Title: Calling You

Author: Otsu Ichi

Publisher: Tokyopop

Year: 2001 (Japan), 2007 (US)

Hey gang and welcome to the first installment of J-Shelf with Tokyo Swan! Now then, long time readers of Dogentricks.com may recall me from some previous posts by Dogen. However, for those scratching their heads, let me give you a quick rundown. I was Dogen’s next door neighbor in the dorm in Shin-Kawasaki when we were going to Keio during our exchange program. During this time, I was making a weekly video series for youtube called “Tokyo Swan” (check it out if you haven’t yet!), and during this time Dogen and I became good friends. Recently, Dogen sent me an email asking if I wanted to join the Dogentricks team, so after thinking about what kind of material I could contribute to the site I gladly accepted the offer.

And so, here we are on the first installment of J-Shelf, my (as of now) bi-weekly look at Japanese literature. I’ve been a huge fan of Japanese novels for about 5 or so years now, reading everything from Murakami Haruki, Tanizaki Junichiro, Kawabata Yasunari, Mishima Yukio, Kanehara Hitomi, Ogawa Yoko, Miyabe Miyuki, Kirino Natsuo, Abe Kobo, Suzuki Koji and so many others. So while I don’t claim to be an expert on the subject, I am very enthusiastic about Japanese literature and I hope I can bring some interesting titles that have been translated into English to your attention.

To kick things off, I just finished a collection of three short stories called Calling You. Published by Tokyopop, a company that mainly specializes in translating manga, I didn’t really know anything about the title before picking it up. However, after discovering that the author, Otsu Ichi, who wrote stories which were adapted into a live action movie called Zoo, I realized that I would be in for some strangely off-kilter tales. Sure enough, Calling You is a collection of three strange stories of the supernatural, but there is a real heart at the core of these stories which leads this away from typical supernatural fiction.

The first story in the book is where the collection takes its title; Calling You. In it, a reclusive young girl builds a phone in her mind which is able to call into the minds of other people with imaginary phones. Yeah, pretty wild right? Well, the story takes on a romantic edge when she is finally able to enjoy conversing with a boy who also has an imaginary phone.  The plot takes some interesting twists and turns, until it arrives at a surprising ending.

The oddly titled “Kiz/Kids” is the second story of the collection. This one was probably the best of the three and left the biggest emotional impact on me. The narrator of this piece is a young boy who is put in a class for troubled young students when he meets a very meek and quiet boy who has a very peculiar special power. This young boy has the ability to transfer the wounds of people to himself just by touching them. This leads to the boys trying out the new power and seeing how they could use it for good and evil. Even though it’s a fairly short story, the emotional relationship between the characters was delicately built and remarkably impressive.

Finally, the books ends with a story called “Flower Song.” While this is easily the weakest of the three stories, it still has a few unique ideas. The story centers on a strange flower that hums just like a little girl. This one had more of a mystery element to it, but it didn’t leave the same impact on me as the first two stories. However I enjoyed how all of the stories focus on unfortunate young characters who feel disconnected from the rest of society, so there are common themes of isolation and depression throughout the work.

Calling You is also sprinkled with illustrations throughout the text, so this book may appeal to manga readers as well as for those looking for some offbeat supernatural short stories. It’s a slim book at just over 180 pages and so it can easily be finished in an afternoon. For more of Otsu Ichi’s work, it appears that Tokyopop has also released a book entitled Goth and the Zoo novel is set to debut in English later this year from Viz Media. Personally, I think he’s an interesting author that is able to mix grotesque and heartwarming elements with thought provoking results. While this work certainly isn’t world changing, it’s a fun read with some weird plot points so for that reason I recommend it for others to try out. That’s all for this time, happy reading everyone!

Tokyo Swan

If you liked this you may also enjoy: The Diving Pool: Ogawa Yoko, Birthday: Suzuki Koji, Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination: Edogawa Rampo.