Review by Karl Verhoven
From the beginning Asadora! has been a series difficult to categorise. The mysteries and mixing ordinary people in tumultuous events echoes the storytelling methods of Naoki Urasawa’s earlier 20th Century Boys; the exploits of teenage pilot Asa have the sheen of wonder supplied by Studio Ghibli, while the appearance of a sea monster references the Kaiju traditions of Japanese cinema. Setting the series first in the post-World War II occupation of Japan, then during the socio-economic revival of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games lands it during two pivotal moments of mid-20th century Japanese history. Then a broad cast look both forward and back. It’s a very deliberate social and cultural stew, and Urasawa further references Japanese cinema here. There’s also a dream-like quality to events. Whatever the intentions, the story and first rate art ensure compelling drama.
Volume 6 ended with the sea monster appearing again, this time in the vicinity of a coastguard ship, meaning keeping it a secret is going to be extremely difficult, even more so as Asa’s childhood friend Sho is experiencing a moment of crisis and also sees the monster. Meanwhile Tokyo streets being closed for the Olympic marathon hinder Asa accessing her plane, and so endanger the city.
Much of this volume is Asa in her plane attempting to divert the monster away from Tokyo, which despite now being set during daylight, re-runs a scene Urasawa supplied in Volume 5. However, this time there’s a significant difference, as elements set up in the previous volume fully flourish here. It’s a distinct step forward, and another step in merging Sho with the main plot.
Urasawa once again shifts rapidly forward after the previous scene-setting volume, and from Sho’s torment to Asa’s exuberance this volume is another delight in working its way to a great emotional moment of Asa standing up for herself. “There were 12 of us. Each of them had dreams and aspirations”, she explains. “Every last one of them was irreplaceable, so don’t tell me I don’t value life”.
Asadora! is the first of Urasawa’s works released in English not as a series already completed, but roughly comparable to the Japanese publication schedule of a volume a year (allowing for translation). Other Urasawa series have been released to a more frequent timetable, so this supplies a more authentic experience, although also a more frustrating one as we’re seemingly a long way from the end.
