Offshore Lightning by Saito Nazuna - ISBN: 9781770465053
Paperback
Postwar Japan’s anxieties, lost loves, and the sting of aging.

Offshore Lightning

$60.68

  • Paperback

    384 pages

  • Release Date

    11 July 2023

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Summary

Anxiety and longing suffuse incisive portraits of postwar Japan. Nazuna Saito began making comics late. She was in her forties when she submitted a story to a major Japanese publishing house and won an award for newcomers. She continued to work through the 1990s until she stopped drawing to take care of her ailing parents. In her sixties, she took a job teaching drawing at Kyoto Seika University and became inspired by her talented students. When she returned to teaching, her storytelling inte…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9781770465053
ISBN-10:1770465057
Author:Saito Nazuna, Alexa Frank
Publisher:Drawn and Quarterly
Imprint:Drawn and Quarterly
Format:Paperback
Number of Pages:384
Release Date:11 July 2023
Weight:558g
Dimensions:156mm x 213mm
A-Format
B-Format
Offshore Lightning by Saito Nazuna - ISBN: 9781770465053
156 × 213 mm
C-Format
A4
mm / in
What They're Saying

Critics Review

“The solitude and anguish of life in postwar Japan are portrayed in crisp black-and-white drawings.” —The New York Times

“[This] stellar collection of Saito’s short manga about death, memory, family tensions, and human frailty… lends fresh perspective in the growing body of indie manga imports.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“Saito’s English-language debut, seamlessly translated by Frank, comprises 10 stories that include a two-decade break between the first eight and final two. Japanese editor/manga historian Mitsuhiro provides an edifying overview of Saito’s fascinating career… Manga aficionados will recognize nods to Yoshiharu Tsuge and Shigeru Mizuki.” —ALA Booklsit

“These stories crystallize the small mysteries and experiences between life and death… [Saito] explores human connections in a way that feels true and authentic.” —Graphic Medicine

“It’s quiet and satisfying, but makes its point forcefully from a creator forced to consider death more personally herself.” —Slings & Arrows

“There’s something incredibly rewarding about a collection like Offshore Lightning, which allows readers to see Nazuna Saito’s talent deepen and evolve over the course of many years… the stories she tells are empathic and moving.” —Words Without Borders

“Grounded in reality and the every day, profound in [its] examination of the ordinary.” —Book Riot

About The Author

Saito Nazuna

Nazuna Saito was born in 1946 near Mount Fuji. She became an illustrator almost by chance when a coworker left and Saito replaced her. She drew her first comics at the age of forty.

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