A mouthful of a title, but an oh-so-spectacular read. Hit the jump for more.

I did recall a few months ago that it took me across the lesser parts of British Columbia in search of this book. It was from a French bookstore whose name I could not recall that I finally managed to scrounge it up for a good price of 13 bucks. How I heard of this book? I do not know. From browsing around Amazon for book deals, to some random blog or two; it doesn’t really matter. What matters is, whether you are fond of the medium of “Manga” (or Japanimation Comics to the ill-informed) or not, I can heartily recommend this to anyone. And for those who have the book, share it for others to read, for chrissakes!

Town is divided into two stories. One follows the tale of a seamstress trying to live her life normally, while the other is about the friendship between Nanami Ishikawa and Toko. Both share the common theme of the Hiroshima aftermath. Although not as morbid as Grave Of The Fireflies, which also dealt with hardships during this dark era, Town will tug a few strings and hits you subtlely with its profounding sense of the rat-bastard element we call “reality” and “life”.

The art eludes both “simple” and “detailed” into a weird oxymoron of sorts. When needed, the backgrounds and props are drawn in such detail that you need not visualize the Japan of old, but just revel through it in its art. All the outdoor scenes in the pages are breathtaking, with the leaves of the sakura tree falling away while the characters enjoy their moments of bliss. Character emotions are portrayed in simple caricatures, but they get the job done. Given its art and narrative, it is not surprising that this book won quite a number of awards back in 2004/2005.

In short, rifle through your local manga stores and get this gem. Forget your silly little “GodDamn” robots and shonen heroes for just a few moments, and have a slice-of-life tales of sort revolved around the after-effects of one of Japan’s darkest footnote in history.

Technorati : Fumiyo Kouno, hiroshima, manga, town of evening calm