Express different points of view through a comic story (manga)

Oita Godo Newspaper (morning edition on January 20, 2008)

 “Can’t communicate”, “can’t understand”, “the world we are seeing is different”, people in some time feel like these with someone in their lives.  How about a comic book? How can these differences be written?

TSUDA Masami, an author of a hit comic book “Circumstances of His and Hers”’, has released a new story called “eensy-Weensy Monster”. It presents about differences in the world which are seen by a boy and a girl who have different opinions.

In the same situation, the girl may think in a way whereas the boy thinks in another according to their backgrounds, and characters. The author makes use of this point and expresses those two people’s dissimilar understanding as well as feeling in a comic style excellently.

Readers will not see the situation from a third person’s point of view, but rather see and comprehend as they are both the boy and the girl.

The most important main idea of this comic is the more we change our views, the more diverse things in the world we can see. “Not to be narrow-minded, try hard to appreciate others” may be the message the author Tsuda wants to share with us.

I might not a real fan of Japanese comic books, yet I have read some interesting ones. A lot of Japanese comic writers can create fantastic stories with excitement, romance, sadness, morals, etc. mixed in suitable balances. As well as this one, I will find a chance to read it sometimes in order to learn to understand other people’s thoughts better.

PUNTHUCHAT Siripun

Thailand

APS2, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University