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A review by csnow33
Ichiro by Ryan Inzana
5.0
Not going to lie, I picked this up because the back blurb made it sound like a gender-swapped Inuyasha, and I am absolute trash for that series. Instead of a fun story about a boy falling down a hole and ending up in feudal Japan, I was surprised that the majority of this story takes place in present day real-world Japan and dives into some pretty serious discussions concerning cultural identity and history.
There was a powerful discussion with Ichiro's Japanese grandfather early on that was so brief it was easy to overlook, but I'd like to bring it up in-depth.
Ichiro is raised in America and often visits his proud American grandfather who fully buys into the USA Army bravado and blind patriotism. Subsequently, Ichiro grows up with a biased love of all things American, unaware that he idolizes a fictitious view of the military and war.
After going to a museum with his Japanese grandfather and seeing photos depicting the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, Ichiro begins to panic at his blind American patriotism being called into question. As a knee-jerk reaction, fitting for his age, he denounces America and questions why a country would kill so many people.
In response, the grandfather explains that when he was young, his father fought in a war, and he too was filled with a blind patriotism for Japan . . . only to discover years later that horrific atrocities were committed during Japan's occupation of China. It was difficult for the grandpa to accept that his father was a part of a heinous slaughtering because is hard to think that you are on the wrong side of history. The grandpa concludes his speech with the quote, "I am proud to be Japanese, but we are not perfect. Nobody is."
Ichiro then responds, "What's the point in knowing all this bad stuff when it just makes you feel rotten?"
And the grandpa answers, "You have heard the expression 'history repeats itself?' That is why old men like me have to pass down this history to their grandsons. To prevent it from happening again."
All of this makes such a mature point, and I was actually surprised by how well it was stated. All countries have committed atrocities for as long as humans have been on this earth. It's easy to have a "us vs. them" mentality--especially concerning something like WWII, where many fall into the "anyone who sided with Hitler deserved to die" mentality--but the real takeaway from the grandpa's point is, yes, Japan committed crimes during the war, but in the end, hundred's of thousands of innocent women and children ended up dead. At the end of the day, needless lives were lost in place of a powerful few who were making military decisions.
There is nothing wrong with being proud of where you come from because there isn't a country on earth that doesn't have a dark, haunting past of some sort. What's important is that you never repeat the mistakes of the past.
I was thoroughly impressed by this discussion and even more impressed by how so much was said in such a concise way!
As far as the art goes, I'm no art critic, but I was blown away by the brush-stoke style and color palette. The artwork alone was very immersive, and only helped to further develop the story.
There was a powerful discussion with Ichiro's Japanese grandfather early on that was so brief it was easy to overlook, but I'd like to bring it up in-depth.
After going to a museum with his Japanese grandfather and seeing photos depicting the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, Ichiro begins to panic at his blind American patriotism being called into question. As a knee-jerk reaction, fitting for his age, he denounces America and questions why a country would kill so many people.
In response, the grandfather explains that when he was young, his father fought in a war, and he too was filled with a blind patriotism for Japan . . . only to discover years later that horrific atrocities were committed during Japan's occupation of China. It was difficult for the grandpa to accept that his father was a part of a heinous slaughtering because is hard to think that you are on the wrong side of history. The grandpa concludes his speech with the quote, "I am proud to be Japanese, but we are not perfect. Nobody is."
Ichiro then responds, "What's the point in knowing all this bad stuff when it just makes you feel rotten?"
And the grandpa answers, "You have heard the expression 'history repeats itself?' That is why old men like me have to pass down this history to their grandsons. To prevent it from happening again."
All of this makes such a mature point, and I was actually surprised by how well it was stated. All countries have committed atrocities for as long as humans have been on this earth. It's easy to have a "us vs. them" mentality--especially concerning something like WWII, where many fall into the "anyone who sided with Hitler deserved to die" mentality--but the real takeaway from the grandpa's point is, yes, Japan committed crimes during the war, but in the end, hundred's of thousands of innocent women and children ended up dead. At the end of the day, needless lives were lost in place of a powerful few who were making military decisions.
There is nothing wrong with being proud of where you come from because there isn't a country on earth that doesn't have a dark, haunting past of some sort. What's important is that you never repeat the mistakes of the past.
I was thoroughly impressed by this discussion and even more impressed by how so much was said in such a concise way!
As far as the art goes, I'm no art critic, but I was blown away by the brush-stoke style and color palette. The artwork alone was very immersive, and only helped to further develop the story.