Content Warning: Mild Body Horror, Snakes, Spider-like Creatures
Synopsis
Artist and writer Tsugawa Tomohito takes us on a journey through his dreams in this graphic pseudo-memoir. The short stories collected within flit between genres and tones in the blink of an eye.
The Dreams
Tsugawa pieced his dreams together to map out his dreamscape town. It makes for an interesting personal art project. Flipping through these stories reminded me of looking through my friends’ sketchbooks. It felt deeply personal in a way that most mainstream manga doesn’t.
The best part of Mermaid Town is definitely the artwork. The line work and sensitivity to the subject reminded me of war artist Henry Moore’s sketches of Londoners sheltering in underground train stations during the Blitz. Tsugawa shows a great understanding for dynamic drawing. He captures so much sensation in just a few careful strokes of a pencil. His layouts and panelling are varied, and interesting with repetition of format only ever done for dramatic effect. Each panel could be its own separate piece of artwork.
Tsugawa’s choice to present himself and the other people in his dreams as faceless, with only their mouths to express feeling, builds a dream-like environment. It reflects the way in which our dreams show just an idea of a person, and not who they actually are. It also demonstrates that these dreams are not as vivid as they appear; there are details that Tsugawa cannot recall. Perhaps this is Tsugawa’s attempt to stop the running water spilling through his cupped fingers.
The two dreams that stood out to me personally were “Black Arms” and “Obituary”. The first is due to how Tsugawa builds tension throughout, with twists and turns that capture the essence of every nightmare. The second because I too have had many a Sherlock Holmes dream. I’m always fond of hearing how people’s love of pop culture seeps into their dreams, and in particular, which role they pick for themselves. This was no exception. It was the most relatable story to me in the whole journal. On that point, as someone who doesn’t have recurring dreams (other than anxiety dreams) it was interesting to see what those can look and feel like.
The Nightmares
There is nothing more boring than other people’s dreams. These stories have no ongoing narrative, no conclusion, and no plot. Tsugawa makes a point that he’s not interested in dream analysis or seeking personal meaning in these stories, which makes them all feel futile. If Mermaid Town is an art project, it’s more like something you’d submit for class than a fully realised comic for mass publication. I found it to be quite the slog to get through despite how short and varied the stories were. For much of the book I simply did not care about what was happening.
The Conclusion
While Mermaid Town has a few stand-out stories, most of the time it didn’t feel worth it to keep on going to the end. It’s the sort of book I might pick up at a comics fair on a whim due to the artwork, but not one I would go out of my way to buy. I’m glad that Glacier Bay is publishing these kinds of art comics; it’s a good sign for the industry as a whole. The artwork alone makes it something worth reading and taking inspiration from, especially to those who haven’t been exposed to graphic travel logs before. However, I think there are better travel logs out there, like Wee Wanderings: My Solo Trip in Scotland, and Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea. I’ve found more joy looking through my friends’ sketchbooks from school trips and holidays than I did reading this manga.
There is absolutely nothing to critique about the artwork, which stands out compared to anything you might find in traditional manga magazines like Flowers or Morning. As a method for organising personal thoughts, it’s certainly a great one! But at the end of the day, this is a dream journal. Its appeal depends on how much you care about reading an ordinary person’s nighttime imaginations.
Mermaid Town is available directly from Glacier Bay Books.
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Credits
Story and Art: Tsugawa Tomohiro
Translation: Kristjan Rohde
Lettering: Lauren Eldon
Design/Layout: Emuh Ruh & Lauren Eldon
Editing: Emuh Ruh
Proofreading: zhuchka & rkp & Dustin Neal
English Edition by Glacier Bay Books
Thank you to Glacier Bay Books for providing a review copy. Receiving this copy did not affect the reviewer’s opinions as expressed here.
Article edited by: Adam Wescott
The Good
- Strong artwork
- Varied layouts and panelling
- Interesting concept
The Bad
- On the whole boring
- No narrative or plot
- No conclusions
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