![]() She writes messy characters in messy relationships, and if these are often accompanied by some messy plotting as well, perhaps that’s an unavoidable side-effect. “Mess” is a key word here, and though Kouga-sensei’s artwork is a consistent highlight-genuinely gorgeous and a real treat to behold-one might say that her greatest talent is in making a mess. We’re all ugly and beautiful in Yun Kouga’s world, and there’s nothing to do but to try to navigate the mess as best we can. There’s a sense, always, that Kouga loves her characters fully and without conditions, even when they’re at their worst. It’s not pretty, but it’s effective, and I find myself thinking about a Yun Kouga manga (and the emotional chaos it brings along with it) long after I’ve finished reading.īut if she leaves us unable to deny our darker impulses, she at least doesn’t leave us alone. Yun Kouga just leaves us like that, permanently, irretrievably stuck with the cognitive dissonance and muddy morality that simply is grown-up human life-no excuses, no justifications. While undeniably attractive, super-confident teen stalker Hisayoshi is carrying on this conversation with himself, we’re thinking, “God, he’s creepy!” and then, “Well… I guess it’s not wrong just to think about things…” and finally, “I had almost that exact thought that time when… oh, fuck.”Īnd there she leaves us. ![]() Like this… and that… But that’s okay, right? As long as I’m just thinking about it, it’s not wrong. “I keep thinking of all these different things I want to do with you. Those deep, dark thoughts you were sure nobody else shared? Those self-destructive urges you’ve (mostly) controlled all these years? That private fantasy you keep quietly to yourself? That thing you always do when you need to hide your real feelings? Yun Kouga’s got your number. Her characters are so real and so human in both their complexity and their selfishness, it’s impossible to ignore the reality staring us in the face. ![]() Her awareness of and ability to express her characters’ darkest desires, simply and without apology, also serves as an exceptionally unflattering mirror for the reader. ![]() And as a reader, it’s pretty difficult not to apply this to oneself as well, because if there is one thing Yun Kouga excels at, it is creating characters whom we will find surprisingly relatable and endlessly fascinating, even as we’re exploring the darkest corners of their hearts and minds.Īnd it’s not only her characters’ minds that Yun Kouga seems intent on exploring. It is a welcome replacement for the long out-of-print and nearly impossible to find bilingual edition that was released by the Japan Times in 1990.When one of Gestalt‘s dual protagonists, Ouri, asks this question in volume four, it’s impossible not to wonder if the series’ author is really talking about herself. In total, 625 backers pledged $38,142 (of $14,200 goal) and, after the first stretch goals to not only reprint Uncio(at $26,000) but actually re-publish it using higher quality colouring (at $27,000) and paper were both met, the print edition (to replace the digital-only edition) of Crime and Punishment was secured as the second stretch goal once the campaign reached the $32,500 mark.Īlthough this is actually the second time Crime and Punishment has been published in English, the DMP edition marks the first time it has been published in North America. In 2015 a print edition was also successfully funded as part of the Kickstarter campaign to publish Storm Fairy in English. It is available for legal download on the website in a variety of popular reading formats (ePub, CBR/CBZ, PDF, etc.). Who will catch up to Raskolnikov first? Porfiry … or his own guilty conscience? What you should knowĬrime and Punishment was released in 2015 as part of DMP’s Digital Manga Guild initiative as as a digital-only release. ![]() Although an innocent man is quickly arrested for the crime, Raskolnikovs’s own published essay – suggesting that people who are “extra-ordinary” are above such things as “right” and “wrong” – draws the suspicion of judge Porfiry. In Russia, on the eve of the revolution, a young student named Raskolnikov murders an old pawnbroker over a pocket watch. ![]()
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