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