{"id":41,"date":"2013-12-04T07:13:46","date_gmt":"2013-12-04T07:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/?page_id=41"},"modified":"2023-02-15T19:51:40","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T19:51:40","slug":"alabaster-manga","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/?page_id=41","title":{"rendered":"Alabaster (Manga)"},"content":{"rendered":"
Also known as \u30a2\u30e9\u30d0\u30b9\u30bf\u30fc (Arabastaa)<\/h5>\n
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\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
English Title:<\/strong><\/td>\nAlabaster<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
In English?<\/strong><\/td>\nYes<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Japanese Title:<\/strong><\/td>\n\u30a2\u30e9\u30d0\u30b9\u30bf\u30fc
\nArabastaa<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Type:<\/strong><\/td>\nOngoing Serial<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Original run:<\/strong><\/td>\n1970\/12\/21 – 1971\/06\/28<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Published in:<\/strong><\/td>\nWeekly Shonen Champion<\/a><\/em>
\n\u9031\u520a\u5c11\u5e74\u30c1\u30e3\u30f3\u30d4\u30aa\u30f3<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Published by:<\/strong><\/td>\nAkita Shoten<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Volumes:<\/strong><\/td>\n2
\nMT-089<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0MT-090<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Originally serialized in\u00a0Weekly Shonen Champion<\/em><\/a>, from December 21, 1970 to June 28, 1971, Alabaster<\/em> (1970-71) is one of Tezuka’s most dark and controversial manga series.<\/p>\n

What it’s about<\/h2>\n

James Block<\/a>, a handsome, famous and successful black athlete, looses everything when a failed romance releases the homicidal fury pent up inside and he runs his car into a crowd of people.\u00a0 In prison he encounters the mysterious Doctor F, who has invented a ray which can make things invisible.\u00a0 Upon his release, he finds the lab and attempts to make himself invisible, a useful tool for criminal enterprise, but the ray malfunctions, causing him torturous pain and rendering only parts of him invisible, so he now appears as a hideous, vein-striped monster.\u00a0 Instilled by a hatred of all things beautiful, James<\/a> renames himself Alabaster<\/a> and sets out to found a criminal gang bent on destroying the beauty of the world.<\/p>\n

First he takes revenge on Susan Ross, the woman who rejected him.\u00a0 Although Dr. F’s invisibility ray can turn anything invisible, the process can be lethal to all living things.\u00a0 So, using the F-ray, he kills her and then renders the corpse invisible, ensuring it will never be found.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

James Block (a.k.a. Alabaster)<\/p><\/div>\n

Alabaster<\/a> then comes across Ami, Dr. F’s granddaughter, who, due to her grandfather’s experiments, was born invisible.\u00a0 He arranges for her to spring her boyfriend, Genya, and several other young thugs associated with him from prison, and then takes control of the group – treating Ami like a queen because her invisibility appeals to his twisted sense of beauty, and the rest almost like slaves.\u00a0 With his gang in place, Alabaster<\/a> has them pull a string of jewelry heists – leaving hideous bodies behind.<\/p>\n

Alabaster<\/a>‘s reign of terror soon\u00a0catches the attention of Rock<\/a>, a sinister and corrupt FBI agent.\u00a0 As skeletal horses stampede through the countryside, his gang raids homes at random, leaving semi-visible corpses and hideous survivors with their brains and eyeballs visible through transparent faces.\u00a0 In the end, it comes down to a three-way struggle between Kanihei, Ami’s visible brother, Alabaster<\/a> and Rock<\/a> – with Ami, being torn in all directions, at the center of it all.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Rock’s biggest fan<\/p><\/div>\n

What you should know<\/h2>\n

The serialization of Alabaster<\/em> (1970-71) in\u00a0Weekly Shonen Champion<\/em><\/a> sparked more controversy than just about any of Tezuka’s other works – and an unusual sort of controversy to boot.\u00a0 While Black Jack<\/em> (1973-83)<\/a> and other social commentaries often elicited criticism from the medical establishment or other organizations, Alabaster<\/em> (1970-71) triggered a great volume of angry letters from Tezuka’s diehard fans who were shocked to read a story so filled with evil and devoid of heroes.<\/p>\n

Although Tezuka had begun to explore the appeal and charisma of evil in Vampires<\/em> (1966-69)<\/a>, in Alabaster<\/em> (1970-71) he seemed to have abandoned the optimistic world of Astro Boy<\/a> and his other guardians of virtue – which fans had relied upon to challenge and overthrow that evil.\u00a0 Written at a the juxtaposition of Tezuka’s exploration of more mature themes and his own professional financial crisis with the bankruptcy of his animation studio Mushi Productions and the loss of legal rights to many of his own animated creations, Alabaster<\/em> (1970-71) is bleak.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ami and her steed<\/p><\/div>\n

There is no virtue to be found, as one might expect, in the story of innocent young lovers.\u00a0 Ami, who starts out as a virtuous young girl, is led into crime when Genya persuades her to help him in a jewelry heist to secure money to help his ailing family.\u00a0 After he, and a selection of other young petty thieves, are busted out of jail, they are all forced to aid Alabaster<\/a> – with Ami eventually ending up as a vicious murderess.\u00a0 Only Ami’s brother, Kanihei, retains any virtue throughout the story, but he’s no hero and can do little more than bear witness to the corruption of Alabaster’s touch.<\/p>\n

From the perspective of Tezuka’s Star System<\/a>, what is really interesting is the absences.\u00a0 Tezuka declined to cast his usual assortment of detectives and policemen.\u00a0 There is no Inspector Geta<\/a>, Inspector Tawashi<\/a> or even Shunsaku Ban<\/a> to bring the criminals to justice.\u00a0 Instead, the forces of law are represented by Rock<\/a> – a far cry from his “boy detective” roots in Metropolis<\/em> (1949) or The Adventure of Rock<\/em> (1952-54)<\/a>.\u00a0 The sadistic FBI agent is every bit as sinister and self-serving as Makube Rokuro<\/a> was in Vampires<\/em> (1966-69)<\/a>.\u00a0 Similarly absent are Tezuka’s “usual suspects” of self-serving thugs: Acetylene Lamp<\/a>, Skunk Kusai<\/a>, Hamegg<\/a>, etc.\u00a0 Instead Alabaster<\/a> is a truly cruel criminal, not working for personal gain but to harm others, with those under him as much prisoners as helpers.<\/p>\n

Where you can get it<\/h2>\n

In 2015, an\u00a0English-language edition of Alabaster<\/em> (1970-71)\u00a0was published as a two-volume set<\/a> as part of a successful Kickstarter campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally serialized in Weekly Shonen Champion, from December 1970 to June 1971, Alabaster is one of Tezuka’s most dark and controversial manga series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5975,"parent":9225,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[157,154,34,296,339,38],"class_list":["post-41","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manga","tag-available-in-english","tag-crime-dramas","tag-dark-period","tag-ongoing-serials","tag-shonen-manga","tag-weekly-shonen-champion","has-thumbnail"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P6vZWu-F","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/41","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":42,"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/41\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13321,"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/41\/revisions\/13321"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9225"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezuka.strobez.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}