Watashi wa Shingo

Watashi wa Shingo ( Jap.わたしは真悟, dt. "My name is Shingo") is a closed manga series of Japanese cartoonist Kazuo Umezu , which in Japan from 1982 to 1986 in individual chapters in manga magazine Big Comic Spirits appeared and the Can be assigned to his genre. Topics such as God and consciousness are touched on with horror elements.

action

The manga is about the love of the two twelve-year-old students Satoru Kondo (近藤 悟), the son of a factory worker, and Marin Yamamoto (山 本 真 鈴), the daughter of a diplomat.

The diplomat is to be transferred abroad and move away from Japan together with his family, which is why the love between the two threatens to fail. When Satoru and Marin find out, they jump into a rescue helicopter from the top of the Tokyo Tower to escape the adults and have a baby together. The procedure fails. The robot Monroe comes to consciousness the moment the couple wants a child. He embarks on a journey to become clear about his identity and to convey unspoken words to Marin Satorus.

Monroe calls himself Shingō (真 悟). The name consists of two letters, each from the names of his parents. He soon realizes that he is not a normal robot, but that a black box is built into him for the production of a secret weapon that draws its energy from the malice of the people. Shingo develops its consciousness further, connects to all computers and the brains of all people in the world, and pretends to be a "child" who is stronger than God.

However, he gradually loses his energy and memory afterwards. He travels on to convey the unspoken words of Marin to Satoru. When he has used up all of his energy, he sees Satoru again and can only transmit two letters to him, ア イ (Eng. "Love").

Influence and criticism

Watashi wa Shingō influenced many other mangaka . For example, Kyōko Okazaki names the manga as one of her greatest inspirations.

The work was mostly criticized as difficult to understand. Kazuo Umezu tried to explain the story in his volume Introduction to Horror (恐怖 へ の 招待). Akihiko Takahashi reported on Watashi wa Shingō in July 2004 in Eureka magazine .