And yet, once again I allowed myself to be led astray into reaching for stars that are too big

And so here we are with the last chapters we're gonna do for 2020. A garbage year and 2021 will probably be just as bad but hey, at least there's manga to read.

I'm gonna pat this group on the back a bit and say that I'm very proud of everyone's contributions this year, from humble beginnings to... well, with this fresh batch, Bernd-Scans have put out a total of 116 chapters in the year of our Covid 2020. 1 of them was a colab with DJS, and you could argue that two Kaneko oneshots didn't really require a lot of effort but then there's the double sized Wet Moon 28 or the 40 page COLOR oneshot and... it evens out.

First up, let's have a few laughs

Turns out Boku-chan is 4 chapters instead of 3 like I said a few weeks ago. I am pleased with this development.

Minetaro Mochizuki - BOKU-chan ch.3

What is friendship?

Saruchinesu ch. 18

And now onto more serious things, Tokyo Kaido. The finale.

Tokyo Kaido ch. 32

Tokyo Kaido ch. 33

and as always

Tokyo Kaido vol. 1

Tokyo Kaido vol. 2

Tokyo Kaido vol. 3

And now I'll talk a bit about this series so... just nab those chapters and read them and return after (if you want) and read my thoughts on it. What to say about Tokyo Kaido? apart from the fact that it's brilliant, of course. It was love at first sight with this manga and the finale was amazing. The last storyline, "Paperback writer" just exposes Mochi as the genius that he is, this isn't one of the Beatles' most famous songs nor is it one of their best, but it is the last single released before their album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" where they kinda change up their style and become more experimental, so, before "they change", it is also written as if it was a letter mailed out, and it was also written by Paul McCarthy after his aunt challenged him to write something different, "why do you always write about love? can't you write about something else that's interesting?". As the kids would say, pottery.

I don't know why I had the impression that this was also an adaptation of a book but I just had to check because this manga felt therapeutic for Mochi himself and yeah, it's an original story. A very personal story at that. In that interview we translated from french he says that this is where he truly found his voice(this is probably why I had the impression that Tokyo Kaido was also an adaptation, his three follow ups since have been adaptations and he said that having a skeleton to work from helped him pace his stories), he says that this is where he truly decided to just listen to his heart and make the things he wants to make and if people don't like it then he will just have to accept it, after all, it's best to be honest with yourself than trying to bend over backwards to try and integrate into these little boxes society has created for everyone.

His characters were broken and, to make a direct comparison with Chiisakobe, they aren't as strong as Shigeji and Ritsu, they don't quite feel as inspiring as those two but that's okay, because their struggles needed to be properly shown here and rigid character analysis just doesn't work on TK, the characters all represent a fairly basic need and they're trapped by insecurities we all have but keep bottled inside, they also represent youth and growing up. Just look at Mari, her character can't be described in any way that you could any other character and her screen time is used effectively, you might not get "enough of a feel for her personality" but because of the nature of her character you can't do that without being cheap, and Minetaro Mochizuki is not cheap. Instead, her character represents the refusal to grow up, she does not live in our awful world and so she doesn't have any contact with the awful people in it. As the manga begins, we see her wandering around as she looks at the world in awe, everything is fascinating to her, everything is fun, she lives in a world with no pain, no sorrow, no dangers... but... over the course of the series, this changes. Refusing to grow up and see the world for what it really is is quite dangerous, and ultimately... without contact with other people, you'll become sad.

On the other hand, Hana represents the desire to repress your feelings because society does not accept you, because you don't fit into these boxes dictated by conventions, and you're seen as an outcast and you have to hide your true self in the hope that you will be accepted. So her answer is to repress her true self, and the people around her don't know how to treat her, they know she is repressing her feelings so they can't be honest with her and so in turn, she can't be honest with them. Her solution ends up being to just live out her days alone so she doesn't have to keep putting on these masks and putting up these walls around her... her interactions don't feel real, everyone is nice to her and she feels that fakeness, she feels it and she hates it... everyone but one person, that is. One person that just insults her and makes her feel bad but... feeling bad is still feeling, and a heart that hurts is a heart that works.

Hashi is the character that gets the most focus, I suppose, but Hashi does represent Mochi the most, although he is not the only character to carry Mochi's soul. MM said that early in his career he wanted to satisfy everyone, he wanted his readers to like his stuff and he bent over backwards to fit into these little boxes and conventions of manga and with Tokyo Kaido, he learned to let go and just make the manga he wants to make, true manga from the bottom of his soul and people will either love it or they won't... and that's fine. Personally, I really liked Dragon Head, the story, the ideas, his layouts with the panels giving this sense of claustrophobia and entrapment, of feeling buried alive... but Chiisakobe is clearly better, a manga that achieves complexity through simplicity and although we can't read the novel, going by the movie adaptation Mochi greatly improved on the story and especially the characters. And then Tokyo Kaido is even better. However... he did go from being published in Kodansha to being published in Shogakukan. If you're an artist, you create, you try to make things that will touch the souls of those that read or watch or listen to what you make and you try to make things that will inspire them and even change their lives. And then there are some that just want money and fame, they want their stuff adapted and featured in movies and commercials and stuff like that. At the end of the day, it's a choice.

The idea of a character that speaks without a filter sounds (and is) hilarious, but did you ever think how life like that would be? Honesty is so important and yet... how would it feel like to just never hold anything back? Having a crappy day and just telling a friend off because you can't hold back. As much as you like a friend or a family member, they've pissed you off on at least a few occasions, you've had to hide things from them in fear that you'd hurt them or in fear that they'd have a negative opinion of you if they knew something that you keep for yourself. Hashi is torn between the desire to assert himself and differentiating from others but also the desire to integrate and to be loved. And so, his anxiety has a more universal value with which everyone can relate. Over time, most people integrate social codes and learn how to hold back and everything is fine with them, it's part of growing up. But if you refuse to go down this preconceived and rigid path, what happens? You are rejected and considered "not normal". His struggle is between the Ego and the Superego, in other words, between the individual and social imperatives. The solution is to balance it all out, but what if you can't? Y'know, one of the most touching parts of the manga is how terrible Hashi treats the amnesic guy and he really does treat him badly, even their last interaction shown is just Hashi insulting and hurting him... and yet... there he is, waiting for him outside the operating room. Because he's his friend.

And then there's Hideo, he represents our hero complex, our need to save people and change their lives for the better, of being someone important in their lives, of doing something that will influence people. And this is the beauty of the manga, as Hashi ultimately inspires Hideo though his manga, Hideo will use all his power to help Mari. And Hashi also inspires Dr. Tamaki to be true to himself which is a bit ironic when you go back to chapter 4. Sometimes the lie must end. We always kinda thought he was a bit of a fraud doctor but imo, he was a great paternal figure, he was just... lost.

And by the way, Hashi's manga were fantastic, the monster story, to represent his illness and him coming to terms with it, followed up by that brilliant and raw chapter with his mom(16), when the monster shows up and eats her and doubt seeps back into his mind. The chapter with the penguin, the outcast that searches for a world that will accept him...

The symbolism throughout the manga, with the belladonna flower, with the manga, with van Gogh, the cypress, the flowers... 

I think I went too hard in the character analysis there but that's cool 'cause for the rest, Mochizuki did an incredible job. Like, how wonderful is it that they kind of all bond and understand each other through manga?

I just hope Mochizuki succeeded in touching the souls of people outside of Japan and I hope this manga changed the lives of those that read it, for the better.

Art is to console those who are broken by life.