Genji Monogatari (Manga)

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Illustration from the 19th century based on the novel

Genji Monogatari ( Japanese あ さ き ゆ め み し , Asakiyumemishi ) is a manga by the Japanese illustrator Waki Yamato from 1980 to 1993. The work is an adaptation of the medieval Japanese novel Genji Monogatari , the plot of which he largely follows.

content

Hikaru Genji is the second son of Emperor Kiritsubo and is known for his beauty. Although he will never ascend the throne as the second-born, he enjoys life at court.

publication

The manga was published in Japan from November 1980 to 1993 in Mimi magazine published by Kodansha . The chapters were later published in a total of 13 edited volumes. In addition, a luxury edition in four cassette volumes was published from 1987 to 1989.

The first three volumes were published in German by Okawa Verlag in 1992, but are out of print. An English translation was published by Kodansha under the title The Tale of Genji in a bilingual version as teaching material for Japanese students. The manga has also been translated into other Asian languages.

Anime adaptation

An adaptation of the manga as an anime was announced in August 2008. It later became known that director Osamu Dezaki's production was more based on the novel. The series has been aired by Fuji TV in Japan since January 15, 2009 under the title Genji Monogatari Senenki .

Reception and interpretation

During its time in Japan, the work was very popular, especially among girls, and is known to this day. It also helped spread the story of Genji Monogatari outside of Japan. Doris Croissant sees the manga as a parody of the original work, which is mainly due to the "transplantation of the classic hero into [...] a popular medium of visual art". The figure of Genji was given an idealized image of the unreachable, beautiful young man, which could only be broken again by mangas that emerged after 2000. For example, through a hentai adaptation of Egawa Tatsuya’s work .

The German magazine Funime describes the manga as a masterpiece and praises the unusually good German translation.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c German Film Institute - DIF / German Film Museum & Museum of Applied Arts (ed.) (2008): ga-netchû! The Manga Anime Syndrome , pp. 160 ff. Henschel Verlag.
  2. ↑ a b Funime about Genji Monogatari
  3. ↑ Asakiyumemishi - The Tale of Genji Manga Gets Anime. Anime News Network , August 29, 2008, accessed April 25, 2009 .
  4. ↑ Dezaki's The Tale of Genji Anime to Debut in January. Anime News Network , November 10, 2008, accessed April 25, 2009 .
  5. ↑ Genji Monogatari Sennenki (TV). Anime News Network , accessed April 25, 2009 .

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