【Editor's Note】:
Traditional comics, often using simple black and white lines to exaggerate humorous pictures, to express the author's attitude towards real life and current events. Political cartoons turn them into weapons to disciplining political opponents. Traditional political cartoons are generally single-frame or four-panel comics, in order to highlight the core point, so the narrative is black and white, with a strong offensive and ideological color. In international relations before World War II, it was more common to use comics to demonize each other and beautify oneself.
American propaganda posters against Japan during World War II
In Japan, single or four frames are the main form of political manga. Major Japanese newspapers and periodicals, such as the Yomiuri Shimbun, The Asahi Shimbun, and the Sankei Shimbun, publish social drama commentaries every week to express their criticism of current events in the form of manga. However, with the process of social diversification in Japan, the competition among the media has become more intense, and it is difficult for single-frame or four-panel political manga with black and white views to satisfy people's diverse views (see Masaharu Ibaraki's "New Manga にみる Criticism, Anti-Bone・ユーモア"). What makes up for this flaw is the long-form political cartoons. In contrast, long-form political comics are not limited by space, and can construct plots in a more three-dimensional way and effectively integrate multiple points of view. "Revolutionary Obsession" is one of the best works.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's deal with Moritomo Gakuen (Asahi Shimbun, March 14, 2017)
Revolutionary Obsession: The Turbulent 1960s
The Japanese version of "Revolutionary Love" (メドゥーサ) is a 12-volume japanese manga artist Written by Japanese manga artist Kaiji Kawaguchi. From 1990 to 1994, it was serialized in the comic book magazine Big Comic. With the theme of politics and love, the work unfolds the storyline in chronological order, describing the student movement and political ecology of Japan during the world anti-war wave in the 1960s.
Strictly speaking, even among the few political cartoons in Japan, "Revolutionary Fan" seems to be unique. Because this work realistically describes a special historical theme - the left-wing socialist trend and student movement in Japan in the 1960s. The author adopts the model of male and female protagonists, highlighting many contradictory phenomena such as system and anti-system, revolution and reform, ideal and love, procedural justice and result justice, and outlining a turbulent and emotional historical picture.
In this work, the hero and heroine are brothers and sisters who are not related by blood and come from the same Japanese political family. The two fell in love with each other and pursued the same question – where is Japan going? But the two answered differently, and life also went their separate ways. The man chose to inherit his father's business and rose through the bureaucracy to promote change in Japan. The woman chose to join the student movement, hoping to transform Japan through radical social movements, and eventually became a terrorist in exile in the Middle East.
The first volume of "Revolutionary Obsession"
The work was published in the early 1990s, when Japan was facing a recession after the bursting of the bubble economy, and the atmosphere of confusion and helplessness pervaded society. At the same time, marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the international Cold War pattern collapsed, and where did the US-Japan alliance, with the Soviet Union as the main imaginary enemy, go? This, combined with the impact of the U.S.-led Gulf War, has made Japan face a more complicated situation. The author does not confront these problems head-on, but in the way of depicting the student movement in the 1960s, he tries to awaken the passion of the Japanese people from its slumber and seek the stitching and consensus of social division.
Violent resistance? Or incremental improvement?
The first focus of the discussion in "Revolutionary Obsession" is whether Japan's young people should engage in violent, radical social movements, or should they enter the system to promote progressive reforms. This is a main line of the work, and the author sets the male and female protagonists as the spokesmen for the positive and negative views.
The May storm in France, the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in the United States, and the social movements of the world in the 1960s were in turmoil. Similarly, young Japanese people were dissatisfied with political tedody, opposed the Vietnam War, and demanded the suspension of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty. The cabinet of then-Kishi Nobusuke (the grandfather of current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe) broke the democratic process and forcibly passed a new security treaty in the Diet in violation of the law. This stung the hearts of young Japanese people, hundreds of thousands of people stormed the Diet, and the death of tochiko Birch, a female student at the University of Tokyo, is still freshly remembered (on the evening of June 15, 1960, at a protest rally against the Japan-U.S. security treaty in the Diet, Birch was attacked by the police and died of her wounds - Editor's Note).
In 1960, the Japanese people stormed the Diet
The work distills a series of historical facts as the background of the story, such as the Shinjuku Riot in 1968, the Yasuda Lecture Hall Incident at the University of Tokyo in 1969, etc. (On the evening of October 21, 1968, the Japanese student organization entered Sasebo Port in order to resist the USS Enterprise, assembled at Shinjuku Station and clashed with the police, resulting in the rapid paralysis of the entire Shinjuku Station traffic function, known as the "Shinjuku Riot"; from the summer of 1968 to the beginning of 1969, during the University of Tokyo student movement known as the "Higashi-dai Dispute", Student organizations occupy the Yasuda Lecture Hall, a symbol of UTokyo, for the "Yasuda Lecture Hall Incident" – Editor's Note). Student strikes, workers strikes, the stick suppression of the Japanese police, and the arrogance and rudeness of politicians are all frozen in this work. The male protagonist does not approve of the radical revolutionary methods, but in order to protect the heroine who participated in the Shinjuku riots, the bridge section that was beaten into a concussion by the police, and the bridge section where radical students occupied the Yasuda Lecture Hall of the University of Tokyo, and was attacked by the Japanese police with water guns for a long time in the cold winter are impressive. Since the author focused primarily on the student movement in the late 1960s, he does not mention the historical fact that in the early 1960s Kishi Nobusuke cabinet mobilized the underworld and right-wing groups to suppress students, and ordered the Self-Defense Forces to move (rejected by SDF Leader Akagi Sotoku), and this influence on Japan's political direction was crucial.
The Yasuda Lecture Hall Incident at the University of Tokyo in 1969
As a student leader, the passionate heroine ascended to the top and responded to the crowd. On the contrary, the figure of the male protagonist appears lonely and lonely, but deep, powerful and self-disciplined. Kaiji Kawaguchi was born in 1948 and lived through that era as a college student, but the author did not participate in the movement, but devoted himself to the manga business. In this sense, the male protagonist is more like the embodiment of the author, who believes that real political change must be carried out in an orderly state, and violent resistance will cause greater tears and regressions.
Political ideals? Or love?
The second focus of the discussion in "Revolutionary Obsession" is whether Japan's young people should pursue their own political ideals or whether they should prioritize secular love. From a realistic point of view, this is not a problem. Countless histories have proved that fanatical political ideas have an overwhelming mobilization force, and love and affection will be swept into this powerful vortex. However, the author tries to express that in turbulent times, the foolish feelings of young people have the same touching side as the wandering of reality.
The author's positioning of the relationship between the male and female protagonists is that if they are separated, the connection is broken. When the two were young, they frequently quarreled over political ideas. The male protagonist is deep and heavy, soft on the outside and tough on the inside, and has repeatedly tried to prevent the heroine from participating in violent resistance. The heroine hates the arrogance of power, just as she hates her father in power, and subconsciously hypnotizes herself into a predator. In the end, the two have their own destiny, but there is no "difference between the way and do not conspire", because various coincidences have reunited several times, and the difference between love and political ideals has once again collided with a dazzling spark.
The bridge between the male protagonist and the martial arts faction
However, the increasingly radical heroine eventually joined the armed group Japan's Red Army, and after her exile in the Middle East, she faked her own death in exchange for a new identity to resume intelligence work on Japan. He also tried to take advantage of the old feelings of the male protagonist, who had become a senior government official, to carry out terrorist activities. The author seems to be expressing the idea that under radical revolutionary ideas, love has become a tool.
Procedural justice? Outcome justice?
The third focus of the discussion in "Revolutionary Obsession" is whether Young People in Japan should recognize procedural justice or should they recognize outcome justice? In the 1960s, the main body of the student movement was the All Japan Student Self-Government Association General Union (All-Students' Federation) and the All-Student Fighting Conference (All-In-School) (All-Union), in which radicals merged with the Japanese Red Army. The heroine of "Revolutionary Obsession" is set in this line, and it is estimated that it is based on the house of Shigenobu, the leader of the Japanese Red Army. Because of her good looks, Shigenobu House was called "The Female Emperor of the Red Army" by the Japanese media.
The Japanese Red Army was an extreme martial arts faction, believing that only by using violence to subvert the regime could japanese imperialism be overthrown and a new Japan be built. Historically, the Japanese Red Army has also carried out a number of terrorist attacks. The author distills a series of historical events, such as the "Yodo hijacking incident", "the continuous explosion of the Tooth of the Earth", and the "Asama Sanso Incident", which are absorbed into the bridge section of "Revolutionary Obsession" ("Yodo Hijacking Incident": On March 31, 1970, nine militants hijacked the Japanese Airlines Flight 351 passenger plane commonly known as "Yodo"; "The Continuous Explosion of the Tooth of the Earth": a continuous corporate explosion instigated by the Japanese ultra-left organization "East Asia's Armed Front", "Teeth of the Earth" in the 1970s "Asama-san Incident": Kidnapping by the Combined Japanese Red Army at Asama-sansa in Karuizawa-cho, Nagano Prefecture, between February 19 and 28, 1972 – Editor's Note). The author also describes the extremely strict organizational discipline within the Red Army. The heroine was almost executed as a traitor for trying to meet her dying father (a high-ranking Japanese politician) (in fact, the various organizations of the Japanese student movement were constantly clashing and dividing due to different ideas).
The Japanese Red Army hijacked the bridge section where Japanese civil aviation fled
"Revolutionary Fan" borrows the mouth of the heroine to express the basic view of the Japanese Red Army in pursuit of outcome justice. 1, Japanese politicians are very hypocritical, just a lackey of the United States, there is no justice to speak of. 2, as long as the outcome and motivation are good, it does not matter whether the means are righteous or not. The male protagonist takes the opposite view. The male protagonist believes that compliance with discipline and law is a prerequisite for the pursuit of visible justice, and that unscrupulous violence is only a distorted and fanciful justice.
Memories, awakenings, comics
Social movements in Japan rose and fell throughout the 1960s. The students chanted the slogan "Rebellion is justified, the university disintegrated", and the scene of the international song being sung was a symbol of that era. Did radical social movements merely bring destruction? Can reform only rely on the forces within the system? The author, Kaiji Kawaguchi, did not give a straightforward answer.
The original Japanese title of "Revolutionary Love" is "メドゥーサ", which means Medusa and is also the code name of the heroine in the work. Medusa is a famous snake-haired banshee in Greek mythology, and anyone who looks directly into Medusa's eyes will condense into stone. Later, the hero Perseus beheaded Medusa and killed the sea monster with the help of Medusa's head. Finally, Medusa's head was dedicated to the goddess Athena, set on top of the Aegis, and became a force for justice.
From Medusa's interpretation of the theme, we can see that the author is more inclined to identify with the progressive reformer represented by the male protagonist. However, the author is also full of sympathy and understanding for the heroine and the radical revolutionaries, and does not deny their dedication. So, what did the 1960s bring about in Japan's spectacular student movement? What was taken away? The questions raised by the comic book "Revolutionary Love" that appeared in the early 1990s through memory and awakening are still worth pondering today.
(The author is a PhD candidate at the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University, Japan)