Name: Opus
ISBN: 9781616556068

Satoshi Kon

Brilliant anime director Satoshi Kon (Paprika [2006], Paranoia Agent [2004], Tokyo Godfathers [2003], Millennium Actress [2001] and Perfect Blue [1997]) died tragically young in 2010 at the age of 46. This collection of a two-volume manga from 1996 was created by Kon on the eve of his first film. Opus contains the mastery of both realism and surrealism that would make Kon famous in Perfect Blue, as a manga artist becomes drawn into his own work and realises the deadline he's up against is to stop a vicious serial killer before he can spill more innocent blood - not merely ink!

Opus

Léa Beauchemin-Laporte

I wished for a good story, with well-rounded characters and a surprising ending. Instead, I got an unbelievably well-structured scenario filled with coherent and relevant characters. 

This is not the kind of books you can spoil: all his magic lies in the discoveries you make. Overall, this is the story of Lin, Satoko, Nagai, The Mask and... Satoshi Kon himself. I will add that there is one of the best villain I have seen, because he is, more than anything, brutally human. That's it. The synopsis has to stop here, so I don't spoil your experience, because yes: that manga is an experience like no other. 

While you explore it, take a look at the creativeness of the author. This characteristic is expressed in the way he uses the squares or in the way he plays with the background (especially at the end of the manga), for example. Although the dialogues are pretty conventional and, sometimes, a little predictable, they are essential which, to me, is a very important factor. I hate when the author goes on and on with unimportant details about the world or his century. Here, Kon really tries, it seemed to me, to make the conversations very natural, very human-like. It makes the characters more believable and more complex. One of the most important weakness, to me, lies in the lack of power that is given to Satoko. As a woman, she is constantly overpowered by every man she meets. Still, I love the choices of characters: Kon really manages to make us believe that these individuals have a life behind them (I won't continue on that topic since it is a very key part of the story).

It is very hard to go into details about that book because it is so full of surprises and secrets. I will say it once again: I wished for a good story, I got an amazing piece of art, in many ways.