Created by: Jiro Taniguchi
Chapters: 15
Hello and welcome to Manga Musings’ Week 2! This time around, I look back at another series which is a favorite of mine but is not as popular among modern manga fans, Jiro Taniguchi’s opus, Haruka na Machi e or A Distant Neighborhood. Let’s dive in:
THE PREMISE:
48-year-old Hiroshi Nakahara is mysteriously transported to his 14-year-old-self back when he was in high-school, with the memories of the life he’s lived still intact. He slowly comes to terms with being out-of-time and out-of-place and even starts enjoying being given an opportunity to relive his life once again, only to realize that his actions have consequences on the future in ways beyond his control.
WHY YOU SHOULD READ IT:
Last week, we took a look at Let’s Talk About Ethics, a manga with parallels in story to a more famous work in GTO, though with a distinctly different and more mature approach. And keeping up with that tradition, this week we have another manga which seems to have a plot that, on paper, looks exactly the same as Boku Dake ga Inai Machi or Erased but just like last time, there is start contrast in the handling of the two narratives.
While Erased used this premise to weave an addictive narrative full of twists and turns aplenty, Haruka na Machi e takes a more somber and melancholic approach. As someone who has always been fascinated with the concept of time travel ever since I saw Groundhog Day on DVD, I always have wondered what I would do if I were to find myself in such a situation (frivolous fantasies of a day-dreamer, I know). There’s just this certain sense of sadness that I always attach with the characters of such stories: a kind of unexplainable loneliness. To have all these things in our heart and not be able to talk to anyone about it. Having to deal with the helplessness of it all. The Burden of Deja-vu.
Another thing that has always intrigued me about such stories is how they touch upon the concept of free will. Do we ever play a part in deciding what becomes of our lives or is everything pre-ordained to happen in an unchangeable manner, right from the start?
Haruka na Machi e is a story which touches upon all these themes but it uses its time travel plot device to cast a ruminative glance over the past, or rather, the version of our past which we keep etched in our memories: the things we unknowingly forget and the terrible things we keep hidden away inside our heads and a reminder of the many ways in which time really does take its toll on us all.
WHY YOU SHOULDN’T READ IT:
This is a seinen manga and the art style is no way near the most attractive you will find in the medium. There are no shounen tropes, no climactic fights and also no nail-biting mysteries. It’s the story of a man dealing with a terrible loss and his journey in coming to terms with a childhood he remembers only in bits and pieces. More than anything else, it’s about life and living it. So, if you expect to find any of the things you generally associate with the genre, you will be sorely disappointed.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Haruka na Machi e is an underrated gem from an artist who is known for penning stories which are the very apotheosis of his perspective on life and how, like him, they tend to be representative of the beauty that exists in the routine and the mundane. It’s a very short read and one which will surely leave you enriched by the end. Do check it out.
SCORE: 8.2/10
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As per the poll results, Nagata Kabi’s My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness has been voted upon as the title to be covered next week. To make sure your favorite series also gets coverage and helping me decide what to cover the week after, be sure to vote right here! And as always, feel free to leave new recommendations down below. I’ll be sure to add them in later polls.
Thank you for reading! See ya next Monday! ^^
You’ve heard there’s a live-action version of this manga? Only it’s not Japanese, but French instead. Quite interesting actually. You should take a look at it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s11YkANuyfs
Oh, I did not know that! And the trailer does look pretty interesting. It should be a complete adaptation because the manga’s only 15 chapters. Guess I will check it out for one of these days. Thanks!!
Yeah, I was immediately reminded of ERASED when I read the premise. But I’ll probably check this out when I feel like it.
I did too! But this story takes a very different approach to Erased.
It’s drenched in nostalgia and there’s almost no tension. Yet still, somehow it all works so well. You should read it and see if you like it for yourself.
Taniguchi is one of my top three mangaka and so far I enjoyed every single one of his works. I find this premise here interesting because of the loneliness you mentioned, the wish to return to the past, plus, it’s such a great experiment to relive the own history again with the knowledge of an adult (and memories you have long since forgotten).
For example: How many things have you missed kid? Behavior of adults like parents that seemed mysterious or egoistical back then might suddenly make sense now when you see it again, because this time (and with enough life experience) you see the hints you couldn’t have noticed as kid. It’s a mix between some nostalgia escapism on the one hand and realizing that some things might be different than you remembered them after decades on the other hand.
You probably know his stuff anyway but Chichi no koyomi has a similar premise, though without actual time-travel. I was happy noticing how popular Jiro is in my country and even more in France and Italy. People should check him out, he is the one guy that can make a manga about nothing but a promenading old man interesting!
Plus, there is also Kamigami no Itadaki, for those who want something more epic. Thanks for this short review and promoting this type of manga!
Oh, yes. I am familiar with Taniguchi-sensei’s other works too. I have in fact read both of the manga you mentioned with Chichi no koyomi being an especially enjoyable read. I too love how his works are all so rooted in reality and even when dealing with pop themes (time travel, for example), are never over-the-top or melodramatic.
There’s another one of his works which I love called The Walking Man. It’s a manga which astounds me with its simplicity yet the narrative never meanders and it’s one of the most relaxing manga I have ever read. Check it out if you haven’t already. And as always, thank you for reading and appreciating my reviews and be sure to vote in the poll to help me decide what I read next. 🙂