Seinen Sunny by Matsumoto Taiyou

[Kaiten]

Sunny
By: Matsumoto Taiyou
Genre: Slice of Life, Nouvelle
Serialized In: IKKI
Mangaupdates

The story of an orphanage, the children who live in it, and the beat-up old Nissan Sunny 1200 which provides a trio of boys with a means of escape from their bleak everyday life.

 

[barbapapa]

Re: [New] Sunny by Matsumoto Taiyou

Love this guy. I'm sure Sunny will be amazing.

 

[Kaiten]

Re: [New] Sunny by Matsumoto Taiyou

The first two chapters were. I am not sure I am ready to compare it to Zero or Tekkon Kinkreet but Sunny is a very, very good manga so far.

---------- Post added September 22, 2011 at 02:52 PM ---------- Previous post was September 15, 2011 at 11:59 AM ----------

Chapter 2 and 3 are out. So far Sunny fits very well into Matsumoto canon, children (or the young at heart) contemplating an adult world they don't completely understand. Jonuske and Haruo seem to serve the same role as Shiro and Kuro, or Hanao and Shiego (from Hanaotoko), Jonuske provides the innocents view of the world, with Haruo providing a realists point of view.

 

[barbapapa]

Great stuff so far. Matsumoto does it again.

 

[Josef]

Chapter 4 is out, it focuses on the big kid Kenji and his problems with his father and school. Really interesting chapter, this and the second so far were great. The third was interesting but I do not like Haruo that much, the fat guy is just hilarious.

I wonder what the old guy's role is?

 

[Kaiten]

Chapter five is out now too. Seems like Flatface intends on catching up, only three unscanlated chapters left. Chapter nine comes out at the end of the month.

I really liked the last two chapters. Kenji's father was creepy as hell, I'd rather live at an orphanage than with that guy. I'd likely have some sort of complex and wish to drop out of school if that were my dad.

I actually like Haruo, I like brash but secretly vulnerable characters. Jounsuke is my favorite so far, of course. He reminds me of White.

I think Sunny is about coming to grips with an adult world that does not offer answers, does not always make sense, and does not provide a guide. The Old Man represents someone who has not only come to grips with life as an adult but has lived long enough that the rules no longer apply. He's retired and no longer needs to deal with work, school, sex, death, and relationships. As such he is a passive observer, an adviser as needed but no longer guide or participant.

Spoiler: 24 hour rule for Chapter 5

A really touching chapter, my favorite so far. Makio seems like such a nice person, someone who really cares about the children. No wonder Haruo is so attached to him. His speech about his mother, about wanting to see her so bad it makes him not want to see her made me feel a little lonely on his behalf. Very touching, very sincere. I'm glad that Matsumoto is not letting us forget these are children abandoned, who's parents either can't or won't take care of them.

 

[Josef]

They are catching up, and the art seems better to me with each chapter!

I like your opinion on what the old man represents, truly with the 5th chapter it seems you are correct, he tells it himself that he only wants to listen to them play and not care that much, he is beyond everything now, that is why really young children and really old people mix together well. Old people are not the adults that children will become since they are pass that and children are not the adult the old man once was.

And chapter 5 was Haruo centered! Ah now it seems I do not look at his character the way I did, the first chapter that centered on him was about his bad sides, yet this one was balanced, Makio is a really great parent figure to them, the other caretakers are nor as good with children as he is, he just gives out a positive atmosphere.

 

[Kaiten]

If you think about it, he's a typical grandparents. They do not have to raise children the way parents need to. It is like he said, he can relax and enjoy their happiness or comfort their sadness. He is detached from the day to day aggravations though, he does not do any parenting or teaching so he does not have to hear any back talk, whining, or complaining. By extension that applies to the real world too. As a retiree he no longer has to concern himself with the stresses and aggravations of everyday life even as the children need to learn accept them and the adults to balance the stress of the adult world with pleasure.

 

[Josef]

Would Makio be a typical adult here? Perhaps he will only guide Haruo thorough his "coming of age". He may not be a typical parent but an adult certainly, he did mention that he has a girlfriend so now he might Haruo through the ordeal of that aspect of the adult life. Plus Makio is also a collage student so there goes another thing about growing up that he might have to explain to him, college and jobs and stuff. I wonder in what way will Makio explain that to Haruo.

Haruo does not seem to get a long with the other care takers that much so it makes sense, I wonder if the old man might be a wise word giver to the children at some points.

---------- Post added October 14, 2011 at 11:28 PM ---------- Previous post was October 08, 2011 at 09:51 AM ----------

Chapter 6 is out!

Wow, emotional and also somewhat plot driven if you ask me, I really love how this manga is drawn in a way that makes you feel closer to the characters. Shosuke went missing while gathering four leaved clovers. Though the emotion around thee whole search was brilliantly done and one of my favorite characters found him, woho! Taro is the man! Also the plot seems to revolve now around Haruo and the kid with the glasses escaping?

---------- Post added November 07, 2011 at 02:09 PM ---------- Previous post was October 14, 2011 at 11:28 PM ----------

Chapter 7, color pages~

Spoiler: For those who have not read it

Well it revolves around Kiiko, the young girl that really wants to get married, she makes up a story about being kidnapped which is really fun how she imagines the predator to be a man with red eyes and black "hands", much like a wolf. Really interesting chapter that continues exploring the characters.

 

[Josef]

Out till chapter 9 now!

Ok, so I will put this as a general question for discussion not related to the latest chapter which I will spoiler tag, do you think the whole Childish Question followed by a reasonable Answer on the first page of every chapter has a meaning? I mean certainly it does but what? I think the childish questions are the confused questions of the kids about the world and life while the answers are what they learned and figured out. Opinion?

Spoiler

So yeah chapter 9 was the parents meeting and we see Adachi as a nice caretaker for all of them really nice to see his character explored, Haruo is getting his fair share in these chapters. Sei was a center in chapter 8 him bonding with the new kid was rather emotional!

 

[Josef]

Chapter 10 is out!

Spoiler

I am kind of lost, was this even a kid in the orphanage? Or is Matsumoto going into a new story separate from what we know? Damn this manga being monthly sure does not help following it.

 

[Silverblade]

Saw the cover of volume 2, and now I wonder how I managed to miss it, but when was the first volume released and do we have a cover of it?

 

[Enn]

I checked this out. Oh man, the drawing is beautiful. I will definitely get back to this.

 

[Josef]

Yes, it is a really intense drawing as with most of his works. And it provides with more reading pleasure as the drawings of the characters are filled with emotion, very helpful when reading this kind of manga.

Also, Aikyet, the series has been going on since 2010, I think one volume is released only.

 

[Josef]

Cute, 11 and 12 are really emotional chapters, what a sense of urban atmosphere with the regular mom-son relationship mixed in. Such a touching story for Haruo. Sunny really brings a sad yet cozy feeling in every chapter, I love the song singing leitmotif.

 

[MattC302]

I guess I was right to wait on starting this series. Viz Media just announced that they licensed it.

 

[Josef]

Too bad that the scans have been so slow, we have not gotten anything in months. I hope a miracle shines that we get more releases, and they will be in one batch.

 

[Ikari]

Or scanslator drops it because it is licensed.

 

[Kaiten]

The Manga Editor disappeared long before the license was announced, their last release was in June. I was glad, and a little shocked, when I read it had been licensed by VIZ. They had not been licensing much seinen recently.

 

[Josef]

Really a shame, I guess looking forward to some new works by Matasumoto is all that is left. This was turning out to be one of his best. One of the manga I would certainly buy though!