I’m really excited to be able to talk about a terrific comic today, Chronin, Volume 1 by Alison Wilgus. I’m obsessively promoting this work and, after having spoken to Alison at both TCAF and again this weekend at Queers & Comics I have convinced a few people to pick up a copy of this book. Now I hope I can convince all of you to do so.
Chronin, Volume 1 begins in Japan of the late 1800s, when a young woman approaches a ronin for help. He rejects her request, but nonetheless find himself accompanying Natsu on a trip whose purpose she will not tell him.
The story follows a team of young time-travelers from our near future, graduate students on trips to study history as it unfolds. Among them is Yoshida Mirai, a woman studying Japan’s Bakumatsu period, the years immediately after Japan was forced open to western trade by the arrival of Admiral Perry and his black ships, before the Meiji Restoration. Mirai visits Kyoto to study city life at that time. Of course, the team of young time-travelers are warned to not get involved, but as tensions between the Choushuu clan and and the Shinsengumi increase, Mirai finds herself trapped in time. I’m not going to spoil a single thing about the story, because I really hope you’ll all read it.
The background is well researched, which gives Wilgus’s story a chance to soar as the characters are introduced, developed and embedded within this complicated tale of social and political upheaval and personal conflict. Even more appealing, Wilgus’ art is incredibly good, with both backgrounds and people drawn more in the style of late 19th century Japanese drawings than in any current western style. Backgrounds are carefully drafted, but people are lightly drawn, which really gives the reader a way to sense Mirai’s feeling of being inserted in a world not her own. In this feeling, Chronin reminded me so strongly of another time-traveling Japanese history comic that was I was totally into almost 20 years ago, Amakusa 1637.
I apparently never reviewed it on Okazu, but if I was reading it now, I might. By longtime Flowers magazine creator Akaishi Michiyo, Amakusa 1637 followed a Japanese Catholic high school student council who were transported into the past….just before the 37,00 Japanese Christian civilians and rebelling soldiers were beheaded by the Tokugawa Shogunate, (which was partly the catalyst for the Shogunate to close Japan to the west and outlaw Christianity and Western influence in Japan, the very laws that Perry’s arrival overturned.) To make the story work, Akaishi ended up changing Japanese history completely, allowing Natsuki and her friends to create a whole new future. There are a lot of parallels between Amakusa 1637 and Chronin, none of which I will mention because they’d spoil the fuck out of the story and I really want you to read it! I know Alison is not familiar with this story, but it’s absolutely fascinating to me that she’s so neatly tying up the end of that story in a story that so closely parallels it!
I will tell you this, while Volume 1 is gay only by proxy, I was told by Alison this weekend that Volume 2 is exponentially more queer. Since Volume 2 is slated for a September release we won’t have too long to wait – get that preorder in. ^_^
Ratings:
Art – 9 Well thought out and executed, without being heavy-handed
Story – 9 Checked a lot of my boxes for historical fiction
Characters – 8 Kuji’s a dipshit, but I like everyone else
Service – 3 Very restrained, but necessary
Yuri – 0 so far, but I’ve got my eyes on the prize
Overall – 9
Even aside from any future gayness, this story includes cross-dressing and fucking around with history, as well as solid artistic chops. Chronin is an excellent read.
