Is there anything that’s as intimately linked to humanity as music? Long ago, a caveman hit two sticks together in the same rhythmic pattern, and every caveman in a ten-foot area went “aiushlvuhsdjvdsfio.” Twenty millennia later, the boys in Bongripper play the same four notes, and humans still go “aiudfhsdjvsfnvisivnsfnv.” Music moves us. That indisputable fact is what led Ryoichiro Kezuka (writer and illustrator) to create the music-centric manga, Record Journey.
The Journey of Record Journey
Currently, Record Journey has three volumes, but only the first has been translated. Yet with only a single English volume available, there’s enough to let your mind wander. As far as manga go, Record Journey is unpretentious. Every time I pick up a manga (or book in general), the artwork has something to do with it, but I rarely have any expectations as to what’s inside the pages. But this story is the literary version of quicksand. With every flip of a page, I fell deeper into the story.
The manga has six chapters: the first, second, third, and sixth are standalone pieces, while the fourth and fifth form a single story. While the first, third, and sixth chapters (Recollection Record, The Staggs Invasion, and Ashlee’s Diner) are slower-paced works, they’re comfortably familiar. There’s much to be said of any literary work when a significant portion of its readers can relate to the feelings it’s conveying.
But where I think Record Journey dazzles is in its second and fourth/fifth chapters. The first, Night at the Secret Record Shop, tells the story of a young girl in the Soviet Bloc who tries to find an illegal record shop to purchase a vinyl from her favorite band. The fourth and fifth chapters (Steer the Waves, Over the Water) tell the tale of an illegal broadcast ship. And it surprised me that people and other reviewers think that those stories are relegated to the past or hyped up. We often forget that the commonplace is a luxury. Record Journey reminds us of that.
When Music Has Barriers
The pirate broadcast ships , illegal records and stores covered in Record Journey were common during the Cold War. And while it’s easy to infer that these stories died with the fall of the Berlin Wall, music still isn’t truly free. I could point out that these things still happen in dictatorships like North Korea and Cuba. But most people would easily believe that. However, most readers would be surprised to know that artists are still frequently banned from performing in democratic countries over their political/religious views. I still remember about a Guatemalan friend complaining that Marduk wasn’t allowed to enter the country because they were “too satanic.”
Even the US has clamped down on artists it finds objectionable. Last year the US State Department revoked the visas of Los Alegres del Barranco after they displayed an image of El Mencho during one of their performances.
Plenty of people aren’t upset over governments clamping down on artists with “questionable” themes. But what’s offensive changes, and no matter what governments do people will get the media they want to consume. Kudos to Record Story for presenting stories that make people think about topics they normally wouldn’t, but need to
The Art and Production of Record Journey
I don’t know everything; I just know what I know, and I know that Kezuka-sensei’s art in Record Journey matches the story perfectly. The manga’s artwork is clean, but tone and shading heavy. Likewise, I have to praise the level of detail, at times Kezuka-sensei’s art is meticulous and obsessive in the best of ways. Manga is supposed to be emotive, and you clearly see every expressed and underlying emotion the story wants to convey. And that lets you understand that the person drawing it is drawing on emotion. Record Journey isn’t the work of someone who decided to write and illustrate a fiction manga; it’s the work of someone who used fiction to convey lived experiences. It’s an ode to everything music is. And if music has ever been your comfort, the manga will resonate with you.
That said, Titan Manga’s lettering feels bland by comparison. Having worked for a print magazine, I know that you have to use fonts that are legible. Many readers have visual impairments, and the more defined a font, the more accessible it is. Too often, legal publishers equate accessibility with dullness. Until they resolve that misconception, piracy will maintain an unmissable advantage. Nonetheless, I would still tell anyone interested in it to purchase a copy.
*Titan Manga provided us with a free copy of Record Journey for this review.*
Thanks for reading. Ja ne.
©Ryoichiro Kezuka 2022/ Kadokawa Corp.
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