Dark Horse Comics presents Emanon Volume 3: Emanon Wanderer Part Two written by Shinji Kajio and illustrated Kenji Tsuruta. Emanon Wanderer tells the story of what happens when the woman who remembers everything in the existence of creation suddenly forgets who she is herself.
Get BWT in your inbox!
Get BWT in your inbox!
When a young hiker, Ryozo, is on a mountain trail in far southern Japan in 1973, he happens to find a disoriented girl who doesn’t know her own name, and who’s only possessions are the small change of a dozen different nations and her bag initialed with the ”E.N.” While she is haunted by nightmares of pre-historic seas and forests, she tries to find a new life with Ryozo and find way toreconnect with her past.
Overall the artwork is stunning, and I’m impressed by Kenji Tsuruta’s art style. I think Emanon Wanderer showcases the range of his skill, from drawing light and whimsical scenes and characters, like when Ryozo shows Ema around the town. To illustrating the ancient memories that haunt Ema in her nightmares and sudden flashbacks. I especially like how Tsuruta uses angles in his work, so we see the memories from Ema’s point of view.
One of the most noticeable things in this volume is the significant lack of dialogue for most of it. I assume this is something that is done intentionally by the creators to help make the audience pay more attention and infer what is happening from the observation of each scene.
I would say these panels gave me vibes a “slice of life” genre. Slice of Life refers to a type of storytelling technique that presents a seemingly arbitrary sample of a characters’ daily lives. For example, another big focus of this volume includes panels of Ema’s day-to-day life as she wanders around different places in the town and develops a relationship with Ryozo.
Something I enjoyed about this manga was that the creators explore Ema’s inner struggles with trying to regain her memories, while also being fearful of losing the new memories and life she currently has Ryozo. At the beginning of the volume wants to make sense of her memories and find out who she is and where she came from. However, as time goes on, she begins to create new memories and establish a new life living with Ryozo.
From time to time, she contemplates what would happen if she regains her memories or if she could lose her memories again. This time the idea of losing the memories she created with Ryozo is something that worries her. I would even say she struggles with the desire of wanting to know who her past self was, but also not wanting to lose what she has in the present now.
Overall, I highly recommend checking this manga out. It’s filled with beautiful scene illustrations and the premise is very interesting. And while it is primarily a science fiction story, I also appreciate the little elements of “slice of life” that were present in the story.
Emanon Volume 3: Emanon Wanderer Part Two will be available on December 04, 2019.
Rating
TL;DR
I highly recommend checking this manga out. It’s filled with beautiful scene illustrations and the premise is very interesting. And while it is primarily a science fiction story, I also appreciate the little elements of “slice of life” that were present in the story.
