Friday, April 27, 2018

Energetic one

I've been watching Barakamon on Crunchyroll for a while now -- maybe an episode or two a week. I'd seen the manga for ages in Forbidden Planet and kept thinking I wanted to try it out, but hadn't picked up any of the books. It sounded very unassuming and I suppose it is -- it's a slice of life type about a professional calligrapher who has to move to a very rural little island after losing it and punching a critic of his work (an older calligrapher). His name is Seishu Handa.

I really want to paint this picture. I might do it once I get my art stuff set up again. I figure I can go into Chinatown
and get some newspapers for the background. I already have calligraphy ink (somewhere, I just need to find it).
Handa (or simply "Sensei" as the kids on the island call him) is a bit of a man-child at twenty-three with very little life experience beyond calligraphy. Those types sometimes annoy me, but in this case, I don't mind. Love this show. The kids, especially Naru, immediately glom onto Handa. She is the "energetic one" of the title. Handa slowly loosens up and learns to take life more slowly and to find his own way/style.

I feel like I should have something more earth shattering to say about it, but I don't. I just like it. It makes me happy. I like the calligraphy/artsy bits. I like his developing relationships with the townspeople. I like the fish out of water stuff of the city kid out in the sticks. I like the art style. Love him in his calligraphy outfit. I like just about everything about this one. And I've only got two episodes left so I'm gonna space 'em out (though there's 16 volumes, so I suppose that's my next step...sigh...my bookshelf is getting full of manga).

No comments: