I don’t think I’ve reviewed a manga before. I became interested in this one because the blurb said it was about a manga author who becomes horrified about how it is being adapted for a play. Looking inside, at one point she says, “This script … is full of characters saying things they’d never say.” (p. 82).
This was intriguing, but I didn’t buy it for months, because I try to avoid impulse buying. I’ve bought only two other manga in the past, and after some months ended up selling them to a used bookstore.
So by the time I decided to buy it, the series had finished with Volume 24. I was warned on a book site that other readers had ordered this past issue, and they had received what were obviously used books, though they had been advertised as new. One buyer said his copy was damaged.
I took the risk, and received a copy in new condition.
Oshi No Ko Volume 5 by Aka Akasaka and Mengo Yokoyari is quite engaging, because it goes surprisingly deep into the nature of acting and having one’s writing adapted.
The main character is actually Akane, a seventeen-year-old actress. (She’s the one on the cover.) She reveals that actors for plays get about a month to rehearse. “We meet at noon, rehearse for six or seven hours, then go home at night.” (p. 43).
Her conflict comes from the direction and the script. She is told to be intense, like the other actors. She knows the character in the manga is quiet and has a lot of inner conflict. But the script changes her to a bold, unsubtle character (which explains the direction she was given). She concludes, “He’s flattened her character into a plot device.” (p. 56).
A friend encourages her to speak to the script writer. Surprisingly, Akane says, “We can’t break the chain of command.” (p. 65). She explains that if the cast gets instructions from more than one person, they become confused.
Akane gets an opportunity to speak to the script writer and the director together. The script writer says it is hard to portray a character’s feelings without a lot of acting, so he had to simplify this complex story. But he is open to fix things to help Akane.
The director cuts this short, saying, “Don’t spoil the cast.” (p. 69). He tells Akane her role is to be a “persuasive stage device.” (p. 70). Akane accepts this.
The author of the original manga becomes a main character for a while. But she is so anti-social and eventually so angry, she is hard to sympathize with. She is so upset with the play adaptation, she wants the script writer fired.
