Des histoires fantastiques, terrifiantes, poétiques ou bouleversantes : deux androi͏̈des victimes d'une "panne" vivent une histoire d'amour dans le même rêve, un jeune garçon trop distrait voit s'écouler une journée en l'espace de quelques minutes, un homme se retrouve prisonnier d'un rêve sans fin suite à la consommation d'une drogue étrange, etc. One shot.
Keiichi Koike (in Japanese, 小池 桂一) is a Japanese manga artist.
Born in Tokyo in 1960, Koike won the prestigious Tezuka Award in 1976, when he was 16.
His style, similar to Katsuhiro Otomo and Moebius, is marked by vivid representations of psychedelic experiences.
Drugs are an important part of his inspiration: "Except peyotl, I have tried almost everything: hashish, heroin, cocain, acid, magic mushrooms... From a strictly graphical point of view, however, LSD is most important by far..." He is best known as the author of manga Heaven's Door and Ultra Heaven.
His work was first presented to English audiences in 2016.
Wow. First, this is as experimental as Marquis de Sade running an asylum. You open it, after mesmerizing the apocalyptic cover and you jump inside Egypt, in a crazy, Moebius-esque fashion, you are warned: "Keep out!". Kids shouldn't be reading this. Chapters didn't even start and that's where the initial "wow" came from. But can you close the tankobon now? I bet not.
This is a collection of short stories, so let's go by parts.
1. Knockin' on Heaven's Door
I guess Koike really digs Moebius, I mean, just compare the drawings and the sequence in panels. Anyway, this isn't just a reference to Bob Dylan's song, but to the crazyness of the 60s, and the afterglow of the 70s. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" as a reference to the psychadelic-cult is recurrent in his other works (check: Ultra Heaven).
2. 3000 Leagues Searching For Mother
This one starts in a scenery reminiscent of Dali's paintings, or Jodorowsky's movies. You keep on reading feeling it's just surrealistic non-sense, and then *BAM* the ending comes right at you. PKD style. Amazing sci-fi, thought-provoking! 5/5
3. Lazaro Franco's Fourth Hour
This one is very relevant for Koike's full body of work, since it occurs on the universe of his early manga G (GATE 1). It's a consistent plot, with lot's of cool references (melting clock - Dali), only the visuals during tripping are not as good as in his later works.
4. The Fallen Samurai And The Sea
Really short one, also seems to be highly inspired by Moebius, and revolves around a simple gag, making fun of japanese/western interactions.
5. Loopa
Non-stereotypical story. I don't really know where Koike's going with this, it almost felt like a horror story, very psycho, but it all seems to be constructed around a strange red herring... Anyway, whatever it was, it was definitely good.
6. Kenbo's Diary
Bizarre over-the-top japanese black humour? KK's got it. It has dozens of weird jokes, as an example a kid focusing so much to answer "3+4=" that he reaches nirvana. lol.
7. Sponge Generation
Ok, back to serious business. No... wait, the world just turned into an anarchy (all the way to even the laws of nature!) because an exploit in reality was found. Hilarious sci-fi concepts like this are one of the reason why I started reading Koike. The story ends with the most surrealist concept of suicide I've ever read.
8. By Plane
A story more on the style of his main work. It was amazing, as I think he tends to loose himself a bit when the scoop of his work is too big, so in this format worked perfectly. Probably was yet his best take on spiritual issues I've read (not that much over-the-top but very thought-provoking).
9. Horizon
Crazy. Imagine the typical surrealist "follow the rabbit's hole" device, now add meta to it, make it short and intense, and voilà!
10. Landed
I wish I've understood this one, because something really interesting seems to be going on. Reminds me of Icaro (Moebius + Taniguchi).
Great collection, really enjoyed Looper and Airway especially. Really funny and engaging! -1 star for occasionally confusing (purposeful, but a bit too much for me) storylines
An astounding Avante Garde manga that gives an entirely new perception on how manga could be read and looked at. The strange yet beautiful narration of Keiichi Koike is wider from psychedelic to sentimental. Taking a huge risk of experimenting on one, it is entirely another thing to fully master it at the same time.
Es un libro que parece experimental. Es una compilación de historias sobre el "fin del mundo" o la tragedia diaria humana. Tenía sus historias muy buenas y otras que no tenían ningún interés. Lástima que se le ponga una sola nota al libro.