REVIEW: BLUE SPRING
Review by Dan Coyle

Writer/Artist: Taiyo Matsumoto
English Adaptation: Kelly Sue DeConnick
Translation: JN Productions
Touch-Up Art and Lettering: Bill Shuch
Cover and Interior Design: Izumi Evers
Editor: Ian Robertson
Publisher: Viz Comics

Synopsis: No. 5 and Black and White writer/artist Taiyo Matusmoto switches gears from horror and surreal superheroes to seven short comic stories about Japanese high school kids with no direction, no caution, no future- but the future is coming whether they like it or not, right before summer, in the blue spring.

Critique: Taiyo Matsumoto’s Blue Spring, which was released earlier this year from Viz. Blue Spring presents itself, particularly in the first story, as your average tale of disaffected, angry youth that we’ve seen in countless TV shows and movies but rarely in comics. “If You’re Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands” alludes to the favourite pastime of the delinquents of an unnamed Japanese high school. “Clapping” is a game that involves climbing up to the roof of the school, and balancing yourself off the top railing. With your feet on the edge, and hands on the railing, you let go… and try to see how many times you can clap your hands before you have to grab back onto the railing before you lose balance and fall off the roof. The activity’s not so much a thrill for the kids, it seems, but simply… something to do. The kids ask constantly, “When will summer get here?” But summer doesn’t offer so much a respite from the ennui as it does just an escape from school. “If You’re Happy” also contains a running subplot about two teachers having an affair- most adults in the stories, with the exception of a strangely warm gangster, are presented as indifferent or too wrapped up in themselves to notice what’s going on with the high schoolers. It works well when contrasted with the “clappers”, for the teachers seem more vibrant and interested in life- or more accurately with each other- than the kids are. “If You’re Happy” is well done, but lends itself to a predictably tragic ending.

The three-part story “Revolver” is where Blue Spring really starts to take off. Based on a story by Caribu Marley, the story concerns three disaffected seniors who come into possession of a gun and… well, what seems like a perfect opportunity for an Afterschool Special turns out to be completely unpredictable. Osamu, Tatsutoshi, and Koji don’t immediately wind up killing each other or turning to a life of crime- and that’s what makes the story so compelling- it feels natural in a way that most American stories about teenagers don’t. The three slackers can’t quite figure out what to DO with he gun. The story builds to a conclusion that’s not only a 180 from the story that preceded it but also oddly uplifting.

“Mah Jongg Summer” switches gears to present some more well-adjusted, yet still troubled youths: a group of high school baseball players who unwind by playing Mah Jongg. This story is probably the weakest of the collection, because the kids don’t quite come across as vividly as do the characters in the other stories. In a way, that’s part of the point, since their athletic prowess has consumed their lives so much that the Mah Jongg is their only outlet. But even the quite, intellectual game fails to relieve the pressure that the schools and the fans put on them, and the story spirals to a fair, if not wholly satisfying, conclusion. The story also makes some pointed barbs about an American sport’s effect on Japanese culture.

While “Revolver” avoided the predictable route of students turning to a life of crime, “Suzuki-San” confronts it head on, as a student who’s cutting class finds himself a potential recruit of the Yakuza. Suzuki san takes the teenager to a meet for a buy as a sort of a “test run” for the boy. Matsumoto presents the Yakuza in a very matter of fact manner, showing them as an opportunity for disaffected teens, even one with some benefits- but one with often horrific consequences. Like the two stories that preceded it, this one defies expectations.

Some teenagers would do anything to join a gang, to “be somebody”, to be one of the cool kids we’ve seen in these kinds of stories, and “Peace” is about one of those teenagers. Junior Yukio has the look of a nerd and seems a generally nice guy, but his grades are terrible and he has no feeling of place, of identity. When a fellow classmate offers him a chance to join a local gang, his frustration with his life and shortcomings explode in a scene of brutal violence. Yukio emerges from “Peace” having a better idea of who he is, and so do the readers, to their horror. Matsumoto wrote and drew these stories in the early 90s, and “Peace” creepily presages, however indirectly, events like Columbine.

Next is my personal favourite story in the collection, “The Family Restaurant Is Our Paradise!” The tale is a sharp observation of an activity we can all relate to: dinner with friends. Five pals congregate regularly at the local- ahem- “Donny’s” to eat, yak, and argue over who pays for what and how much of a tip they leave. The four guys are hilariously observed, as they bicker and talk about pop culture trivia, rumors, and who is (or isn’t) getting laid. As unrelated events in the restaurant happen around them, the conversations get more heated, leading up to an awfully funny conclusion. It may have something to do with the fact that the night before I read this book I had an eventful dinner with friends at an IHOP, but I loved every bit of this story, savoring over the details like it was a nicely cooked double cheeseburger. Matsumoto nails the sort of self-absorption and meaningless conversation that is unique to teenagers, and also creates some sympathy for the manager and waiters, who are helpless against the wrath of the teens and other kooky customers. “The Family Restaurant” is the kind of story that makes you wonder if Matsumoto spent some time in a diner, sipping his coffee slowly as he jotted down notes of what he saw around him.

Finally, Blue Spring comes to a close with a tale of love, or something like it. The high speed, jaunty, violent “This is Bad” weaves in an out of flashbacks as the rambunctious, free spirited Hiro goes to meet his girl for a date- and winds up being chased by a lunatic gangster. The story is almost a metaphor for the amazing highs- and crushing lows- that can come with youth and being in love, as Hiro tries fitfully to ditch his pursuer so he can meet his girl. The story is laid out in a way that you feel Hiro’s tension as he tries to escape the inevitable, as the mischievousness that won his girl’s heart proves to be his undoing. The artwork really jumps off the pages, almost shaking the reader, as it builds to a nasty, ironic conclusion.

Matsumoto’s artwork, like Monkey Punch, eschews the stereotypical “manga” look and instead tries a more realistic, yet still exaggerated, style for the characters that populate the world of Blue Spring. The touch of the absurd the teens and their world have about them emphasize the emotions teenagers can feel, that sort of larger than life reactions that make mundane, banal events seem like The End of the World. He’s abetted nicely by Kelly Sue DeConnick’s expert adaptation- she takes care to keep the dialogue naturalistic.

In case you haven’t figured it out by now, I loved this book. A friend commented “there’s nothing else like it on U.S. shelves right now,” and in a way, he’s right: it’s hard to find in the land of comics currently a depiction of teenage years so remarkably lived in. In the book’s afterwords, Matsumoto admits he was never one of the cool kids, but he was fascinated by them just the same, and almost had a romantic view of rebellion. Matsumoto has sharpened that view into a nicely observed, surprising, and awfully human snapshot of life. As I understand it, Blue Spring hasn’t sold very well since its release a few months ago; perhaps because it’s shrinkwrapped in the bookstores, perhaps it doesn’t have the cool buzz that a project like Battle Royale, but I implore you all to check it out. Read, and reflect for a while on those days where it seemed like The World Was Going to End. And how for most of us, it never does, because with the advent of spring, summer is around the corner.

Rating: M for MATURE
Reading Style: Right to Left (Japanese Style)
Length: 216 pages
Dimensions: 5 x 7 1/2
ISBN: 1-59116-645-4
$ 9.99 U.S. - B & W

Dan Coyle is a contributor to PopImage


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