Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths

Shigeru Mizuki is a Japanese manga artist who is best known for his yōkai (Japanese folklore monsters)-themed manga, especially GeGeGe no Kitarō.[7][1] Mizuki enjoyed writing about the monsters' histories, which a local woman related to him; however in 1942, at the age of 21, Mizuki was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army.[7] He was sent to Rabaul, a city on New Britain island in Papua New Guinea, where his comrades died and Mizuki lost his left arm.[7] Based on these experiences, Mizuki wrote Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths, containing "90 percent fact".[1][2] Fictionalizing himself as private Maruyama, Mizuki tells the story by combining drawings with photographs.[8]

Shigeru Mizuki wrote and illustrated Sōin Gyokusai Seyo!, which was first published in the August 1973 issue of Shūkan Gendai.[9] In the same year, Kodansha released it in tankōbon format with the subtitle Sento Jōji Misaki Aika (聖ジョージ岬・哀歌, "Cape St. George Lamentations").[10] In July 1985, Holp Shuppan published the work,[11] and Kodansha re-released it on June 15, 1995.[12] Ohzora Publishing released the manga on August 9, 2007, as Ā Gyokusai: Mizuki Shigeru Senki Senshū (ああ玉砕～水木しげる戦記選集～),[13] and on July 30, 2010, as Mizuki Shigeru no Senki Senshū (水木しげるの戦記選集).[14] It was released under the konbini comic format by Shueisha on August 11, 2007, and on August 16, 2008.[15]

At the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International, comic book publisher Drawn & Quarterly announced it had acquired the manga's publishing rights and would release it in North America under the title Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths.[3] The company released the manga in May 2011; it was the first manga by Mizuki published in English.[16] The Drawn & Quarterly edition was 368 pages and had an introduction written by manga commentator Frederik L. Schodt, as well as an interview with Mizuki.[6][4] The publisher chose the work because they thought it was "an excellent introduction" to Mizuki's work, and because "readers have knowledge of and thus can relate to on a certain level".[1]

Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths has been critically acclaimed. At the 2009 Angoulême International Comics Festival, the manga won the Prize for Inheritance.[5] In 2012, it was nominated for a Harvey Award in the Best American Edition of Foreign Material category.[17] It was selected for the Eisner Award in the categories Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia and Best Reality-Based Work, winning the former at the Comic-Con.[18]

According to a compilation by Deb Aoki of About.com, Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths was considered the best new manga of 2011 because it was included in 18 critics lists of best comics/graphic novels.[19] Aoki said the manga is "dense with details, and filled with pathos, humor and horror".[20] Paste's Garrett Martin wrote that the "realistic depictions of normal men trapped in a horrible situation" makes Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths "brutally honest".[21] Brigid Alverson of MTV Geek said, "this is not an easy story to read, but its historical importance and the lessons it holds for the future are undeniable".[22] Noel Murray writing in The A.V. Club said the manga's artwork is "detailed, often beautiful illustrations of small Pacific islands with characters rendered far less elaborately".[23] Karen Green of Comixology wrote that the "story is so human and its message so powerful" and that is a good book to eliminate the preconceptions American may have of the Japanese Army that are frequently propagated by Hollywood.[6] Among others, Library Journal,[24] Dan Kois and Glen Weldon of NPR,[25][26] Comic Book Resources,[27] Ed Sizemore of Manga Worth Reading,[28] and Publishers Weekly included it on their lists of best comic books of 2011.[29] Further, in 2014, Joe Gross of the Rolling Stone qualified it as the 46th "Best Non-Superhero Graphic Novel" of all time.[30]

David Maine wrote for PopMatters that "there is little here to criticize. Perhaps some of the transitions are a bit abrupt, [and] maybe some of the characterization could be sharper."[31] Similarly, Sean Michael Robinson of The Comics Journal said Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths for its theme "as well as its many strengths and virtues, it is a very difficult book to criticize".[2] Robinson's critics was that it has "loosely characterized" characters and that its art "can also be a stumbling block". He said the art is "problematic", is "the hand-off—when characters suddenly leap modes, bouncy and expressive one moment, and photo-rendered and flat the next".[2] Tom Spurgeon, writing for The Comics Reporter, said he had difficulty "in not being able to easily track which soldiers are which at any one point in the book".[32]

• Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia