Domu: A Child’s Dream September 4, 2006
Posted by AxeMan808 in : AxeMan808, Comics, Dark Horse, Manga, ProjectW.org , trackbackfrom rhetoricpiggy @ ProjectW (and Mike69 @ ????)
From the mind that brought you the masterpiece Akira.
Domu: A Child’s Dream
Katsuhiro Otomo
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domu_%28A_Child%27s_Dream%29
Domu is a graphic novel created by Katsuhiro Otomo. Similar to his most famous work Akira, the story centers on children possessing telekinetic powers. The manga was serialized between 1980 and 1982 and was later republished as a graphic novel in 1983. It has sold over 500,000 copies in Japan.
The death of a resident of a sprawling urban housing complex marks the climax of mounting concerns by city officials. Though apparently a suicide, Ueno’s death is one of an unusually large number of deaths. Tamura, a young detective, is sent to investigate. Meanwhile, Yamagawa, Tamura’s senior investigator, learns what he can about the other residents. They include Yoshio Gujiyama (or “Little Yo”), a mentally retarded man of considerable size but infantile intelligence, Yoshikawa, an abusive alcoholic, and Uchida (or “Old Cho),” a senile old man with the “mind of a child.”
The work focuses primarily on a conflict between true children (who never grew up) and false children (irresponsible or childish adults). The former, represented by Etsuko and Little Yo, face off against the latter, represented by Old Cho and Yoshikawa. Ironically, true children are depicted as more responsible than childish adults, as well as morally pure in contrast to the amorality of irresponsible childhood. The action is set against a complex backdrop (composed of literally dozens of painstaking recreations of the housing complex) worthy of the author’s training as a student of architecture and drafting, and carries an underlying theme of the difficulties in such dense living conditions.