Page 45 Review by Stephen
A so-far overlooked stunner from my favourite Japanese creator which - being the reconciliation between a son and the memory of his father - is arresting in its own right.
A young man, long distanced from his father, is recalled to his funeral and wake. He'd put off this visit home, time and again while his dad was alive, citing his workload, but really the reluctance ran deeper.
He arrives with substantial shame in his heart. Anticipating reprehension if not resentment from this step-mother and his uncle (his mother's brother), he is greeted instead with nothing but understanding, kindness and goodwill in their hearts. Quietly and tenderly, yet clearly and without compromise his uncle tells his nephew the truth he never knew, and in doing so catalyses so many questions that had lain dormant, uninspected in the son's heart, and clarifies them with answers...
Answers about the departure of his mother, many, many years ago when he was a very, very young boy, entirely unable to understand his mother's absence or comprehend its cause. There are two scenes which are utterly gutting: when he scampers across town in search of his Mum, only to find his kindly uncle instead... then later when he discovers postcards sent home, garners from them his mother's address and chases her across the country by train, and actually finds her. That's worse.
To understand now, he must learn more about his parents as individuals, the damage which the town's great fire did not just to his father's barber business, but also - in his determination to repay the loan from in-laws who never liked him - the damage wrought on their marriage. New memories surface, of being taken on holiday to the coastal countryside with his sister, by his father, and how different his dad was - how loving, how attentive, how much more fun - when flying solo.
As well as bathed in the most exhilaratingly beautiful art - delicate, intricate yet as exhilarating as a cool, clean sea-breeze; strong, sturdy, rich in detail but never cluttered - Taniguchi's creativity has always struck me as quiet, thoughtful and in search of the truth.
Not least so, here.
