A city and a secret that binds two apparently different people, but whose relationship seems to be rooted within the impassable walls of this nostalgic place. Kowloon – Generic Romance is the new manga of Jun Mayuzuki, author of the famous Like after the rain. Published by J-POP, Kowloon is an apparently slice of life manga with a hint of sci-fi and mystery themes. Everything seems to converge towards a gradual definition of the real intentions of the story.
- Original title: Kowloon Generic Romance
- English title: Kowloon Generic Romance
- Japanese release: 2019
- Italian release: September 15, 2021
- Number of volumes: 5 (in progress)
- Publishing house: J-POP Manga
- Type: slice of life, sci-fi, mystery
- Drawings: Jun Mayuzuki
- History: Jun Mayuzuki
- Format: 12.5 x 18
- Number of pages: 186
We reviewed Kowloon Generic Romance via press volume provided to us by J-POP Manga.
The city of Kowloon it is a crossroads of feelings that are confused: nostalgia for the past, anxiety for the present and hope for the future. Everything in this place seems to be built to remain intact over time, while the rest of the world progresses inexorably. Within the walls of Kowloon they live Kujirai And Kudo, two simple employees of a real estate agency who move like ghosts in this now dull, almost motionless city, characterized only by nostalgia and romanticism.
A mysterious tranquility
Kowloon it is apparently a linear story of daily life built by exploiting particular and variegated shots, which immediately convey the sense of tearing up and homologation with respect to the rest of society. Very tall buildings that stand out on the streets: the house of the protagonist Kujirai is graphically confused with the other apartments, to designate an apparent sense of estrangement and immobility.
The story of Kowloon in this first volume doesn’t seem to suggest much about the plot, which unfolds very slowly over the tables of the first chapters, providing the reader with only very small graphic clues and some sporadic narrative elements. Everything is built to reveal nothing about the true nature of Kowloon, what happened to the rest of the world and what will happen on the Generic Terra artificial base.
The narrative is therefore for the most part linear, to upset the reader in a slow and inexorable way. An interesting and not particularly obvious choice, above all dictated by the patience with which the author tends to dwell on the little things, so as not to make the reader suspect anything. This methodology with which the shots and cartoons are crossed, almost as if to explore them rather than show them, is also given by the fragmentation into small graphic portions, which make the sequencing even better than simple overall but static vignettes.
Kowloon seems to be a peaceful city of yesteryear, characterized by large buildings now very old, commercial districts crowded with markets and stalls, quiet and ordinary citizens. Kudo and Kujirai also seem to have a life without upheavals: they both work in a real estate agency, their relationship seems to be conflicting at times, but it hides more than it reveals …
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Almost nothing seems to transpire from this first volume, which first of all proposes the setting in which the entire narrative action will take place and which gives the name to the manga, Kowloon precisely, describing the city in a clear but at the same time slightly glossy way, to let the reader into the atmosphere, but without letting him immerse himself completely. The intentions that the story proposes are not fully explained: apparently Kowloon it may seem like a slice of life manga, but right away (and especially in the last part of the volume) we realize how everything we have learned in the course of reading is probably not as it seems. This allows you to suspend the action so that the reader is attracted to the story, wants to know even more what is hidden among the gray houses of Kowloon and, therefore, continues reading. A great trick is to show small diegetic pills, but that if it were to continue inexorably, in the long run it would lead the whole narrative to be static and too slow.
The sense of nostalgia that transpires from the words of the protagonists automatically affects the setting that surrounds them, recreating a setting that has a lot of the past, but which in intentions is projected towards the future. Nostalgia is the main engine that seems to move the protagonists, which anchors them in Kowloon and allows them to develop a bond. Kowloon, therefore, is both the container of history and feelings, a small bubble that keeps those who are afraid of taking flight tied to themselves.
The large hyper-technological station that stands out in the sky from the very first tables is the representation of man’s dream of trespassing his condition of immobility, but at the same time it is a symptom of an uncontrolled desire to detach one’s roots from the past. The male lead, Kudo, is convinced that the construction of Generic Earth is nothing more than an illusion, precisely because it is a copy of the original planet. He pursues his idea of romanticism, a feeling that he says is linked to the very existence and persistence of the city of Kowloon.
Graphic overcrowding
The aesthetics of Kowloon – Generic Romance it is very refined, marked by a delicacy of the line and at the same time an obsessive attention regarding the reconstruction of the settings. It is no coincidence, in fact, that the whole story takes place actively in the city of Kowloon, which must not only be the background of the relationship between the two main characters, but also metaphorically a protagonist herself. The airy views of the city are full of symbolic meaning, immerse the reader in the antiquated tangle of a nostalgic city, thus representing that feeling that hovers throughout the manga also symbolically, but above all aesthetically.
The graphic richness of most of the cartoons is combined with more airy splash pages, which denote a contained rhythm and which allow you to calibrate moments of frenzy to those of reflection. The latter are definitely the most meaningful, those that take on the most meaning within the story, so the author’s choice to limit the scenic elements to a minimum is an implicit message for the reader who must pause to contemplate the calmness of the scene and concentrate on the words spoken by the protagonists.
Not surprisingly, these are the scenes in which more elements are provided to understand the general story, they are those small graphic hints that at a second reading allow you to connect the threads that apparently had escaped at first glance. Kowloon presents the usual editorial attention that JPop reserves for his manga: glossy dust jacket, thick pages and first color plates. A standard edition, but at the same time reconfirmed once again very accurate and above all full-bodied. Kowloon – Generic Romance from Jun Mayuzuki is an intriguing story, built through the graphic confusion of a nostalgic city, which seems to hide more than it actually reveals.
Who do we recommend Kowloon Generic Romance to?
This manga seems to hide some really intriguing premises, which will probably be explained later in the volumes. Those who love stories in which the elements are unfolded very slowly in the narrative will particularly appreciate this manga, but also those looking for a calm story, which knows how to take its time but at the same time manages to be incisive, will not be disappointed by Kowloon Generic Romance.
An enigmatic opening
Kowloon Generic Romance looks like a manga that promises many surprises, despite the very calm and seemingly simplistic start. A nostalgic slice of life, also made possible thanks to very accurate cartoons that recreate the setting of Kowloon in an almost maniacal way and that reveal the roughness of the city, but which certainly (thanks also to the premises at the end of the volume) will evolve into a sometimes mysterious story. The enigmatic component is expressed not only through the brief hints at the Generic Terra project that is being completed in the sky, to recreate an artificial copy of the planet, but also by the words and gestures of the protagonists, which seem natural but which at a closer look careful they surely hide something. Kowloon Generic Romance it wants to be a simple story, without too many upsets, but which promises to upset and involve.
When nostalgia and mystery come together
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