GRAPHIC NOVELS

Pink

by Kyoko Okazaki
(text & illus.). Vertical. 2013. 249p. ISBN 9781939130129. pap. $16.95. MANGA
COPY ISBN
Okazaki (Helter Skelter) created the groundbreaking manga Pink in 1989, and Vertical's edition is the first in English. It's the story of Yumi, who sells both her office skills and her body to make enough money to feed her pet crocodile "Croc." She develops a physical relationship with Haru, a budding novelist who had been sleeping with her stepmother. After Yumi's apartment floods, she moves in with him and they fall in love. When Croc goes missing and Yumi's stepmother later sends her a crocodile-skin suitcase, her consolation is Haru's lucky win of a literary contest with a huge cash prize and the promise of leaving Tokyo with him for somewhere tropical.
VERDICT Okazaki's simple character designs lend a matter-of-fact, almost comical quality to Pink's otherwise graphic sex scenes. Fans of typical women's manga will be surprised by this honest and bizarrely charming read, while other adults may be drawn in by the unusual humor and the artist's subtle meditations on what it means to live and love in a capitalist society.
Reviewed by Heather Williams, Whatcom Community Coll., Bellingham, WA , Feb 14, 2014
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