Ran and the Gray World
Ran and the Gray World by Aki Irie is a coming of age story of a young sorceress, Ran, who is a bit too eager to grow up. Using the powers of enchanted sneakers, Ran is able to transform herself into an adult and run off into the world head first, leading her to meet some interesting characters and plenty of trouble.
There's a lot to love in this manga, and at the same time a lot that I detest. Which is truly a shame because this manga could've truly flourished without some aspects severely holding it back.
The thing that first drew my attention towards this manga was the stunningly detailed art. What I love so much about it is that Irie's art style has a fluid naturalness to it that perfectly matches the sense of wonder a world overflowing with magic should invoke. The fast pacing of her panel flow complements this as well and maintains the illusion of continuous movement. There's never a dull moment when looking through the pages, even when they could be depicting slice of life moments around town.
The fact that the setting is modern Japan is an intriguing point in itself because rather than create an entirely new fantasy world, Irie shows how magic could work even within the realms of reality. Perhaps this is why the magic feels so spectacular. It takes a world people can easily recognize and relate to as their own, and then turns it on its head by making it something completely new and different.
While the setting and world building really flourishes, the character writing falls a bit more flat due to a good deal of it just feeling creepy and sinister. Don't get me wrong, most of the characters are charming and have a lot of heart, it's one of the things I really enjoy about this manga, but it all feels overshadowed by the relationship between Ran and Otaro, a rich playboy much older than her.
When the two first meet, Otaro is quickly enamored with the beauty of Ran's adult version and tries to prey on her naivety. The naivety of Ran is a big issue from the get go and paired with the over sexualization of her adult form, it doesn't get any better. Rather than try to tackle this as commentary on the early sexualization of young girls though, Irie simply feeds into the problems even more by never quite punishing the many men preying on adult Ran. Instead, other characters criticize Ran for not being more aware of herself and her surroundings. It's extremely seedy and it only gets worse later on in the series when Ran and Otaro's relationship continues to develop further even when he realizes her true age.
This manga is really a mixed bag, and it's hard to make sense of how I feel about it. There's so much in it that I love and in many ways it's very unique from other works I've read. It has a lot of heart and wonder that leaves you charmed with each drawing. Let's just... remove Otaro and put him in the trash where he belongs...
I rate Ran and the Gray World with many long minutes of confused screaming.
The fact that the setting is modern Japan is an intriguing point in itself because rather than create an entirely new fantasy world, Irie shows how magic could work even within the realms of reality. Perhaps this is why the magic feels so spectacular. It takes a world people can easily recognize and relate to as their own, and then turns it on its head by making it something completely new and different.
While the setting and world building really flourishes, the character writing falls a bit more flat due to a good deal of it just feeling creepy and sinister. Don't get me wrong, most of the characters are charming and have a lot of heart, it's one of the things I really enjoy about this manga, but it all feels overshadowed by the relationship between Ran and Otaro, a rich playboy much older than her.
IT'S NOT ALRIGHT.
When the two first meet, Otaro is quickly enamored with the beauty of Ran's adult version and tries to prey on her naivety. The naivety of Ran is a big issue from the get go and paired with the over sexualization of her adult form, it doesn't get any better. Rather than try to tackle this as commentary on the early sexualization of young girls though, Irie simply feeds into the problems even more by never quite punishing the many men preying on adult Ran. Instead, other characters criticize Ran for not being more aware of herself and her surroundings. It's extremely seedy and it only gets worse later on in the series when Ran and Otaro's relationship continues to develop further even when he realizes her true age.
HEY AKI IRIE, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.
This manga is really a mixed bag, and it's hard to make sense of how I feel about it. There's so much in it that I love and in many ways it's very unique from other works I've read. It has a lot of heart and wonder that leaves you charmed with each drawing. Let's just... remove Otaro and put him in the trash where he belongs...
I rate Ran and the Gray World with many long minutes of confused screaming.
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