A Dual Review of CHILDREN OF THE SEA
(The original manga and the anime film!)
It was only after I watched the gorgeous film version of this story that I obtained the 5-volume original manga of CHILDREN OF THE SEA by Daisuke Igarashi. Each book is quite a thick book of around 300 pages, so this is a detailed epic.
The central story concerns a young girl named Ruka, whose father works at an aquarium, where she encounters two mysterious boys named Umi and Sora. Impressed by their unusual swimming ability, she learns that these boys were raised by dugongs.
At the aquarium she encounters an older man named Jim Cusack, with a white beard and bald head, whose skin bears tribal tattoos from around the world. Jim is a marine biologist who now also serves as the guardian for Umi and Sora, whose names correspond with "Sea" and "Sky," which suggests broader significance to who they are.
The story in the manga provides far more detail and background than the film possibly can in just a couple of hours. Ruka seeks to unravel the mystery of her new friends, and to learn more about their origins. A great meteor streaks across the sky and it is learned that ocean creatures form far and wide are converging upon a spot near Japan.
Both the manga and film move into somewhat mystical, visually beautiful territory with a sort of visionary quality. My feeling is that what we are being told is something along the lines of connectivity between all things, and how the Universe external to our bodies and the Universe within each person are One and the same.
Though Jim appears in the film less than the three children, who become the focus, in the manga, his importance and backstory are clearly crucial. At the beginning of Book 2 of the manga, a flashback features young, wiry Jim with a full head of hair and less tattoos. He has, at the time, been living a Pacific island for 5 years with whale-hunting natives.
Jim is eager to become fully part of the tribe and to prove himself to them, so during the hunt of a huge whale he accepts the challenge to plant the killing harpoon. He leaps from the boat, and as he flies down onto the creature's head, their eyes meet. Soon after, a strange young man emerges from the waves. Jim is attracted and curious.
A tribal elder reluctantly tells him that this young man appears whenever the tribe has killed the King of the Whales, to assure that the body is properly butchered and shared. That night, in his hut, where Jim sleeps naked, the stranger appears naked. In a shocking revelation, it becomes clear that he is the spirit of the Great Whale. Jim is told that when their eyes met, the King saw into his heart.
Here we encounter a sort of queer subtext as Jim befriends the beautiful stranger, who seems otherworldly, and is soon killed by a needlefish attracted to a lantern. After this Jim wanders for years and collects more tattoos. Later, after he becomes a marine biologist, he develops a relationship with another young man named Anglade, and they live together. They later become personally alienated.
Jim's skin has become a text of his journey for salvation after killing the King of the Whales. There is no suggestion of impropriety in his guardianship of the boys, Umi and Sora. On the contrary, protecting them and also allowing them to pursue their destiny beyond his control becomes his deeper purpose. In the books, his connection with the King of the Whales is clearly the seed and key to the entire story.
Jim & Anglade
The film is visually stunning, and resists simple explanation, while the books are far more detailed and make some sense, though both allow you to reach your own conclusions. I don't view this as evasion or vagueness, rather it's more like the actual mysteries of Nature itself.
The books are harder to find, but fascinating and gorgeous. The film is exquisite and worth having if you like to collect anime on disc. Here's the trailer: CHILDREN OF THE SEA.
If any of this interests you, please check it out!
- Bruce 8.2.24
