Scan barcode
A review by jackelz
Ichiro by Ryan Inzana
3.0
Ichiro lives in New York City with his Japanese mother. His father, an American soldier, was killed in Iraq. Now, Ichi’s mom has taken a job in Japan, so they move to Japan and Ichi goes to live with his maternal grandfather.
Grandfather becomes Ichi’s tour guide, taking him to temples as well as the Hiroshima Peace Park, where Ichi starts to question the nature of war. This was quite the contrast to the time Ichi spent with his paternal grandfather, who was, quite frankly, a racist asshole.
After a supernatural encounter with the gods and creatures of Japanese mythology, Ichi must face his fears and find his way back home.
I really liked where the story was going before we got to the supernatural element, and I was really looking forward to Ichi bonding with his grandfather. I wanted Ichi to question the inherent racism he learned from his other grandfather, but it was kind of just left on the page. The story took a completely different direction, and I honestly wasn’t a huge fan. There was a lot of mythology, and it didn’t ease you into it at all. I think I was just overwhelmed, honestly, so maybe I missed the moral of the story.
Grandfather becomes Ichi’s tour guide, taking him to temples as well as the Hiroshima Peace Park, where Ichi starts to question the nature of war. This was quite the contrast to the time Ichi spent with his paternal grandfather, who was, quite frankly, a racist asshole.
After a supernatural encounter with the gods and creatures of Japanese mythology, Ichi must face his fears and find his way back home.
I really liked where the story was going before we got to the supernatural element, and I was really looking forward to Ichi bonding with his grandfather. I wanted Ichi to question the inherent racism he learned from his other grandfather, but it was kind of just left on the page. The story took a completely different direction, and I honestly wasn’t a huge fan. There was a lot of mythology, and it didn’t ease you into it at all. I think I was just overwhelmed, honestly, so maybe I missed the moral of the story.