Okinawa is a collection of short manga written and illustrated by award-winning cartoonist Susumu Higa. It collects two thematically related works that span 30 years or so of history from March of 1945 onward. Each story is self-contained and somewhat quiet. Sure, WWII was a World War, but these stories are about the people of Okinawa and their individual, daily trials and tribulations. Okinawa, of course, is the title because it takes place there, the southmost island of the Japanese archipelago and the site of the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific theater of WWII.
Each story features new characters and situations that play out over a handful of pages. The diversity of perspectives presented in this collection is impressive. While it would be easy and justifiable to focus entirely on the horrors of WWII and the various atrocities, the stories aren’t really interested in taking a side in that conflict. While largely told from the perspective of the residents of Okinawa, there are plenty of American characters that are portrayed simply as people doing their jobs without judgment being passed by the characters or author. The people of these stories are simply living their lives in extraordinary circumstances. That’s not to say people’s actions don’t have consequences, though, and US military presence is a frequent source of tension and conflict between characters in both the stories set during the war and many years after.
Higa is more of a cartoonist than one typically imagines compared to mainstream manga. His clean art is strictly black and white with cross-hatching or pointalism to provide shading. It’s tempting to think this is more “simple” than the work of other mangaka, but the diversity present in crowd shots and the meticulously rendered foliage of Okinawa proves otherwise. Hand-lettered onomatopoeia is applied with restraint and is left intact in this English localization and is accompanied by tasteful, small transcriptions/translations in the gutter under the panels in which they appear. This is nice because it leaves the art completely unaltered but still allows the corresponding sounds to be communicated to the non-Japanese-speaking reader.
The stories cover an array of topics from grave robbing to baseball, so if a story manages to overstay its welcome there’s always a new one with a fresh subject to look forward to. That being said, at over 500 pages, Okinawa is a commitment even for a manga, and not every story is a banger. The dialogue throughout is functional but forgettable and can make the less engaging stories feel longer than their page count. Overall, Okinawa is a unique collection of specific stories that endears and educates.
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