No Longer Human Vol. 1

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No Longer Human is told in the form of notebooks left by one Ōba Yōzō (大庭葉蔵), a troubled man incapable of revealing his true self to others, and who, instead, maintains a facade of hollow jocularity. The work is made up of three chapters, or "memoranda", which chronicle the life of Ōba from his early childhood to his late twenties. After finishing high school, Ōba is sent to Tokyo to visit the university. Influenced by a fellow artist, Horiki, whom he meets at a painting class, Ōba descends into a pattern of drinking, smoking and harlotry, and attends communist meetings without being a staunch follower. After spending the night with a married woman, he attempts to commit shinjū (double suicide) with her by drowning. He survives and she dies, leaving him with an excruciating feeling of guilt. I'm already a Junji Ito fan, so I'm leaning that way, but I want to know what others think about both manga's merits as their own art and as adaptation. I know Ito takes several artistic liberties, but does that necessarily mean that his vision is less in tune with Dazai's, seeing as Ito has an incredibly unnerving art style that seems to mesh well with Yozo's (and by extention, Dazai's) attitudes about life in the book? I've also heard that Furuya's is more accurate to the source material beat-by-beat, but it seems more visually subdued.

no longer human till this day resonated with so many people. its a story that exposed the weakness, self destruction, honesty to the point it hurts, no rationalization for all bad decision and actions and somehow we empathize with the character. This graphic novel is a departure from Ito's trademark narratives, interpreting as it does a Dazai classic that stands as one of the best-ever selling books in Japan. While the original seems to have focused on the sadness and pathos that marked the existential crisis that our lead (who seems to have been patterned after Dazai himself) labored under, true to Ito's style this book lets the horrors and absurdities of his experiences take the limelight.Furuya also makes Yozo dwell more on the attempted double-suicide, which I recall not affecting him too deeply by the beginning of "The Third Notebook." This, plus earlier references to Yozo's father, seems to be a means of fleshing out Yozo's character a bit more, ironing out wrinkles Furuya may perceive in the story, but it all seems extraneous... at least for someone like me who's read the novel too many times to the point of being confused at these minute changes.

Dazai, O., 1956 [1968]. The Setting Sun. Translated by Donald Keene, 1956. New York: New Directions. [Kindle Edition] The protagonist in this novel/manga is an arrogant, narcissistic guy, who at the same time hates himself for not being able to interact with other people at a simple level, without overthinking everything. It’s an oversimplification on my part. There are some explanations for his tendencies because of parents demanding perfection. The only thing Oba Yoza, our protagonist, understood in childhood is that humans (and him) should hide anything less than perfection.So this is hard to grade. You’re not supposed to like the horrible narrator or necessarily be on board with the worldview presented here. But the fact of the matter is that this wouldn’t be a classic story if people didn’t relate to it. However! Let the record show that this is a book that demands some form of self-blitzing (read: weed) to be even bearable, especially if you're a queerdo with complicated lady feelings, because Ito loves a booby and I do, too, but he also loves charring that booby and drawing the emaciated toothy corpse or drowning it and drawing it bloated and tongue-slugged, so. Keene, D., 1958. Translator’s Introduction. In: O. Dazai, 1958 [1973]. No Longer Human. Translated by Donald Keene, 1958. Reprint 1973. New York: New Directions. pp.3-10. Dazai, O., 1958 [1973]. No Longer Human. Translated by Donald Keene, 1958. Reprint 1973. New York: New Directions. Osamu Dazai is considered a classic in Japanese literature. I have had no idea, because I didn’t study Japanese literature. Also, the book I want to talk about today is the manga adaptation of the same novel, No Longer Human. So, please bear in mind I am not familiar with the original content and anything I say may not be completely correct.

Ito’s art though is wonderfully gruesome. I may never have understood what Oba’s problem was but I definitely felt his fear with Ito’s parade of bloated talking corpses, vengeful ghosts and insect people. The nightmare imagery from the suicide attempt on the beach in Chapter 7 (which also really happened to Dazai) was really terrifying. Takeichi brings a reproduction of a self-portrait by van Gogh, calling it “the picture of a ghost.” Intrigued, Yozo shows Takeichi a book of Modigliani reproductions, which delights Takeichi. Yozo experiences an epiphany: through honesty, art can be used to paint the dark and damaged side of human beings. He begins producing a number of self-portraits, which he shows to nobody but Takeichi, who prophesies that Yozo will become a great painter in the future. I have some conflicting emotions regarding this one. While I love Itou's style and tales his stories are plot driven. The characters are very much a vehicle for the story same as what you'd get from an episode of the Twilight Zone.

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I prefer main characters who inspire me to root for them, or who at least interest me. Furuya's Yozo, a loser who hurts and/or drags down most of the people around him, doesn’t appeal to me. That said, I did think this volume was better than the first. The way it's portrayed in the manga is great at first but as the story progress and becomes more nuanced the "hand of