Gag/Comedy Manga Is A Good Tool To Work Through Collective and Personal Trauma By Bijan Khaghani

Fig: 1 Anya Forger from Spy X Family Cheating On An Exam

For those reading this blog, you may have clicked on it because you know and or love Gag manga/Comedy Manga just as much as I do, but before we get to talking about comedy and the loveable and insanely cool character of Anya from Spy X Family allow me first to outline some background information.

It is no surprise to anyone that we all experience trauma in different ways, more specifically though it is no secret that many artists use their mediums to deal with their trauma. However, in what ways do our inward attempts at self-exploration then affect the rest of the world?  In, The Long Defeat, written by Akiko Hashimoto, the author, brings up three forms of storytelling seen post the events of World War Two that arose within Japan and that ultimately guided how people viewed the war. The first perspective, titled, Narrating Fallen Heroes, depicts those involved in the war as fallen heroes who fought bravely to allow for the world we see today. An example of a story like this can be seen in iconic stories of sacrifice, such as the famous story of the largest battleship ever built, the Yamato. "The Yamato was a ship that sank north of Okinawa in April 1945 with a crew of over 3,000 men as it was deployed for what was essentially a tactical suicide mission. as a way to keep Japan and its war efforts alive." (Hashimoto 9) This story is a tragic tale written hundreds of times and holds to the idea that what was done was necessary to protect Japan's interests. 

Alongside this, Hashimoto also analyzes another perspective titled "Narrating Victims." Iconic pieces of art from this perspective are seen in pieces like Barefoot Gen, a manga that takes place shortly prior to and after the bombing of Hiroshima, day-to-day lives of those who survived. In stories like this, the people's struggles become our struggles. Showing the catastrophic suffering presents a compelling argument to sympathize with the Japanese people and see them as victims of war rather than as evil perpetrators. In Hashimoto's own words Narrating Victims stories are tales of "victims of a brutal war, extolling the theme of suffering." (Hashimoto 12)

Finally, Hashimoto outlines a third and final perspective titled "Narrating Perpetrators. This perspective is dramatically different from the previous two. It actively acknowledges the existence of other regions in Asia that have been negatively affected by the war efforts of the Japanese military. To explain what Narrating Perpetrators are, Hashimoto writes that "a nation's memory of war and its defeat does not produce a monolithic, consensual picture but creates a conflictive and polyphonic public discourse." (Hashimoto 14). What is most important about this narrative is that it recognizes that public interest is undoubtedly a factor in how people see and remember narratives.

Now I have presented all of these perspectives because I want to talk about how exactly we move forward with such competing narratives. I want to present the argument that Gag manga, and stories that use comedy in line with tragedy, are the most effective ways to bring people together while also helping individuals work through their individual traumas surrounding an event. War efforts will always be looked at differently given where you stand in the war, and in this battle of the perspective, no real healing can be done.

For this section, I am going to be focusing on Spy X Family, a comedy series I highly recommend everyone check out as I think it does a great job at what I am trying to explain. Within Spy X Family, we are introduced to the Forger family. The Forgers are not your typical family, with each having their own secrets. Loid Forger, is a father-by-day spy by night. Yor Forger is a loving wife by day, assassin by night. Then finally, we have adorable little Anya Forger, who secretly is a telepath who can read both her adopted parent's minds as they hide the facts about their night lives. All around, Spy X Family uses moments of comedy in between the deep moments as a way for readers to get invested in the characters and, in a way, do more than sympathize with them as the victim narrative would have you believe. It's easy to forget when they're being so cute and funny, but these are fundamentally broken people living in a wartorn world who need each other to become whole again. And while it is never explicitly said that the Forgers are broken, it is always in the background, informing their characterization and giving rise to surprisingly frequent and quiet moments of heartwarming human beauty. It is moments like this that really force the reader to reflect and actively look at how they live their lives. In a way, we can really reflect on our own moral position by seeing a family torn by war come together even during the most challenging times. Barefoot Gen, even in its first few volumes, follows this logic as it uses comedic moments to allow us to get closer to the characters so that when the bomb drops, we are then able to think and reflect on how impactful the atomic bomb really was to the people of Hiroshima. I disagree with Hashimoto's take that Barefoot Gen is just a victim narrative as it does so much more than make us feel sorry for the victims of the bombing. However, that is for another blog post.

Ultimately, reader, I want to leave you with this question, Is laughter the best way to help us reflect? Can nations be brought together through actively thinking about and comedically characterizing the past?

Citations 

Hashimoto, Akiko. 2015. The Long Defeat: Cultural Trauma, Memory, and Identity in Japan. New York: Oxford University Press.