Reiraku
Downfall

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

Well, I can see why Asano did this, and I know that this won't be the newers cup of tea certainly.

reiraku is a serious introspective on a mangaka's mature life on the real terms, not the "bakuman terms" or something, I loved Bakuman but, as time goes by one grow up enough to enjoy this kind of stories even more than the pink-coloured ones.

If you might want to know a narrowed asano's facet then this is for you, if you are expecting a shonenensque story this might not be for you. If you have ever felt frustrated about a recurrent decision in your life this ... is for you. I'll let you choose your fighter in this one. Hope you pick up the right path.

"Mangaka are self-centered"
The former sentence is the key to understand "Downfall" (Reiraku). This manga is mainly about the sort of person who becomes an artist and lives for the art. It may be perhaps a confession of life, who knows for sure but Asano himself.

This story starts with a first-person description of one of the protagonist's former lovers. He claims he didn't understand her. We are shown the protagonist's success as an author as he finishes one of his series, but also a deep lack of satisfaction; his marriage is dull, people don't pay him as much attention as he'd like when he speaks; soon ... he walks around the gigantic city of Tokyo like a ghost. At this point in his life he's come to hate his craft.
Through the whole work, every page and every dialogue involves the protagonist and makes him the center of attention. Every decision he makes appears as if he were the omnipotent author of his life, as if he was just expecting the consequences of his actions "to see" what happens, yet none of them fulfill him. In a way he goes through his life as if he was writing manga. the complete subjectivity that Asano portrays on this work is one of the clues of interpretation that we're given. There are moments along the story in which we are shown the total lack of reliability of the narrator, and how biased his worldview is. Is that a requirement for exercising this kind of profession? Is this unique to Asano's line of manga? How do this kind of people go through their interpersonal lives?

This work is short and by talking more about it, I run the risk of spoiling it. Because of that I just leave with these points that want to point towads an interpretation: It seems that Asano here reflects on his own works and his future as a writer, on the kind of person that dedicates their life to artistic self expression and the relation to a capitalistic market, but lastly on what the phenomenom of manga means to the readers.

Here Asano creates an intimate work that gazes upon the individual and their ouvre.

I really thought I was going to read something great, unlike bakuman, reiraku showed a more obscure side about the mangakas, very similar but still different from the presentation of "i am a hero", closer to the real.
I found the moment when the first and last chapter repeated some sentences but completely different visions, and that almost made it good, but I feel like I've been cut about 10 chapters of the series because it does not end, it closes more does not come to a conclusion, despite completing an "arc" yet yes it is too small to have any esplicitness that really was good. ... I feel frustrated to have read the endless end.
was not bad overall, many people were satisfied with this, but for me there were missing chapters
I hope I have helped.

tl;dr: A dreary manga about a burnt out mangaka that doesn’t really have a point but is reasonably interesting considering how short it is.

Manga itself is a pretty common theme in manga. After all, it’s easiest to write about something one has experience on and mangaka inherently have experience with manga. However, most such manga are mangaka channeling the experience they had with a previous successful work into the story of a mangaka making their way to the top. This is very much the opposite. This manga is about a mangaka that’s completely burnt out on manga. It starts off with him ending a successful ... series, and the majority of the rest of it is him continuing going through life while still as a mangaka, but as one that has absolutely no desire to draw any more manga.

Through flashbacks it shows how he was before when he was just starting out as a mangaka as well as the various factors that turned him into the jaded individual he becomes, mainly due to how everyone’s self-worth seems to have become entirely centered around how many books they sell. And beyond that it basically just shows him moping around. A mangaka that isn’t writing anymore manga is a pretty interesting character to focus on. This work presents mangakas as inherently self-centered as being so is necessary in order to be the type of person that’s able to write good manga. This isn’t that rare of a concept, as many other manga-oriented works do that as well, but they’re usually shown to be quirky and interesting enough as writers that they’re still likable.

However, once a self-centered mangaka isn’t writing manga anymore, they’re just a self-centered individual without anything more to them. Thus, in this case, while this manga does paint the protagonist’s circumstances as somewhat complicated it ultimately does largely feel like a result of his own actions and mentality and the only aspect about him that particularly felt worthy of empathy was how lonely he was. And thus, it very much feels the protagonist is unlikable by design, and thus it’s not really the type of story the reader is supposed to get invested in the protagonist of, rather it’s just a look into the life of the protagonist in a specific phase of their life.

I suppose that it’s decent enough at that and the emotions of being burnt out come through reasonably well. And considering how short it is I suppose that’s enough to make the work decent overall, but not more than that. It’s reasonably interesting in a sense, but it doesn’t really feel like it’s trying to tell any sort of story or convey any sort of message, nor is it particularly amusing, so it doesn’t feel like there’s enough substance to it. It also doesn’t really feel like it has anything that would leave and sort of lasting impact on the reader. So once again, it’s pretty short, so it’s a worthwhile enough read considering that I suppose, but it’s not particularly memorable or worth mentioning beyond that.

The art is high quality, and the art style fits pretty well, but it’s a realistic type that doesn’t look all that eye pleasing, so it doesn’t draw much merit from that either.

The depressing reality of a middle aged manga artist. Vulgar, intimate, rough. Everything in his life is going wrong, the only hope he finds is in young prostitutes. It is just a short glimpse into this life, so short that I personally gained nothing from this story. The best thing about this genre is that it usually makes you feel emotions, but it did not do that for me. It is Asano, so it is written really well, you will be captivated and have no problem reading it in one go. I would only really suggest it to people who are interested in manga artists, ... even as someone who is a fan of this genre and artist.

Not many manga focus on depressing realities like this one.

“Reiraku” is one of Inio Asano's works I've heard the least about. It's not a long narrative, or an interesting series of events. We just get a depiction of how depressed a human being can be as an author of things they hate. About losing passion for something you'd die for years before. It's brutal, but not in a typical sense. Sometimes, life doesn't let you have a happy marriage, or a friendly relationship. Money can't buy things as subjective as happiness, only a respite from the hate you have around the world. Prostitution, alcohol, ... things that numb the dull movements in life, while the next step lies in things that can't be quantified away from creativity.

Short, not sweet, and to the point. We don't have heroes as characters, but normal, daily villains that mess up at every page turn. Victims, predators, and their clashes aren't climactic, just depressing to watch. You wish for at least one to escape the loop, but it all comes back to making an impact on somebody. The lesson is about making those outside the loop never enter it. Making somebody happy with your creativity can push life forwards, even if nothing changes, you made a change in a human being. That might've been worth it.

It's just a very reflective manga that doesn't try to envelop you in a sad mantel. You're not relating too much with characters due to the short runtime and constant time jumps. It feels more like a diary that's constantly put away, than a constantly building narrative.

The art's perfect for this story. Honest, objective, realistically ugly, never straying away from the truth. There's no other way this manga could've been shown.

8/10. It just works. Not fun to read, more focused on criticizing its own medium, and trying to open reader's eyes to what amounts to a hypocritical person rambling about their messed up lives.

English:
Reiraku it's an immersive experience where we come face to face with the dark reality of a mangaka tired of his life, of his reality, without any reason to follow his routine, looking for a way to get out of it. Fukasawa is a character who feels as real as everyone else in this story, and that is what makes this manga so impressive and vivid to feel. I cannot say anything else, it's an experience to live, and you will understand if you ever felt that your inspiration died at some point in your life.

Español:
La verdad, no supe como expresar lo vivido en ... inglés, digo... Reiraku no solo va dirigido a mangakas, sino a gente que lo deja todo sin motivacion alguna, siento que Reiraku es una experiencia introspectiva para quien no sienta ganas de seguir viviendo sin querer necesariamente suicidarse... la verdad es que Reiraku es un manga a tener en consideración a la hora de hablar de realidad... Reiraku es realidad...

The art is fantastic, but that's about it.

The story is more or less a loose commentary on capitalism, tackling loneliness, cyclical generational jadedness/rosy-retrospection, having meaning in life, and coping with a loss of said meaning - providing a look into the "real" inner workings of the manga/entertainment industry.

Overall, the protagonist just fills the aching void in his soul with "the pleasures of the flesh" for like half the narrative. Most of the other characters are just concerned about preserving their professions - as you'd expect of any self-loving professional or anybody for that matter.

I think there's very little payoff for reading it beyond becoming needlessly ... depressed with the "realism."

This type of work is not the usual story that I pick up. I tend to drift more towards more nihilstic aspects so I guess that is what drew me to this. It is also my first Asano book so it probably wasnt a good place to start.

The manga is interesting from the standpoint that the narrator does a really bad job of describing what is going on, mostly with people. I have had my experience with first person stories before but never with such a unreliable perspective, which I suppose is part of the point. The main character is very biased and personal and ... you can feel that in the way the manga views other characters, and you can easily slip into his bias with him while reading it. I think the side characters do a good job at being a set piece for what is essenstially a character study.

I think this is a manga that will make you think about what is actually going on and feel some despair along the way. The art is amazing and you can easily feel the settings he puts on spreads. Overall I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys the nihilistic character studies and bleak outlook type slice of life stories.

Nope, this book was definitely not my kind of read.

My first depressing read, and it will probably my last read too. While some sad books have a good story to tell, this manga was nothing like I had imagined. The main protagonist is a self-loathing and a depressed manga artist who gets a writer-block because of a horrible cat-eyed girl he dated back in college. Initially, I did have some sympathy towards the main character but as each chapter unfolded, the character gets unlikeable due to his disguisting acts.

The part of the writer's block interested me a bit to keep it going, but ... it completely flipped when he assaults his wife at the end of the manga.

2 stars for me for horrible characterization, poor story-line (because there wasn't any) but I would give 1 star for an amazing artwork which was what made the manga readable all the long.