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franchescanicole's review
3.0
I enjoyed reading this manga. I didn't have too many opinions about it, and it wasn't the most inspiring book or the most eventful memoir I've ever read, but it was a good experience.
trevoryan's review
4.0
Maybe the biggest comic book/graphic novel/manga I've ever seen, but it goes by fast because the story is so interesting and so well told. This is the first-person account of the beginning of manga in Japan, after WWII.
ericfheiman's review
1.0
I've heard that Tatsumi is a master Manga artist, but other than some interesting history about postwar Japan, this tome bored me to tears.
alexrobinsonsupergenius's review
2.0
I really wanted to like this book but was somewhat disappointed. I think part of it was that there was a lot of discussion about Japanese comics which went over my head so if you're more familiar with the artists he's talking about you may find it more compelling than I did.
blairconrad's review
3.0
A long history of Yoshirio Tatsumi's life. Aside from a few insights into how early manga collections came to be, I didn't really find that there was much here to keep me interested. The artwork was decent, and from time to time an "event of interest" occurred, but by the end I was reading it just to get it done.
radicaledwardiv's review
5.0
I thought this was great. I loved the style. The ending was really great and hit me as it came to a close.
The story really showed how an artist could be swept away by their work into a whole different world of friendships and rivals, love and loss "A Drifting Life" has it all. I love how he puts in historical facts in as well to show what is happening on the "outside" showing impacts of his daily life changing with new technologies.
This a great read for anyone with a passion of the arts.
The story really showed how an artist could be swept away by their work into a whole different world of friendships and rivals, love and loss "A Drifting Life" has it all. I love how he puts in historical facts in as well to show what is happening on the "outside" showing impacts of his daily life changing with new technologies.
This a great read for anyone with a passion of the arts.
saidtheraina's review
3.0
Fictionalized autobiography of a manga-creator who's apparently a pretty big deal.
Covers 1945-1995 or so. There are some interesting sections every chapter or so where they highlight popular cultural artifacts/events of the time. Highlights artistic struggles, invention and innovation of form, publishing games, infighting between creators....
I've read a fair number of graphic novel memoirs, which by definition are generally about graphic novel creators, but this may have been my first manga of the type.
Black and white. Drags in parts, but that's pretty typical of real life.
Also, it is LONG. 834 pages, not counting end notes.
Covers 1945-1995 or so. There are some interesting sections every chapter or so where they highlight popular cultural artifacts/events of the time. Highlights artistic struggles, invention and innovation of form, publishing games, infighting between creators....
I've read a fair number of graphic novel memoirs, which by definition are generally about graphic novel creators, but this may have been my first manga of the type.
Black and white. Drags in parts, but that's pretty typical of real life.
Also, it is LONG. 834 pages, not counting end notes.
helpfulsnowman's review
2.0
Holy lord, that bastard was long. I mean long. I mean like [Apatow joke] long.
This epic graphic novel follows the life of Yoshihiro Tatsumi, from a young manga fan to a writer to, apparently, a manga master.
I don't know much about manga, so don't take my ignorance here as a slam on ol' Yoshi.
The best parts were the stories from his personal life, and the small details about living in post WWII Japan were interesting. For example, it was years after the war before Japanese citizens were allowed to drink Coca-Cola. It was all saved for the occupiers, I guess. Ah, freedom.
On the flipside, most chapters start with little historical bits that don't really mean a lot to me, what was going on culturally, especially pop-culturally, in Japan at the time. The big movies, the big songs, and so on.
Here is where the review borders on culturally insensitive. Brace yourselves.
I had a hell of a time connecting to these parts because they all read like this to me:
[Japanese name] came out with [bizarre magazine name] which revolutionized manga with its [Japanese word] style.
I shit you not, there must be a couple hundred different Japanese names in this book, and being only a seven-year student of Japanese, wink, I had a hell of a time keeping them straight, and eventually I just skipped them over if I had a sense that the characters weren't sticking around long.
On the plus, this almost seems like a book made for Western audiences, by which I mean the boys look like boys, the girls look like girls, and the characters look different from each other. It's super not okay to say that all people of a certain type look the same, but I think it's okay to say something like, "All the men Frank Quitely DRAWS look the same," and it's honestly a problem I have with a lot of Japanese comics. But this one, between its differentiated characters (Flop of Hair in Front Guy, Beret Man, Glasses Dude) left-to-right style, and fairly consistent layout is a breezy read for most comic folks.
The art is tidy and well-expressed, and there's a definite impressive quality to the simplicity of the drawings that is worth a looksie. Outside of that, I can't honestly think of much reason to read this unless you're a fan of the man or really interested in the history of manga, but a history ending thirty years ago.
This epic graphic novel follows the life of Yoshihiro Tatsumi, from a young manga fan to a writer to, apparently, a manga master.
I don't know much about manga, so don't take my ignorance here as a slam on ol' Yoshi.
The best parts were the stories from his personal life, and the small details about living in post WWII Japan were interesting. For example, it was years after the war before Japanese citizens were allowed to drink Coca-Cola. It was all saved for the occupiers, I guess. Ah, freedom.
On the flipside, most chapters start with little historical bits that don't really mean a lot to me, what was going on culturally, especially pop-culturally, in Japan at the time. The big movies, the big songs, and so on.
Here is where the review borders on culturally insensitive. Brace yourselves.
I had a hell of a time connecting to these parts because they all read like this to me:
[Japanese name] came out with [bizarre magazine name] which revolutionized manga with its [Japanese word] style.
I shit you not, there must be a couple hundred different Japanese names in this book, and being only a seven-year student of Japanese, wink, I had a hell of a time keeping them straight, and eventually I just skipped them over if I had a sense that the characters weren't sticking around long.
On the plus, this almost seems like a book made for Western audiences, by which I mean the boys look like boys, the girls look like girls, and the characters look different from each other. It's super not okay to say that all people of a certain type look the same, but I think it's okay to say something like, "All the men Frank Quitely DRAWS look the same," and it's honestly a problem I have with a lot of Japanese comics. But this one, between its differentiated characters (Flop of Hair in Front Guy, Beret Man, Glasses Dude) left-to-right style, and fairly consistent layout is a breezy read for most comic folks.
The art is tidy and well-expressed, and there's a definite impressive quality to the simplicity of the drawings that is worth a looksie. Outside of that, I can't honestly think of much reason to read this unless you're a fan of the man or really interested in the history of manga, but a history ending thirty years ago.
mikethepysch's review
3.0
Well. I trudged through this... It is definitely slow. And I really like some heavy character driven graphic novels. But man, this felt infinitely more slow than the others I've read (like blankets/habibi). But I did make it through. Over 800 pages of fairly boring text... Even most of the conflict barely felt interesting.