A world suspended in time and space, a place on the border between the dreamlike and the surreal that is the backdrop to a road story psychology of two apparently different individuals, coupled by the fate that made them move away from their place of origin. Number 5 is one of the manga of Taiyo Matsumoto of the early 2000s, serialized for five years in the magazine Ikkisubsequently collected in 8 volumes, which comes out for the first time in Italy in the incredible edition of J-POP in two full-bodied volumes with slipcase. Avant-garde and multifaceted tableswhich fully reflect the intimate and artistic vein of the master Matsumoto, inclined to the intimate representation of the upheavals of the human psyche, rendered through deformed and unrealistic tables, combined with moments of narrative and visual relaxation.
Number 5 can be considered a conceptual summa of Matsumoto’s earlier works, from Table tennis to Tekkonkinkreet, however, addressing himself in a non-place different from the apparently concrete ones of the previous works. And this is precisely how a compelling story unfolds, sensitive and varied in metaphorical ideas and references, built around a recurring conceptual mantra: the evident fleetingness of life mediated by the cruelty of the human being.
- Original title: Number Five
- English title: Number 5
- Japanese release: 2001-2005
- Italian release: March 30, 2022
- Number of volumes: 2 (complete)
- Publishing house: J-POP Manga
- Type: seinen, supernatural, psychological
- Drawings: Taiyo Matsumoto
- History: Taiyo Matsumoto
- Format: 15 x 21, b / w, paperback with dust jacket
- Number of pages: 1102 pages
We reviewed Number 5 through press volumes provided by J-POP Manga.
Matsumoto’s journey into the human soul
The constant shuffling of the image is symptomatic of an astral connection with the primordial essence of the visual nature. The involvement of the senses in almost empty shots intends to demonstrate how the will to reset the world and bring it back to a metaphysical rebirth, is enhanced by Matsumoto from the empty image, contrasting it with full instrumentals to the most intense moments of pure action. This expedient had already been used by the author, let’s just think about it Tekkonkinkreet or Gogo Monster, imposing this continuous dialectic between the metaphorical concept and the sense of construction of the drawn image. All this leads to a meditated contrast between frenetic full tables, baroquely centered on action and the mixing of kinetic lines that evoke pure movement, and tables of visual relaxation, centered on flat and static dreamlike backgrounds. The latter want to crystallize a moment, not just a graphic one: the intention is to enclose in a single frame a very important narrative moment, that of reflection. Silence, represented very often by the absence of diegetic balloons, intends to impose attention not so much on the image, but on the represented moment, much more important for Matsumoto than many action tables.
Five’s journey contrasts with Mike’s stasis, as if the latter wants to await his own destiny without performing any movement action. The visual and narrative conception described by Matsumoto in the tables of Number 5 it is directed towards a series of random references that are linked to a background line of continuity. The intention is to show the will of a single human being to bring the world back to a flourishing period of peace and prosperity, as opposed to the madness that this utopian dream entails. The nature of the human being must not be transcended, Taiyo Matsumoto seems to want to warn us, it is not possible to substitute an immanent god for the suffering of the world and its destruction.
In a world exterminated by human violence and reduced to an apparent peace of the facade, Number 5 wanders accompanied by the taciturn Matryoshka: once belonging to the famous Rainbow Team, a military organization to protect world peace, No. 5 is wanted because accused of killing some members of the same team and former teammates. The truth, however, always hides behind appearances and lurks, in this seeming perfect world, behind the ranks of politics and the human psyche. Number 5 from executioner turns into a paladin, who tries to put an end to the utopian and ideological aims of Number 1, the leader of the Rainbow Team.
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The whole manga is crossed by this line in some ways transcendental, which manifests itself overwhelmingly above all starting from the second volume, in which the nature of what can be considered the true antagonist is shown, but also showing the reasons and the past that led him to act in a certain way. The whole story is constructed following this conceptual basis, which manifests itself in the drawings through the methodical recourse to trick metaphysicians who can support the whole narrative.
Number 5: when the avant-garde meets the manga
Matsumoto’s avant-garde streak seems to manifest itself in an overbearing and preponderant way, especially in this work of the early 2000s., from which it will break away in part in subsequent works. It almost seems like in Number 5 the author wanted to pour all those feelings and metaphysical references enclosed in their primordial essence, represented by allegorical figures that nestle in Mike’s dreams and through the illusions produced by the magic of the two sorcerer twins Number 4. Describe and try to transpose into words the sensations deriving from reading Matsumoto’s work are always reductive, but never as in this case: to the transversal story that sees Number 5 and Matryoshka as protagonists in their wanderings around the world, seeking and at the same time escaping from the Peace Protection Organization , the formalist and conceptual one unfolds, surrounded by visual metaphors that are difficult to interpret. Or they are simply unconscious manifestations of the same author who tries to recreate on paper the unconscious and psychic sensations of human nature, fully succeeding in the intent of condensing in his tables a mirror world from which the reader is attracted and sucked, with the intent to convey the ultimate moral of the message of history.
It does not matter what the interpretation of Number 5 really is, nor whether the reader gives more importance to the story – at times not extremely understandable and clear – or to Matsumoto’s provocative intent to clearly impose his deterministic vision of society and his message of alarm on the cruelty of the human being. It does not matter, therefore, because the manga can be enjoyed in both cases: all the more reason it proves to be much more attractive for those who do not know too much the plot and all the diegetic implications, in order to appreciate only what transpires from the drawings and the narration. The finale is a riot of suffering and hope, which is manifested through tables with drawings full of visual meaning and feelings that shine through those few stylistic hints.
The manga, serialized in Japan in the early 2000s, was collected by J-POP for the release in Italy in two volumes omnibus large, embellished with a box with an unpublished illustration that contains them both (although they can also be purchased separately, without the cardboard box). An excellent publishing work, which compensates for the high cost of the single volume, which however is embellished with a dust jacket with reliefs and a poster in each. Perhaps the large format and thickness of each volume make them slightly fragile if opened excessively, so special care is recommended in handling them.
Who do we recommend Number 5 to?
Who loves Taiyo Matsumoto as an author and as a cartoonist he will not be disappointed by this metaphysical journey full of ethical and symbolic references. A reading advice also to those who have never read anything by the author, who can discover his metaphysical address through this manga, and then approach more extensive works by Matsumoto himself. Better if fasting an in-depth plot and spoilers of all sorts, the manga can be fully appreciated with all its symbolic implications just by not knowing anything about the story and how it is set on a narrative and structural level.
- History full of symbolisms and metaphors on the inevitability of the human being
- Varied and wonderfully structured table composition
- Prestigious edition
- Sometimes the narrative might appear slightly incomprehensible
- The large format edition may appear slightly fragile if not handled with care
Number 5
Taiyo Matsumoto’s metaphysical post-apocalyptic world
Man and his spasmodic desire to replace the supernatural will to regulate the universe: whether you call it God or Nature, it is certain that Taiyo Matsumoto with Number 5 wanted to represent this predisposition of human nature to want to transcend reality in order to overlap and oppose the cruelty of life. Through a visual and graphic representation based on the metaphysical relationship between art and symbolic content, Matsumoto manages to recreate a narrative universe based precisely on the shuffling of roles: whoever appears good is actually subjugated by ideology, whoever initially appears to be the antagonist is destined to to put an end to this sick game of subjugation of the human will. A current story, which can be reinterpreted in the light of the sick convictions of individuals who present themselves as transcendental beings and who with their wrong actions want to renew the world, bringing it even more to ruin.
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