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Vol 2 Issue 7
[MANGA REVIEWS]

Dark Green
— by Scanner Luce

Every now and then, in looking for new manga titles to read it seems that pickings get rather slim. How can this be, though? There is so much stuff published that there has to be some good stuff to read out there somewhere. One of the problems is just finding it. A good alternative may be to look for some of those older titles. Although they can be harder to find in general, if you find a decent used manga shop it will tend to be packed with stuff worth reading. DARK GREEN is one such manga that yields unsuspecting treasure.
   What is this story about that ran for five years? On the surface it seems to be some sort of fantasy. You have the real world, and then suddenly, one night, many people all over Earth start having this shared dream. This shared dream-world comes to be called the "R-Dream." The story follows primarly one character, Hokuto Nishiogi, through his life in the waking world and the R-Dream. As you begin to read the story you realize that it is a parable for humanity and how they are connected to the world and how fragile our perception of reality is. Things keep changing, though, in a story where more than half of the world is dream, and when the two worlds begin to overlap, what could possibly be a proper outcome?
   It starts with an explosion and people fleeing in all directions. A mother and her child are separated. The mother calls out to her child to come back. The child (we do not hear her name, all we hear is "XX" as the mother calls out for her) says that she cannot return and bids her mother farewell. The mother wakes up in the middle of the night screaming her child's name. She then realizes it must have been a dream. After all, her daughter, sleeping in the room next door, is much older than the child she appeared in the dream.
   On that day, December 20th 198X, people all over the world shared a dream, and some of them continue to share a dream. The dream occurs over all sorts of lands, people there have to fight for their survival. It is a war. They are not fighting each other, though. Their enemy is nothing so plain as other people with different opinions. Their enemy is a dream monster. It takes all sorts of shapes. It is characterized by a dark cloud and its name is "Zel."
   Back in the waking world, aspiring art student Hokuto Nishiogi has fallen asleep in the middle of his life drawing class. His classmates tease him about falling asleep in class. Hokuto avows that he had some fantastic dream but he cannot for the life of him remember what it was about. On his way out of the school building, his best friend, Isogai, asks him if he knows what an R-Dream is. Hokuto is puzzled, having never heard the term before. Isogai and Yamamoto (another classmate) fill Hokuto in on the amazing occurence that happened on December 20th. Yamamoto actually remembers his time in the R-Dream world. Suddenly, both Isogai & Yamamoto have to run off to be with their significant others. On his way out, Isogai tells Hokuto he should get a girlfriend as well!
   Hokuto returns to his lonely apartment, out of sorts with the world because he has no life, unable to even remember his dreams. He turns on the TV, only to find a documentary about the R-Dreams. Disgruntled, he turns off the TV and tries to remember the dream that he had in class.
   We shift to a scene where a young boy walks slowly out of a pool in a dark land. He looks around, lost, as someone rides by and pulls him into a wagon. "What are you doing? The Indians are coming!" the man cries wildly. The boy turns around and he is once again standing on the ground. This time, though, he is wearing an army helmet and camo, holding a rifle. Around him, a company of infantry are being demolished by a tank. Seeing people being killed, no matter how they fight or hide in the trenches, makes the boy stand up and walk calmly towards the tank. The soldiers from the trenches shout at him "Hey! What are you doing?" As the young boy gets near the tank, he holds out his rifle and it turns into a sword. With one stroke he destroys the tank. The soldiers look on in disbelief. "What are you? What is your name?" "Name ...?" The boy does not remember. "Oh well, let's go home, the enemy has disappeared," the survivors say as they vanish into the darkness. The boy is left trying to chase after them. Suddenly, they are at the bottom of a ravine and he is hopelessly separated from them. As he curls into himself, wondering "Where am I? Who am I?" a round hits the ground near him. It is Hokuto. He is surprised to find a companion here. He thought it might have been more Zel. When he gets a good look at the boy he says "You are... Ryuon?"
   The young boy is startled. "Ryuon? That's my name? Do you know me?" Hokuto replies that no, he does not know Ryuon. It is just that, when he saw him, he knew that his name was Ryuon. Ryuon presses Hokuto for information. "Where is this place? What is this enemy?" Hokuto immediately tells Ryuon to stay out of the shadow of a rock. Suddenly, the shadows change into more of the enemy. Hokuto destroys them and explains to Ryuon that they are devil-dreams. This whole place is a dream and they have to fight the bad ones. After that, he arms Ryuon with a gun and stomps the ground, summoning more "akumu." Ryuon proves to be extremely effective at fighting these evil dreams and even saves Hokuto. Ryuon wonders how long they will have to fight. Hokuto replies, "Until we wake up."
   Back in the waking world, Hokuto counts up to 60 while staring at a cup of ramen. Just as he is about to enjoy his meal, his friend Isogai rushes in, causing Hokuto to drop his cup-ramen. Isogai hurriedly explains that their friend, Yamamoto, has become one of the "sleepers": one of the people who fall into the R-Dream world, only to not wake up. They visit him in the hospital where he has been for the past week. Isogai insists that Yamamoto is stuck inside of the R-Dream. Hokuto tells him not to speak nonsense, as he does not believe in this R-Dream. Isogai continues, though. He is scared. This is happening to more and more people and he worries that it will happen to him. Yamamoto's mother begs them to stop talking about the R-Dream. She has heard enough about this nightmare that people share. She has heard enough of having to fight Zel. She has heard enough about this Ryuon. Hokuto is stopped short... "Ryuon ... Ryuon... where have I heard that name?"
   As they are walking back from the hospital, Hokuto berates Isogai for making such a scene and bringing up the bit about the R-Dream in front of Yamamoto's mother. Isogai invites Hokuto to his apartment to show him some of the literature about the R-Dream. Hokuto begs off, saying that he has to go to his part-time job. Apparently, Hokuto has a job providing background noise along with some other people during some radio show. Hokuto returns from his part-time job and wonders about himself and his life. As he wonders if there is anything he is good at, he falls asleep. The scene turns to Ryuon saving a young girl from a stone-dinosaur. When the girl thanks him and asks him his name, he replies "Ryuon...," then wanders off. "I do not know who I am, but I must fight the 'akumu.'"
   Later, in the waking world, Hokuto wanders through a book store and looks at several of the manga there. It seems that many manga-ka are writing about things that happened in the R-Dream and a lot of them center around the young hero of this world: Ryuon. Isogai comes up behind Hokuto and surprises him. "Hokuto, are you showing an interest in the R-Dreams?" Hokuto is totally flustered and says he was just wondering what sort of food 'Ryuon' was. Isogai takes Hokuto to his apartment, where he shows Hokuto the information he has on the R-Dream. Apparently, it is a dream-world, a different world, that people travel to in their sleep. Ryuon showed up shortly after the whole R-Dream thing started and is apparently much stronger than everyone else at fighting the "akumu." He has become a hero. He appears as a young boy. There are several other people who have developed a reputation in the R-Dream. One is a rather powerful soldier-type who wears a half-goggle mask, and the other is a beautiful female with golden skin. The names that people return from the R-Dream with for this hero vary a bit, but they seem to be all centering on Ryuon. Hokuto ponders this information thoughtfully. Isogai suddenly points at Hokuto "Are you Ryuon?!" Hokuto is again flustered, but calms down and say "no, I do not think so." This disturbs Isogai. Hokuto explains that he looks different than Ryuon does.
   Hokuto goes home unusually cheerful. Being Ryuon would not be that bad a thing after all. It is not likely, but... this is almost like being in some manga. At his part-time job, he has to pick out one of the letters from the listeners to be read over the radio. He picks one out at random and finds it is a note from some girl wanting to thank whoever Ryuon is for saving her. This makes Hokuto feel inordinately pleased and he misses his cues on the radio show, causing him to be fired. This does not bother him, though. What does bother him is later, during drawing class, he finds out that Yamamoto has died. Isogai believes that Yamamoto was killed by one of the "akumu" in the R-Dream, and thus also died in the waking world. Hokuto and Isogai begin fighting about the R-Dream and death. That night Hokuto lies in bed thinking about the R-Dream, Ryuon, and Yamamoto dying...
   Hokuto sees a light in the darkness. It resolves into a fortified town getting ready for battle. In the middle of the image, Ryuon comes clear and calls out Hokuto's name joyfully. As he fully enters the R-Dream, he realizes that he is not Ryuon. He sees a reflection of himself; he realizes that he is dressed up as some sort of futuristic soldier wearing a half-goggle mask. Hokuto has now made his first fully awake transition into the R-Dream world.
   This is where the story actually begins. From here, things start getting downright entangled. One of the draws of the story is that, just as things seem stable and you seem to build an explanation for what is going on, it all changes. One of the plusses beyond that, though, is that throughout the story, things actually do get explained. You are not left dangling too horribly, with loose threads all over the place. Most of the threads do get tied up quite nicely, although not always happily. The story definitely drags you along, making you wish for certain things. Sometimes you get your wish and sometimes it dashes your wish horribly. Luckily, though, it does it well. Another thing the story does well is build tension. Most manga longer than 4 or 5 volumes suffer from a serious slump in their story. DARK GREEN has little if any slump. Just as things get to one point, another curtain is pulled back and you start trying to place everything in the new setting. It keeps you unbalanced, but does not keep you hopelessly struggling for the story.
   Although the ecological overtones of the story get a bit overstated and sometimes seem to get in the way of enjoying the story, they are very much a part of the story. This was well written. It is a good concept that is not just another "dream world/waking world" story. The characters and their situations have their own depth that is well entwined with the setting of the story. The elements become inseparable. The ecological aspects drive the characters' situation and they directly relate to the world which they are in.
   What was covered in the brief synopsis above does not begin to do the story justice. It just sets the stage. We have yet to meet Myurou, the golden skinned girl. We still do not know who in the waking world Ryuon is, if indeed he is anyone. Who is the mysterous girl Fiin, and what is her connection to the R-Dream; how can she do what she does? What exactly is the R-Dream world? Where did the Zel come from? It takes us a good five volumes before we even learn where the title for the manga, DARK GREEN comes from.
   Sasaki Junko's art style remains steady and accomplished throughout the story. Her style for the characters remains comfortingly consistent. This ends up being very important for a story where the world that the characters lives in is one that can change drastically between two frames on the same page. As the story progresses, though, you see Sasaki Junko experimenting with more varied and detailed backgrounds. The worlds get drawn with more depth, bringing you closer into the story. Sasaki Junko uses strong but fine lines to etch out the characters. She complements this with varied brushy and sketchy strokes to add texture. Her use of this type of stroke occurs almost as often as she uses zip-a-tone, lending the manga a much more fully hand-drawn feel to it.
   The premise of the story and the startling changes that it undergoes as you read it can leave the reader in a very confused state. Luckily, ample furigana are used, so that trying to figure out which kanji are which is not the main problem. The main problem usually ends up being trying to figure where the author is going and which scenes are occuring in whose version of which reality. The story is probably better read by someone who does not have to worry about trying to read each line. With that said, though, this story is one that readers of all skill-levels will probably enjoy. Wanting to grab several of the main characters and try to shake sense into them is usually one of those signs that you are identifying with them well. This means that the author has done her job in giving us this story.
   Read it if you can find it, if for nothing other than a very refreshing change from the majority of the manga you find on the shelves these days.

  Dark Green
Sasaki Junko
© 1983-1988 Flower Comics / Shogakukan
10 volumes (complete)
¥360/volume (old price)


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