshida), blended with western and Americanized pop culture.

The translation of Hayashii's autobiographical 'Keiko' and the essay exploring each piece's influences once again make this a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the Japanese Avant-Garde of the last century.

[Onírica · Rating 1 out of 5]

Como experimento visual y narrativo lo ha intentado, pero para mí no lo ha conseguido en absoluto.

[Ai · Rating 4 out of 5]

«Debes pagar por tu suicidio de amor» 🫀.

¡Traducid la obra de Hayashi!

[p33€3 · Rating 2 out of 5]

bastante disperso, los primeros dos capítulos me estaban encantndo, pero dsp ya pasan cosas raras y juntan ideas muy distintas n se entiende muy bien

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since reading "Red Colored Elegy," Seiichi Hayashi has been one of my favorite cartoonists. On first reading, his plots are opaque and obfuscated by shifts in time, and often narrative style. His pacing and storytelling are refreshingly fluid.

Hayashi is a master in evoking emotion and tone; feelings of isolation, monotony, and the endless minutiae of life, etc. His artwork is elegant, drawn with beautiful line economy. While "Red Colored Elegy" is drawn in black and white, "Golden Pollen" includes stories drawn in a variety of color palettes. I especially love the 1970's purply-blue manga ink.

I'll be rereading this book endlessly, when I want to be reminded of comics at their best.

[Sae-chan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can something avant-garde in the 70's be still avant-garde in 2016? Being a retard, I think it is possible for me. This work calls for a new genre altogether. Shiga, maybe? They were so poetic, so beautiful.

I read the essay after I finished reading the pictures (??). So I re-read the Akatonbo and felt so like a peeping tom, intruding a very intimate emotion between a son and a mother. It was extremely powerful. Especially with the title page taken from Momoko-san's own calligraphy. This is where all the stars here are accounted from.

Oh, maybe 4 only. The other one comes from "Reporter: Shigeru Mizuki style". I laughed for 2 days.

[P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really love the art and the translation (big fan of skeletons saying "bro"), but since many of these are very closely tied to Japanese history, legend, etc, a lot of it went over my head. There are some excellent essays in the back to help with that. So I'd say for the Japan & manga buff four-five stars, for me, it is gorgeous to look at but I'm not up to speed to really get the whole experience.

[Emilia P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ehhhhh. Artsy mid-century manga. Sometimes that's really great -- but I think this required knowing a lot more storytelling conventions and Japanese mythology kind of stuff than I did. This guy has some messed up feelings about ladies yeah? That was the point right? Uhhh k.

[David Heatley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The work of a master who blazed new trails in the 60s, but is just beginning to get the appreciation he deserves, especially in the west. The book is revelatory. Seiichi's graphic inventiveness is sui generis.

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The work of a master who blazed new trails in the 60s, but is just beginning to get the appreciation he deserves, especially in the west. The book is revelatory. Seiichi's graphic inventiveness is sui generis.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glorious, beautiful, midcentury alternative manga. Knocking off one star only because I didn't enjoy the stories in the collection as much as I did the art.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely experimental and alternative!

[Mandy E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. The art is stunning. The stories are strange and powerful.

[Kelly Dashiell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I flipped through it but couldn't get into it.

[A E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two brilliant stories and one slog. Fantastic art and the panel work asks for attention and patience.

[Hernán Vigna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
A diferencia de otros autores de Gekiga como Tsuge, Yoshihiro Tatsumi o Shin'ichi Abe, Hayashi juega más con las mitologías y lo fantástico, el Pop y la influencia del manga más tradicional e infantil aunque con un giro psicológico y oscuro centrado en la relación familiar, sobre todo la relación madre e hijo. La primera historia "Vivir entre las flores" me ha gustado mucho, con ese colorido muy de los
60´s de tonos planos primarios y onda de película Francesa. De todas las historias es la más redonda y aunque tiene huecos en su argumento, no deja de enganchar con cada viñeta algunas dignas para recortar y guardar en algún archivo personal. La "libélula Roja" sigue con la relación madre-hijo vista desde la niñez. La monotonía del paisaje se rompe por la llegada de un personaje misterioso, una sombra que quiebra la armonía del juego y los quehaceres del día, dejando una huella mental que por lo que parece arrastrará en su vida el autor. Estas historias parecen autobiográficas, su madre es una presencia habitual en su trabajo, ya sea de forma objetiva o simbólica, el amor-odio, la inestabilidad mental y la codependencia juegan un papel importante en el universo personal del autor.
"Canción de cuna para Yamanba" es la historia más eclíptica y confusa, en un estilo Tarantiniano en donde se mezcla el drama del héroe, el amor prohibido, Superman, Robots y demonios del folclor tradicional, mas lucha entre el bien y el mal en la cual el amor es el único vencedor; el final recuerda a David Y Goliat. Por último "El polem Dorado" es sin duda la historia más lograda, mezcla de todo lo anterior en un muy genial estilo Noir que empapa la historia de una atmosfera mágica y surreal, jugando nuevamente con los orígenes, la tragedia, el amor, la tristeza, y por último la transición y el descubrimiento de la vida adulta.
No es un Manga fácil, pero creo que al releerlo varias veces se van decodificando el subtexto que guarda cada historia y que las emparenta por muy distintas que sean de estilo y narrativa. Ayuda mucho la historia "el resplandor del Cardo" para entender la genealogía del pensamiento Hayashiano.

[Joe Higgins · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Japanese pioneered alternative comics with 1964's Garo Magazine. They'd appealed to adult fans of genre fiction with the Gekiga manga of the late 50s, even as French, English and Belgian cartoonists were beginning to explore genres such as detective stories and Science Fiction, but it was Garo's artists who first made comics for art's sake, aimed at a specifically adult audience. This was at a time when Stan Lee's Marvel Comics was exploring more adult themes, but only in the context of superhero fantasy.

Hayashi was one of Garo's most popular artists. He was unsurprisingly influenced by Edo period woodcuts, but also by Japanese folktales and by American Pop Art, and French Nouvelle Vague filmmaking. The stark imagery and quiet despair of the elegant cartoons speak to a time of social change in Japan, when the costs of the 'economic miracle' and long term sexism, a decade after the end of the American occupation, were beginning to create malaise.

One of the more poetic comics you'll ever read, with essay on its cultural roots in Japanese art history by Ryan Holmberg.

[Seven Pesos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful artwork. Wow. "Dwelling in Flowers" was really sad and unfortunately an all-too-common story. The other stories featured in this book are generally more fun, pop-y, and abstract. I enjoyed the mix of pop and traditional Japanese art styles, and the inclusion of Western pop-culture icons (Batman, Superman, etc) in some of the works. I really liked this collection.

[Simón Mojica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ritmos distintos y prioridades comunicativas distintas. La expresividad de las historias se beneficia mucho de la flexibilidad y sencillez del formato del cómic. Me hacen falta referentes culturales para entender a profundidad las historias, quizá algo de mitología budista o de la guerra. Espectacular la introducción “El resplandor del cardo”.

[Ángel Oreste · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bastante verborreico en lo visual. Poco comprensible tanto en cómo muestra la acción como en la propia acción mostrada. "Una rayada", pero no para bien. Alguna imagen más sugerente pero por lo general una cosa un tanto molesta.

[catita (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aaaa. Siento que este manga es como una tacita de porcelana hecha poesía. Encuentro exquisito que esta recopilación con obras de los 70 se me haga tan delicado y refrescante a la vez 🌸.
3.5/5

[juicyD · Rating 3 out of 5]

dude just talk to your mom

[Ghostcat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting reading as this is art from the seventies, I enjoyed discovering the graphic style and ideas of this era, though it was quite experimental.