Tag Archives: Taiyo Matsumoto

Blue Spring, by Taiyo Matsumoto (Review)

Blue Spring
By Taiyo Matsumoto
216 pages, softcover, Published by Viz Media

Review by John Anderson

The Japanese title of Blue Spring is aoi haru (青い春), which can also be translated as “inexperienced adolescence” (a more wink-and-a-nod English title might have been Green Spring). These short stories about disillusioned teenagers are funny, violent, frightening, and sometimes blue. The longest stories, “If You’re Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands” and “The Revolver”, with their chaotically cramped panels, convey the impression of stretches of boredom punctuated by violence and intense excitement. In the first story, a gang of teenage boys at an extremely rundown school relieve their boredom by playing a game that involves seeing how many times they can clap their hands while leaning off the school roof. Try to clap too many times, and you won’t be able to grab the railing before you fall. “It’s not as scary if you imagine there’s a pool down there,” says one boy.

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REVIEW: SUNNY Volume 1, by Taiyo Matsumoto

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Title: Sunny volume 1
Words and art: Taiyo Matsumoto
Publisher: Viz

Reviewed by John Anderson

There is a moment in Matsumoto’s science fiction epic Number 5 where one of the characters talks about what is most important to him: “The kids are playing on a hill bathed in sunset… Red bean soup and home baked bread on the table… The kids talk about their day… The sight of herons headed south… A mundane life… I’ll do everything I can to get that back.” It’s tempting to see this moment as a preview of his wonderful new book, Sunny.

But while Sunny is a sweet and thoughtful chronicle of the mundane events that make life worth living, it is also full of sadness. Its characters are children who live in a home because they have been separated from their parents. Sei vainly believes that his parents will come back for him. Kenji’s father is always drunk. Haruo doesn’t want to see his mother because when he does, he is just anxious about the moment when they will have to say goodbye.

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FREE SCREENING: PING PONG, based on the manga by Taiyo Matsumoto – June 6

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The Japan Foundation, The Beguiling, and The Toronto Comic Arts Festival Present

“Ping Pong”
The live action film based on the manga by Taiyo Matsumoto
Thursday, June 6, 6:30 pm
@ The Japan Foundation, Toronto, 131 Bloor St. W., 2nd Floor of the Colonnade
Admission: Free
Reservation required: http://www.jftor.org/whatson/rsvp.php

Film Language: In Japanese with English subtitles

pingpong_postersAs a part of its presentation of “The World of Taiyo Matsumoto” gallery show, The Japan Foundation, The Beguiling, and The Toronto Comic Arts Festival are pleased to present an intimate screening of PING PONG, a live-action film based on the manga by Taiyo Matsumoto.

Join Curator Christopher Butcher as he gives a brief introduction to the film and the manga that it’s based upon, including how the film may have changed the course of Matsumoto’s career!

“The movie has some of the feel of a good graphic novel and offers a lot of Japanese pop pleasures as well. The images are eye-catching and highly colorful, the pacing is fast, and the story and the characters are simple, grabby and archetypal.” -Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

This is a really fun movie, and I’m going to try to put together a very cool presentation based on the adaptation of the film. I hope you’ll come out to see it (and hey, RSVP to guarantee a space!).

– Chris @ The Beguiling

 

TCAF 2013 Posters, Prints, Shirts, Bags & More Now Available!

You may or may not know, but this year we produced a whole bunch of awesome stuff for TCAF 2013! Purchase of these items supports TCAF and all the good work we do (especially the posters), so we hope you’ll consider buying something pretty and/or useful for your life AND supporting TCAF at the same time.

The full range of items is now available, and we’ll even ship some of the items to you out there in the world! Here’s a quick run-down:

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The Beguiling 25th Anniversary Tote Bag – $10
This sturdy tote is emblazoned with The Beguiling’s 25th Anniversary logo in front, and TCAF logo on the back. It measures 12″ tall x 14″x wide x 6″ deep, is water resistant, features two interior pockets, and is basically the best tote you will ever own. Also available in TCAF 2011 Yellow, and TCAF 2012 Black.

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TCAF 2013 T-Shirt – $20
We have a very limited number of these shirts left, sported by TCAF 2013’s amazing volunteers. American Apparel T, neon green lettering. Available in a variety of Men’s and Womens’ sizes.

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TCAF 10th Anniversary Poster by Maurice Vellekoop – $10
TCAF 2013 Poster by Taiyo Matsumoto – $10
Want to own a little piece of history and keep TCAF going strong? Check out our amazing new posters for 2013! The stunning, detailed 10th Anniversary Poster by Toronto’s own Maurice Vellekoop, and our lovel 2013 poster by Tokyo’s Taiyo Matsumoto. Both posters measure approximately 16″ x 26″, printed on a thick, bright white matte stock. Available in-store and online at http://www.beguiling.com/artproductlist.asp?ID=59

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Gengoroh Tagame – “TORNADO” Risograph Print – $10
TCAF 2013 Featured Guest Gengoroh Tagame created this outstanding original image for us at TCAF, and we’ve turned it into a very limited edition risograph print (11″x17″) with the help of Color Code Printing. Less than 50 of these are left! (Please note, the image shown is a photograph of a framed print, and there are some reflections in the glass.) Available in-store and on-line at http://www.beguiling.com/artproductlist.asp?ID=59.

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TCAF 10th Anniversary Dojinshi Booklet – $10
Produced for TCAF’s exhibition at Kaigai Manga Festa in Japan, the 10th Anniversary book is a wonderful souvenir of the festival! It includes all of the poster-art for TCAF 2003-2012, but it also includes rare and otherwise-unavailable images from Evan Dorkin, Usamaru Furuya, Konami Kanata, Jim Mahfood, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Natsume Ono, Peter Thompson, Noel Tuazon, and Maurice Vellekoop! English/Japanese text.

If you’re a diehard TCAF fan and need us to ship something to you, e-mail mail@beguiling.com and we’ll see what we can do!

– Chris

Thanks to: Model Andrew Townsend (photos 1 & 2), Dustin Harbin for The Beguiling 25th Anniversary Logo Design, Poster/Print artists Matsumoto, Tagame, and Vellekoop, KT for bag & shirt design.