Click your way to the Drawn & Quarterly blog, where you’ll find a brief but tantalizing preview of Shigeru Mizuki’s NonNonBa. This semi-autobiographical manga details Mizuki’s relationship with his grandmother, who introduced him to the topic that would become his life’s work: yokai. NonNonBa is also a coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of Japanese imperial expansion, as Shige and his friends get swept up in the nationalist fervor of the 1930s while coping with the normal ups and downs of childhood.
D&Q’s preview features a more fanciful episode from NonNonBa, in which Shige encounters a suiko, or water tiger:
Brief as the preview may be — it’s a mere eight pages — the artwork is arresting and imaginative, drawing readers into Mizuki’s childhood fantasy world. The only downside to visiting the D&Q blog: the preview may make you impatient for NonNonBa‘s release, which Amazon lists as March 27th. Sixty-three days and counting…
I read ‘Nonnonba’ some time ago and it disappointed me. Although there are some really good moments (such as the last chapter of the first part), I wouldn’t considerate it a masterpiece, as many people do.
Maybe it’s just I can’t appreciate Mizuki’s works. I didn’t like a lot the other two comics by him I read: ‘Gegege no Kitaro’ #1 and ‘Gekiga Hitler’. In fact, I prefer ‘Nonnonba’ to them.
Hi, Sara! Though there are many folks praising NonNonBa, you’re definitely not alone in your assessment of Shigeru Mizuki. When NonNonBa won the Angouleme prize for Best Album in 2007, some Western commentators were baffled. (Click here for one such appraisal.)
I liked the small amount of GeGeGe no Kitaro that I was able to find in English, so I’m cautiously optimistic about NonNonBa. Then again, I’m very interested in the way that Japanese folklore manifests itself in manga, so that definitely colors my opinion of Mizuki’s oeuvre. We’ll see how I feel about Mizuki after I read NonNonBa!
Hi Kate! Thanks for the information. That guy has a worse opinion than mine about this manga.
I believe that if you’re interested in yôkai and you liked ‘Kitaro’, you’ll love ‘Nonnonba’
Even I’ve been a manga fan for many years and I think Japanese culture is curious, I’m not passionate about that subject. Another think that influences me in not enjoying at 100% Mizuki’s works is the kind of narration. I mean: it’s not complicated or something; I just find that his so squared panels are really boring. Nothing to see with Tezuka or Ishinomori.