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From Kobe

神戸在住

• by Kimura Kon
• ran in Afternoon

Ten volumes.
This book is so radically different from anything else out there that it is a bit difficult to describe the appeal of it. The closest parallel I can think of it Eddie Campbell's Alec books. From Kobe is about an art student in Kobe, and her life and friends. Very organic storytelling, a chunk of conversation here, followed by a related anecdote over here, followed by a rather nice walk home...

The art is, at first glance, little more than stick figures, but the more you read the book the more you appreciate just how effective it is. Little gestures and expressions are all captured perfectly, as are the speech patterns, which really makes the characters come alive. Often dangerously funny (when you laugh so hard you can't breathe) but there are several occasions where things take a more serious turn, such as the lengthy section on the Kobe earthquake in volume three. And the storytelling is dense -- volume eight took four hours to read! And I read fast!

But it will never come out in English. Good as it is, the layout alone makes it impossible to adapt (the handwritten narration is in single vertical lines between panels) and the dizzying range of dialects require a translator and rewriter who are experts on Japanese and English dialects respectively. Perhaps if you actually got Eddie Campbell to do the rewrite...