A Distant Neighborhood, Volume 1

"You know, I asked my old man, and from what I gather, she doesn't have any relatives anywhere, and she's almost always all alone. Your father's probably the only one that comes to visit her. I'm not sure but . . . they say she doesn't have long left."

A Distant Neighborhood, Volumes 1 and 2, by Jiro Taniguchi, is the story of a 48 year old businessman, Hiroshi, who finds himself inexplicably sent back into his 14 year old body at the time right before his father disappeared from his family's lives. He feels the joy of the lightness of his body, and appreciates the happiness of his family more than he did the first time around. He has mixed feelings about the mutual attraction he feels with smart Tomoko Nagase, as he knows he actually is show more much older than she is, and he has a wife and family back in his "real life". Will he be able to solve the mystery of why his seemingly happy father left them? Will he be able to stop him? Will he correct past mistakes, will he change his life? Will he ever get back to his own time?

Taniguchi has become one of my favorite graphic novelists, with a beautiful, detailed drawing style and relatively simple, engaging stories that feature believable characters. His The Walking Man features a salaryman wandering away from his usual route and finding a life full of grace in small moments, like a woman returning to the cherry tree of her childhood to lie down in its blossoms. Here, Hiroshi believably deals with his knowledge of the future and desire to alter the past. Time with Nagase at the beach, riding a motorcycle with her, questioning his father about his happiness, getting drunk with his friend Shimada, meeting Shimada at a distant hospital . . . We pull for Hiroshi to find his way, and for his family and companions to find theirs. It may be too sentimental for some readers, but not this one. show less

Era difficile da credere, ma ero incappato in una distorsione temporale che mi aveva riportato al tempo dei miei quattordici anni.
'Voglio vivere'. Se questa e' la realta', voglio vivere un'altra volta i miei quattordici anni. Cosi' pensai. (90)

Per un attimo, fui colto da una leggera vertigine. Questo tempo... il tempo di questi 14 anni, sta cambiando sottilmente da quello gia' vissuto. (112)

...il cielo e' cosi' alto.
Nuvole che fluttuano pigre, mi sembra di poterle toccare con una mano.
Com'e' misterioso, il cielo...
Esiste da sempre, lassu', trascendendo il tempo.
L'eternita'... forse e' il cielo stesso...
Sicuramente, nessuno puo' diventare veramente adulto...
Tutti quanti, nel profondo del cuore, sono ancora i bambini che erano un show more tempo...
...proprio come questo cielo...
Il tempo ci fa solo credere di essere diventati adulti...
Essere adulti significa essere legati da catene che imprigionano anche il cuore dei bambini, che e' libero.
Ora che sono tornato di nuovo ai miei 14 anni, mi rendo conto di poter vedere quelle cose che avevo trascurato, ignorato. (172-3) show less

Hiroshi Nakahara es un ejecutivo de 48 años que viaja hacia su casa en Tokio, agotado y con algo de resaca, cuando se equivoca de tren. Resulta que el tren llega hasta el lugar en el que vivió durante su infancia. Los recuerdos le vienen de improviso y decide visitar el cementerio en el que descansa su madre. Aquí sufrirá un desvanecimiento, y cuando despierte, se dará cuenta que vuelve a tener 14 años, pero con la mente y los recuerdos de 48. Será entonces cuando asistamos, junto al desconcertado Hiroshi, a su reencuentro con el pasado, que quedó marcado por un hecho trascendental, la desaparición de su padre.

‘Barrio lejano’, de Jiro Taniguchi, es una gran historia sobre el paso del tiempo y la posibilidad de enmendar los show more errores. Es una novela gráfica costumbrista, emotiva y sincera. show less

A mio avviso leggermente inferiore a 'Al tempo di papa'', è comunque un'opera monumentale, tenerissima e profonda. Ammiro (e un pochetto invidio) la spiritualità con cui riesce a disegnare, grazie alla quale trasmette emozioni eterogenee con una semplice tavola a china - tra le altre cose, le piu' perfette tavole a china che abbia mai visto.
Non è la tecnica geniale, non è per la costruzione delle inquadrature, non è neppure con la storia - è un'alchimia strana, di fraseggi evocativi di immagini, di sfumature abbozzate, di rimandi ad un ricordo nascosto che riposa in noi da qualche parte, quello con cui Taniguchi ci fa rimanere stupiti di fronte alle sue opere.

A contemplative manga about a man who finds himself cast back into his own boyhood, but retaining his adult thoughts and memories. The art is quietly rich, and I felt the detailed monochrome style added to the nostalic feel of the work. It tentatively explores the protagonist's childhood, touching on nostalgia, responsibility, guilt, family and the differences between children and adults. I enjoyed it, but unlike some manga I don't think I could have handled another volume afterwards, because the relative weight of the themes makes it a little more challenging. I'm not entirely sure whether I'll want to read more of this, as I sense some heavy and potentially painful issues on the horizon.

Really enjoyed this, but it's only volume 1 of 2, and so it feels premature to judge it. I liked the more narrative drive to this story, over Taniguchi's other work like The Walking Man (which was great - perhaps better in many ways - but you have to be in the mood for that, whereas this is easier to get into).

The story is about a 48-year old career man who finds himself back at school as a 14-year old. He revels in his new-found youth, in a way that frankly disturbs his classmates. Of course, there are some of the clashes from a changed generational perspective. But the main plot starts to develop as he starts to realise that he is potentially changing history. It's nicely done. Kinda slow-paced, but well-judged in my opinion.

I really show more like most of the art, although I'm not a fan of Taniguchi's facial expressions. Ah well.

I just wanted to keep on reading straight into volume 2. show less

In A Distant Neighborhood, a middle aged businessman gets on the wrong train and accidentally finds himself wandering the streets of the small town he grew up in. Then, in a mysterious turn of events, he finds himself transported back in time, trapped in the body of his 14-year-old self. Much of the book is predicatble: as a teenager again, he tries to right the wrongs of his past, and revel in the last freedoms of childhood. What is wonderful about this book, though (other than the art, which is crisp and meticulous and wonderful to look at) is its attention to the mundane details of small-town Japanese life. From small, trivial social mores to the tiniest details of food and entertainment, Taniguchi sucks the reader into a different show more world almost completely. It's a wonderful, absorbing read, and I can't wait to get the second volume show less