Scheduled for release on November 28, 2023, here are some pages from the second volume of the manga Sunny designed and illustrated by Taiyo Matsumoto for the Becoming.
Sunny 2 Synopsis
At the Hoshinoko Shelter, a heterogeneous group of children face the insecurities inherent to growing up and being abandoned or orphaned.
Their escape route is their imagination and Sunny, an old car that doesn’t work, but can transport them far away or simply provide refuge from the difficulties of everyday life.
Shogakukan Award for Best Manga, 2016. Media Arts Festival Excellence Award, 2016.
- 420 pages | RRP: €20.00 |
Taiyo MATSUMOTO was born in Tokyo in 1967 and dreamed of becoming a football player, but fell in love with European comics and at the age of 20 published his first manga.
His work reflects many of his interests and experiences, moving between sports themes, family comedy, social stories or science fiction epics. His artistic style is distinguished by its unique combination of realism, dream and fantasy.
The author lived in a foster home when he was young, but denies that Sunny is an autobiographical book. In an interview with Time Out Tokyo* in 2013, the author spoke at length about his work and the role of this work in his career as a mangaka, saying that some parts of Sunny are “extremely related to my own experiences, but others were invented ”.
We can relate Matsumoto’s art and way of telling stories with other artistic genres, such as cinema, or other Japanese authors, such as Jiro Taniguchi.
Although the author acknowledges having been greatly influenced by European comics, it is indisputable that the reflective, calm point of view has points in common with the works of Jiro Taniguchi. Matsumoto records the events, sometimes with some sadness or melancholy, other times with all the naivety that despite everything his characters are capable of, “without taking sides”, almost like a spectator of their own pages.
The main character of “The Man Who Walks”, who can be identified as Taniguchi himself, also “walks” through the story, marveling or reflecting on what happens around him, enjoying the beauty or unusual situations, a very self-centered way, but without intervening, without altering your walks or your inner world. Although reported in a realistic way, the worlds of these authors also have a dreamlike, fantasy point of view, calm and without major surprises, but appreciating in an attentive and pleasurable way what is happening around them and knowing how to communicate this pleasure to the reader.
sunny 2 It is part of a group of graphic novels that we consider essential, for those who like Japanese comics, but also for all readers who appreciate European graphic novels. Its graphic quality, narrative and cultural importance are unquestionable not only in Japan.
Awards for Sunny
• Shogakukan Award – Best manga, 2016.
• Excellence Award – Media Arts Festival, 2016.
Awards for Taiyo Matsumoto and his work
• Special Award from the 30th Japan Cartoonist Association, for Gogo Monster, 2001
• Manga Excellence Award Japan Media Arts Festival, 2001
• Eisner Award for Best American publication of foreign material, for Tekkon Kinkreet, 2008
• Tezuka Osamu Cultural Award for Takemitsuzamurai, 2011
• Award for Best American publication of foreign material – Asia, for Les Chats du Louvre, 2020.
• Taiyo Matsumoto was honored at the Angoulême Festival in 2019
