Archive for the Nagata Kabi Category


Suizou Ga Kowaretara, Sukoshi Ikiyasuku Narimashita. (膵臓がこわれたら、少し生きやすくなりました。)

June 4th, 2023

Presented in an orange and white palette, a woman sits on a bed crying, while a doctor listens. In her last book about her physical health, My Alcoholic Escape From Reality, Nagata Kabi-sensei explained the circumstances that landed her in the hospital with alcoholic pancreatitis.

We have followed Nagata-sensei through any number of trials. Like many of you, I find myself invested in her well-being. And that reader’s need to see her “get better” has become visible in the style of her comic essay work. The story is told from a crisis point, then we back into causes and effects, then she show us what she has done to move forward, leaving us feeling positive about the future. But Nagata-sensei’s life is vastly more complex than any one manga might cover. And it’s a sobering thought (no pun intended) to realize that Nagata-sensei is balancing a number of serious illnesses that are not likely to “get better.”

In Suizou Ga Kowaretara, Sukoshi Ikiyasuku Narimashita. (膵臓がこわれたら、少し生きやすくなりました。) we learn that Nagata-sensei had developed an addition to alcohol. Her look at the emotional and developmental origins of this addiction are a also look into her current state of mental health. I’m fascinated by her use of those pages as a kind of journal of self-awareness. But this book has a much more leavened perspective than previous books, ending with a recognition that the things that make up Kabi Nagata aren’t going to disappear and magically make her a new person. It’s not so much sad or resigned as it is mature. “One more thing to reckon with in this life” she’s saying and those of use who have had similar lives are just nodding. “One more thing to deal with.”

In her previous book, Meisou Senshi – Kabi Nagata, I wondered how her parents took what was in that book. In this volume, she focuses on the positive influence her parents were for her, especially her father. She comments again that she’s sorry her first book hurt her mother, so clearly that is a really sensitive wound between them.

I appreciate Nagata-sensei’s candor. I know that this isn’t necessarily what she wanted from herself, but there is tremendous value in people being honest about what it takes to survive.

No ratings, except to say her art style is, again exuberantly destructive. It’s incredibly powerful.

 

I note that this book is published by East Press, not Futabasha. I have no insight to what that might mean, I just found it interesting. Seven Seas has licensed the book as My Pancreas Broke, But My Life Got Better, which is slated for a November 2023 release. Thanks waffle for the correction!





My Wandering Warrior Existence

March 21st, 2022

Kabi Nagata is back once again with a volume of her comic essay work. My Wandering Warrior Existence is quite possibly her best work to date.

To begin with, let me provide a Content Warning of some significance, Nagata talks about a sexual assault she experienced as a child, and the retraumatizing consequences. This was not sugarcoated in any way and was rough to read, so be warned. The experience is not presented out of context however, and it comes not as the point of the story, buy a jumping off point for a comic essay that will make you feel many things. Horror and anger, yes, but also triumph and, dare I say it, joy.

The volume begins with a search for joy in fact. That search takes Nagata-sensei into her own past and out again, as she talks about her relationship with her body, her sexuality, her gender, building a habit of self-care and self-love. There are many deeply moving moments including one key moment when a fan letter explains something that she had not been able to understand and, as a result, is for the first time to see those things she was missing in her understanding of relationships.

Of all her works, this one feels the most crafted to reach an audience. Her first books were diaries and there was a sense that a reading audience was a nice to have. There are some many things in this book that indicate that, for the first time, this book was meant to be read, by us and our reactions are accounted for. This becomes even more obvious as we approach the end of the book and are assured that Nagata-sensei is finding joy in her life these days. And much of the content is constructed to be far more relatable than previous volumes, which focused on her personal struggles.

When I read this book in Japanese, I laughed out loud at this image of the thing that brought her a lot of happiness….a giant fridge! I had also gotten a new fridge not too long before I read this and let me tell you – you cannot overestimate the power of a new fridge to bring joy. ^_^

We’re left, as a result, thinking, if small things like this can make her happy, then maybe there is hope for her…and by extension, there is hope for us. ^_^

Once again, ratings seem pointless. But, both narrative and art here are more confident and there is humor, along with the harrowing.

As always,the care an attention from the gang at Seven Seas, means we have all the right tools to work through this book. Thanks to everyone who made this such a great reading experience!

I joined the Lum and Colton of the lovely Manga Mavericks team to discuss this book on their podcast this weekend, so keep an eye out for that when it is hits their website. It’s always fun to dissect a book with them. ^_^





Meisou Senshi – Nagata Kabi (迷走戦士・永田カビ)

June 13th, 2021

In my recent conversation on with the folks at Manga Mavericks about My Alcoholic Escape From Reality (a conversation that will go up on their Patreon later this month) we talked a little bit about this book as well. In the comments on Nagata Kabi’s TCAF spotlight, some lovely person expressed a wish that the author’s next book is about her hugging kittens. Well…it is definitely not that. 

Having given herself recognition that her comic essays are a valid form of artistic expression, Nagata-sensei has once again turned the spotlight on herself. In Meisou Senshi – Nagata Kabi (迷走戦士・永田カビ), she  tackles some of the things we might have been asking all along about her relationship with her gender and sexuality…and how that, and her physical and mental health,  affect and are affected by that relationship.

This is not an easy book to read. If anything, it open up whole new areas of discomfort. Content Warning: this book deals with sexual assault as a child. But, as we make our way through this in her wake, we can see (more clearly than we can with ourselves) how pieces of a life make up a whole. Her discussion of how  insurmountable was the effort of filling out the questions on a dating app, really struck home with me in regards to something wholly unrelated to dating.

Once again we see the power of a comic essay. This book contains increasingly intimate knowledge of her past, and tantalizing tidbits of her present, but we know we will never know the actual person through these.  These chapters are the comic equivalent of Van Gogh’s self-portraits….a visual record of her over time looking at a mirror and drawing what she sees. Some days the face that looks back at her is more haunted than others…sometimes it is almost happy. This records allows her to explore why that might be…and expose what the roots of that haunted look is.

I am curious, for reasons that will become immediately apparent when you read this book, what her parents thought of it. Nagata-sensei’s feelings about how she hurt her family in her initial volumes are made plain in later volumes and in her TCAF interview. This volume wasn’t going to make for light dinner table conversation and yet, I got the feeling that she and her family may have struck a bargain over this and while it may not be fun, they won’t be blindsided again.

Seven Seas has announced the license of this book as My Wandering Warrior Existence, which has a projected release date in English of March 2022. If you don’t want to wait, you can read this online in Japanese on Web Action. 

Yet again, I will not be rating this book, for reasons that will become apparent when you read it.

It is compelling.

Next up, we return to the beginning, with her plumbing the depth of her relationship with food, in Meisou Senshi・Nagata Kabi Gourmet De GO!  (迷走戦士・永田カビ グルメでGO！) the first chapter of which available on Web Action.





My Alcoholic Escape from Reality by Nagata Kabi

May 14th, 2021

Right now the first Virtual Toronto Comic Arts Festival is underway on Youtube and this week we had the pleasure of watching Deb Aoki doing a pre-recorded interview with Nagata Kabi, the creator of comic essay My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness, and its sequels. This interview will be available online until May 21, so definitely watch it while its available – its not often we North Americans get a chance to see our favorite manga artists.

This month also saw the release of Nagata-sensei’s newest work in English, My Alcoholic Escape From Reality, detailing her bout with alcohol-induced pancreatitis. As with her previous works, this book covers a number of personal details, physical and emotional. She made it very clear in the interview that she has regrets about the way she talked about her family in previous books and she addresses that in the book, as well.

In my review of this book in Japanese, I said, “We’ve watched Nagata-sensei struggle with food, with alcohol, with depression, and now with her pancreas. It’s all very heavy going, but as a reader I don’t feel like I have the luxury of wallowing since, for any bleak feelings I might have, I have to believe that it’s harder for her. To some extent, the only thing we can do is be distant, abstract cheerleaders on the sidelines of the parts of her life she chooses to share with us. We have to know were not getting the whole story – and we have to be okay with that. So we mentally pull for her and send good thoughts.”

And, indeed, we do mentally pull for her and send her good thoughts and she could see that in the interview chat, if she was interested. Especially now that we’ve put a face to the name, I imagine fans will care about her even more. Which makes this book harder to read, not easier, honestly! But there are two things I want to note – one, the second half of the book is less about her struggle with her physical body and more about the creative struggle…which I interpret as a very positive thing. The creative struggle, while no less real, is also much more abstract and requires the ability to think about something other than the pain in one’s abdomen. I’m sure we can all identify with how difficult it is to work when we don’t feel good. It’s a testament to her strength of will that she could work in such circumstances.

The second thing I noted in my review of the Japanese volume was that she’s back with East Press for this book. They aren’t the biggest publisher she’s worked with, but I’m kind of happy that she’s with them again. They are a very pro LGBTQ content company. Her newest book series is with Futabasha, another company that has been really positive for queer manga creators and content, so I’m very much looking forward to seeing what they do together!

Following this all up, Seven Seas announced the license of her next book, Meisou Senshi・Nagata Kabi(迷走戦士・永田カビ) as My Wandering Warrior Existence. You can read this online in Japanese on Web Action. This has a projected release date in English of March 2022. But wait, Nagata-sensei is working on *another* series now, Meisou Senshi・Nagata Kabi Gourmet De GO!  (迷走戦士・永田カビ グルメでGO！) the first chapter is also available on Web Action in Japanese. This is the story she alludes to in this volume – a food manga. I am really looking forward to this, as it’s an audacious and amazing concept having a food manga written by a woman with eating disorder and a contentious relationship with food. It should be fascinating.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Her style has really grown and visibly become more confident
Story – 8, by which I mean it can be gut-wrenching
Character – 9 ^_^;
Service – ? There’s some details in there.
LGBTQ – N/A, but wait. The next book is about her gender and sexuality

Overall – 8

Watch her TCAF interview and then take a look at this book translated ably by Jocelyn Allen. I also want to nod in the direction of the lettering and retouch folks, Karis Page and Gwen Silver, since Nagata’s pretty heavy on the in-art sound effects here. Thanks to the entire Seven Seas Team for their work on this book, and to TCAF staff, Jocelyne Allen for her delightful translation and interpretation and Deb Aoki for another great interview.





Genjitsu Touhishitetara Boroboro ni Natta Hanashi Manga (現実逃避してたらボロボロになった話)

February 9th, 2020

Who could have imagined in 2016, when we all first discovered Nagata Kabi-sensei’s honest and touching diary of her struggles with mental health, that we’d be tuning back in repeatedly, like a manga reality show, hoping to see her feeling healthier, happier, more whole? And yet, here we are, reading the fourth volume of this real-world epic saga of a journey through her own life.

In Genjitsu Touhishitetara Boroboro ni Natta Hanashi (現実逃避してたらボロボロになった話), which has the English subtitle “A Story of Me, Trying to Escape From Reality Just to Be Worn Out,” Nagata-sensei finds herself at a new crisis point. She is suffering physically from her habit of self-medicating with alcohol, and ends up in the hospital with pancreatitis.

This book has shifted to a new color palette – using what my wife insists is the color of dayglo circus peanuts….a color schema which is correct, but perhaps a bit obscure as circus peanuts are a dying confection (“for good reason,” my wife insists, “since they are gross.”)

We’ve watched Nagata-sensei struggle with food, with alcohol, with depression, and now with her pancreas. It’s all very heavy going, but as a reader I don’t feel like I have the luxury of wallowing since, for any bleak feelings I might have, I have to believe that it’s harder for her. To some extent, the only thing we can do is be distant, abstract cheerleaders on the sidelines of the parts of her life she chooses to share with us. We have to know were not getting the whole story – and we have to be okay with that. So we mentally pull for her and send good thoughts.

And, in a way that means something to the universe, at least, there is some good news. She is getting work as a cover artist; her cover for Saotome Kanako’s Pants ha Haiteoke, (パンツははいておけ) is coming out this month, she’s got a lot of recent work on her Pixiv…including quite a bit of 18+  and lesbian work (which, to my mind, at least, mean’s she’s got some interest in sexuality and sensuality,) and a story in Shueisha’s Grand Jump Mecha, (sample available in Japanese on the Mecha website.) We know – we all know – that productivity does not equal health or happiness. But I hope that if she can concentrate on something that is not herself long enough to produce work that is not a diary, that something has shifted, if not improved. I’m interested to see what she creates when freed from her own story.

As a reader, I’m also torn between wanting to see how the rest of her life goes, and hope that it becomes enjoyable enough that she forgets to chronicle it. As per my last review, there will be no ratings, as it seems bizarre at best to rate the contents of a life being lived.

I note that this book is back with East Press and her other work is with Shueisha. I have no assumptions to make about that, I’m just noting it.