”My nose is so runny I think my brain’s leakin’ out”
Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Taiyo Matsumoto
Translation/Adaptation: Michael Arias
What They Say:
What is Sunny? Sunny is a car. Sunny is a car you take on a drive with your mind. It takes you to the place of your dreams. Sunny is the story of beating the odds, in the ways that count. It’s the brand-new masterwork from Eisner Award-winner Taiyo Matsumoto, one of Japan’s most innovative and acclaimed manga artists. Translated by Tekkonkinkreet film director Michael Arias!
The fifth installment of this poignant series focused on the young lives of a group of foster children displays the breathtaking peaks and troubled flatlands of their imaginations.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
To say that a series composed of vignettes doesn’t tread water feels like a contrarian thing to say, but that’s the best I can describe volume 5 of Sunny. While there isn’t anything in the way of a story to be advanced, it does feel as if its cast of foster children and the adults that take care of them have advanced since the previous volumes, if only slightly.
The first chapter this volume starts us off with a baseball match and meetup with the other nearby foster homes, offering a slightly larger view of the world outside of the Star Kids home we’ve become so accustomed to. As always, Haruo seems to be the main focus of attention, as he wanders off with a child from another foster home, convinced that Star Kids has it the worst in comparison to the others.
The mere concept that Haruo’s made for himself, pitting his own foster house at the bottom of the foster house totem pole gives some real insight as to how he sees his situation—“the losers of the losers.” And while he continues to be a special brand of bratty and annoying, having it coupled with his frustrations of being stuck at a foster home that isn’t exactly the best off monetarily adds another layer to his character. Money is one of those things that you’re always under the impression stresses adults more than children, so whenever you see a child mention it in their laundry list of grievances, it always packs a wallop.
Later chapters this volume follow a similar theme, as we follow the other children through their daily life in Star Kids. On the surface, each child is living well enough, but as they’re pushed to their limits, their true feelings bubble up at the last second. Sei, the home’s residential bookworm spends his time in secret planning an escape to the city to bring his parents back together; Junsuke spends the day being sick; Kenji continues to muddle his way through his growing pains as one of the older Star Kids; Megumu spends the day with her aunt and uncle, hesitant to enjoy her time with them after the passing of her parents. Of the stories, Kenji’s comes off as the least compelling, having already experienced his teenage angst in a previous volume, and not doing much to progress his own story, even though it does alter the status quo of his day-to-day, slightly.
Meanwhile, Sei and Junsuke’s stories are the stand-out chapters, the former sticking to author Matsumoto’s strengths from earlier volumes, while the latter tries to bring something new to the table. Now five volumes in, it’s interesting to think that with such little screen time, we’ve already grown a solid enough foundation with each of the kids to get a decent feel for their likes and dislikes. Sei is the quiet, studious type, always on his best behavior. So to have him take advantage of how people perceive him to plan an incredibly meticulous escape from Star Kids only makes the scenario that much more crushing.
On the other hand is Junsuke—a nice kid, but easily distractible and antsy, being stuck in bed with a cold. What makes his chapter interesting is that while it ends with the standard Sunny reminder of how the kids view their parents as an escape that can’t be taken for granted (especially in Junsuke’s case where his mother is nearby, but bedridden herself), it also throws in some interesting imagery into the mix. Fitting with Junsuke’s sickness and naturally wandering mind, we’re treated to a few panels of him imagining himself as a mere 10 centimeters tall. The series, usually not prone to blending in such a trippy visual into its chapters, works for that same reason. And even if it only further allows most to brand the series as “artsy-fartsy,” it still works and keeps with the series’ vibe perfectly.
The volume closes out with a chapter featuring Makio and his girlfriend Nanako, though focused more so on Haruo, who’s become more of the centerpiece for the series more than anything else. As Makio explains what Haruo’s first year at Star Kids was like, it feels as if the chapter is gearing towards a point that’s never fully reached. And while Sunny does have a tendency of ending some chapters abruptly, I do hope the next volume carries off exactly where this left off.
In Summary:
Sunny Volume 5 continues its run of pleasant, vignette-style insights on the Star Kids, reminiscent of a lazy Sunday afternoon in its charmingly meandering style of art and storytelling. And while each chapter focuses on a specific child in the foster home, on the whole it never feels like the series is treading water, always making a point of exploring a different facet of each character, digging deeper into the variety of reactions that exist for the children in that situation.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz
Release Date: July 7, 2015
MSRP: $22.99
