Rosy's scrawled manga recommendation: Benkei in New York by MORI Jinpachi

Benkei in New York
MORI Jinpachi

Blurb
Manga doesn't get much more noir than this. Benkei is just another expatriate Japanese arist living in the Big Apple. Or so it appears. As there "diabolical hard-boiled stories" show, surfaces aren't always what they seem. Flashbacks delve into sordid, secret past lives, and old scored, long festering, emerge without warning, asking to be settled.
And Benkei's secret? Maybe it's just that he's the only artist in town who isn't having fantasies of being a hitman-for-hire. He is one.
Each self-contained episode in this complete "Benkei" collection is a tighly plotted, beautifully rendered, psychologically harrowing ride into the heart of urban darkness. Hard-boiled tales of revenge, rendered in the tight-lipped, fine-line style of Taniguchi Jiro, one of the creators of Viz's "Hotel Harbour View".

Alternate names
New York no Benkei

Status
Completed

Manga reader sites (free)

Manga Traders 

Rosy's scrawlings on Benkei in New York

This manga comic, which I'll just refer to as a manga, is short, anything but sweet and brutal in its body horror realism. Blood doesn't fountain, young gangsters don't sneer and stick their tongues out while their eyes roll with madness and the weapons are as functional as real weapons, with none of that "his sword is too big to even lift let alone wield" reaction to tangle with. In the blurb it is said that Benkei In New York is noir and it truly is. In terms of noir though, I was a little disappointed but in terms of a brutal and realistic tale of a quiet and calm (generally) middle aged hit man in New York I was mesmerised. Hard-boiled is absolutely the right way to describe this manga and it was a shame it ended so soon. Even though I have read many stories in between this one and now I still want to know more of Benkei's story. If wishes were horses...

Benkei, as mentioned, is a middle aged man who seems to be cut off from almost everyone. There's a chance meeting with a lady of the night and they do form a bond of sorts but otherwise, he's a loner who wanders in and out of people's lives and leaves a trail of bodies behind him. He's got scruples when it comes to taking on a job but they aren't what you'd expect. Benkei, overall, is a fascinating man, and you only get a glimpse at what might have been for him with the flashbacks. To be honest, seeing such potential for good and then such brutality from the same character is shocking and that, I suppose, is all part of the darkness that makes this manga hard-boiled and noirish.

As to the art, created by Taniguchi Jiro, at first I was a little discontented as the artwork is a series of stills. There's little movement or flow involved and I believe this is where some of my disappointment with regards to the noir description came int play. I was expecting more flowing darkness and depth, with lots of movement and 'soul'. What you get though does perfectly match a hard core, hard-boiled hit man story where the hit man is slow and steady as he goes, deadly in intent. It captures the stillness that's come over him and his personality since a particular incident in his past (I refuse to reveal too much as the story is short - you need surprises). So when I rid myself of those modern noir expectations I was left with a darkness of atmosphere rather than art, a reflection of a character rather than a city and a realistic style that graphically portrayed the far more than necessary realism in the deaths. So, my advice for this, get hooked on the hard-boiled description and leave the noir bit for dust, despite how close it comes.

I'd recommend this manga comic to: lovers of stark, realistic and horrific stories, noir, hard-boiled characters, hit man stories and even old detective stories. This will probably appeal more to men but I'd still recommend it to anyone capable of dealing with realistic violence.
The unrealistic violence spoon-fed to kids doesn't cut it as precedence. Please give this only to those who know a little medical knowledge and can accept such things happening to people. This is not for kids or unknowledgeable early teens, in other words (although I would have read it by age 14 or so if given the opportunity because I was thoroughly steeped in medico by then).

Notes on manga reader sites
The quality of manga readers can vary. The uploads are often done cheaply or as a serious hobby by a collective. Be aware that sometimes licence hasn't been given but the sites noted above, Manga Fox in particular, are extremely careful about adding and pulling mangas according to license agreements. So you shouldn't have to worry too much about the material being pirated. There are also translated works and non-translated. Amongst the translated works you will find that the quality of translation may vary according to the skills of the translators. Usually the works are perfectly readable anyway, with only a few added or dropped words or a word in the incorrect tense or with/out plurals. But sometimes the text becomes gobbledygook. In which case, either seek another version or give up and buy an official copy once a printed translation comes out. The other issue of note is you may need to expand the screen to read the text easily as sometimes the scans are minimised a little.
I find that if a page doesn't download properly or some other issue occurs (too slow or someone ordered the pages incorrectly etc.) with one reader then skipping across to another reader and picking up where I was is quite easy and rarely annoying.
Otherwise, enjoy and watch out you don't get too addicted you forget about the necessary things in life.

What makes a good horror story

There are so many ways to tell a horror story and really spook the reader, listener or viewer, depending on the format, that it can become hard to tell what makes a good horror story. In making or presenting a good horror story there is much to consider.

There is also much that affects its reception. There is a little of the personal taste of each audience member, a touch of their interpretations, a lot of the susceptibility of the audience to be spooked, a tad of how familiar the audience is with the storyline and a fair dollop of whether or not the horror story manages to make the audience members laugh or scream.

So what is likely to succeed?
Well, what has succeeded over the years of audience's listening to, reading and watching horror?

The basic principles of horror:

• Tie the story to a moral, whether drawn from religion, folklore or social norms.

• It is preferable that the moral of the tale be delivered in a bloody and/or lethal fashion.

• Focus on issues that affect all humans, such as death, the afterlife, good and evil, the devil and the demonic.

• Use a supernatural being to impart the moral, namely witches, werewolves, vampires, ghosts, ghouls, demons, the Devil or another such creature.

• If the story's twist is that a while everyone believes the one visiting moralistic justice is supernatural then make the deliverer of moral justice entirely human but evil, unstable or misguided.

• Insert Gothic aspects for a bleak view of society and allow this to couch and enhance the darkness of the moral deliverer.

• Gothic aspects help to show either that the society is corrupt, the characters are pessimistic or the world does in fact contain the supernatural. Rules of nature can be bent and broken far more easily using this format.

• Create a new monster or revamp an old one into something more sinister.

• Emotional responses to aim for: fear, tension, dread, shock, disgust, outrage, nervousness, claustrophobia, agitation and to some degree self-criticism (stemming from the moral aspect).

• If these are impossible to incite with the horror story then aim for dark humour. This is equally useful in creating a successful horror story.

• Without a moral aspect to the horror story, use of the chaos principle can be applied. To have the protagonist/s randomly maimed, tortured or killed without apparent rhyme or reason will leave the audience wondering why and whether such a horrific thing could happen to them.

• Another principle to use if the moral aspect is left out is to rely on the twisted, barely understandable yet eerily familiar worldview of the antagonist in creating the reason for the misfortunes of the protagonist/s.

• If a Gothic portrayal of the world is not desirable then a gritty and realistic portrayal will work equally well. The impact of a realistic setting, if a little grim, is that the audience can accept such events as is happening to the protagonist happening to them, thereby inciting the desired range of emotional reactions.

• To have build the most horror, first create empathy, sympathy, affection or a connection. Then move onto suspense leading to tension and dread so that when the protagonist meets the moral or random event the audience feels shock, horror, dismay, outrage, agitation and to some extent denial. Disgust can also be involved but is just a side effect of the event and their recognition of the mindset of the antagonist.

• Another way to build horror is to have the audience sympathise and identify with the antagonist rather than the protagonist. The role reversal forces the audience to reflect of the horrors within their own minds. Used alongside event based horror this is a subtler format with regards to its emotional impact but leaves the audience thinking about the story for far longer.

• Blurring the lines between protagonist and antagonist, with regards to motivations and actions, is effective in creating a psychological impact upon the audience.

• Animals can be used to replace monsters but again monstrous attributes are usually applied. If monstrous attributes aren't then a starkness of the landscape, randomness in attack and an escalation of the unexpected horrific events should produce adequate horror in the audience.

There are likely more principles to making a good horror story but these will help you get started.