The Four Immigrants Manga, by Henry Kiyama (Yoshitaki Kiyama pre-Ellis Island), translated by Frederick L. Schodt
Format: Bound collection of related, comics-form short stories. Notably, though technically a "manga," the panels read in the Western (left-to-right) order rather than the typical Eastern (right-to-left) one common even with translated manga. I am unsure whether it was always this way (as a means of the author trying to inject more of an American feel into his comic) or whether the panel order was altered for easier reading by a Western audience when the translation was done.
Content Rating: G-to-PG. Some very mild language every once in a blue moon, and a few jokes that rely on product-of-the-time racism (there's a single-panel depiction of a black woman that's a little shocking for this day and age, and all the Chinese characters, to reflect Japan's resentment towards China, speak in an exaggerated and stereotyped manner) but overall this is something you could leave around a kid's reach and not worry too much.
Plot: The intertwined tales and lives of four friends, Japanese immigrants to America, specifically early 1900s San Francisco. Taking on new American names--Fred, Frank, Charlie, and Henry (the author, self-inserted) seek--with mostly limited success--to make some sort of name for themselves in this strange new country. Frank wants to accrue wealth, Charlie wants to study how American government works, Fred desires to find a farm and become a potato baron, and Henry wishes to study art, intrigued by Western painting and drawing styles of the time. These dreams will sort of co-mingle a lot (Frank and Charlie become the two main characters, and go off on various moneymaking ventures--in fact, Charlie's mention of wanting to study American government is largely forgotten after he brings it up), and there are few happy endings--in fact, through the course of the book many dreams are given up on in pursuit of simpler lives. However, most of the characters' failures, slip-ups and misfortunes are played for comedy, in a sort of Charlie Brown manner.
Personal Thoughts: Given the way manga absolutely exploded onto the mainstream US comics shelf about a decade ago, I tend to be very, very cautious regarding it...probably overly so, and barely read any (I mean, just look at Sunday Comics so far--this is the 29th one, and out of those 29 this is only the second entry written by someone from Japan, after Tezuka's Black Jack). With such a huge market glut of the stuff and publishers of it continually rushing to get more of it onto shelves since it's "what the kids are into these days," it seems like it's often safer to assume that most of it will be bland and samey. This isn't to paint manga with a broad brush, as I love comics as an art, literary, and entertainment form first and foremost regardless of whatever its country of origin is.
That said, Four Immigrants Manga is refreshingly different from the vast majority of comics I've read (from any nation), owing largely to just how old it is--it was written roughly within the same time period it takes place in. And (if you don't mind a brief comics history lesson), since the modern-day manga scene was heavily influenced by Post-World War II Japan assimilating more Western culture (for manga in particular, taking some cues from American and European comics), you could say this is perhaps more distinctively "Older Japan," or at the very least see it as the beginning of the back-and-forth influencing in the comics of these two hemispheres since it's written by someone who was an immigrant themselves--a true fusion of Eastern and Western comics. The immigration angle also makes this comic very immersive, in a very special way, particularly in its dialogue. Kiyama originally wrote most of the dialogue in his native Japanese (which makes sense, since they are Japanese characters speaking their language to each other or thinking in it to themselves), with the bits that would actually be spoken in English (Americans and the titular immigrants when communicating with them) written in the best English Kiyama could manage at the time. For the translation, the Japanese is converted to English, which would seem like it might spoil the effect, but actually (brilliantly) works for it just as well. The dialogue originally in Japanese is typed and italicized, crisp and grammatically proper, whereas the bits in English are kept as they were--written in a rougher hand (ALL CAPS as well) and laden with grammar and spelling hiccups. This is great for really helping get the newness and discomfort of immigration across, as it illustrates exactly what it's like for trying to converse in a language you're not used to--you catch the basic words, but the larger nuances are lost. Really, the only complaint for this book/collection is that some of the joke punchlines are completely lost in the translation, leading to an occasional very odd chapter ending. The Four Immigrants Manga is recommended for those interested in comics history, history in general, and just exploring older works. I've yet to find anything else quite like it.
[Holden Out.]
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