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A Distant Neighborhood by Jiro Taniguchi

Artist: Jiro Taniguchi (Penciller)

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A Distant Neighborhood by Jiro Taniguchi Comic Art

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Artwork Details

Title:	A Distant Neighborhood by Jiro Taniguchi
Artist:	Jiro Taniguchi (Penciller)
Media Type:	Marker
Art Type:	Remarked Item
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	849
Likes on CAF:	1 2
Comments:	0
Added to Site:	1/25/2020
Comic Art Archive:

Description

A fantastic and ultra-rare remark by the late Jiro Taniguchi.

I had the chance to meet him years ago in Brussels and to later cross his path several times in the Angouleme streets, a sight that brought a smile to my face.

For the longest time I was frankly bothered by Taniguchi�s success on the Franco-Belgian market. Let me explain. Taniguchi enjoyed a completely deserved wide editorial success from the early to mid-2000s onwards. Many comic stores and publishers played on the aspect of his oeuvre that had him labelled as the most Franco-Belgian of all Mangakas. I found this to be a crass marketing ploy from them that allowed many (many!) snobbish readers to say that they were reading Mangas because they were reading him .Only him of course. Or the reverse, that they didn�t read this shit wide eyes comics genre that would fade soon SAVE for Taniguchi as (according to them) he was obviously targeting the Franco-Belgian market.

I discovered his first publication in French in 95 (the Walking Man) when nobody was paying attention (to him or Manga for that matter) after already being a lifelong Manga/Anim� fan. This book was a true shock for me.

The above rationales bothered me because to me, he was simply a (high) quality auteur among many many others (Dragon Ball, Berserk, Lone Wolf & Cub, Hokuto No Ken, Ashita No Joe, anything by Tezuka, Mizuki, Matsumoto or Ishinomori and the list goes on and on. To me those represented Manga). The sensibility that radiates from his oeuvre is, to put it simply, a worldwide ecologist humanism well cemented in Oriental spirituality. It has nothing to do in my eyes with trying to please/reach another market than the Japanese one (which is the only preoccupation of any Mangaka). Much like Miyazaki (who no one could accuse of producing movies that are not deeply rooted in Japanese folklore and culture), his humanist sensibility would simply appeal to many, worldwide.

The French Manga market (the second biggest in the world after Nihon itself) and myself have matured since then so this does not bother me as much as it did back when.

Despite my rant, I consider that Jiro Taniguchi was a true MASTER of his craft and of (quiet) sequential storytelling like many before and after him. I feel blessed to have been able to meet him.

If you love/like sequential art in any form, I would recommend anything by him.

PS: yes all this under a simple head sketch ^^

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Joined:	May 2005
Last Login:	September 2025
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