is a
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
by
Moto Hagio
is a Japanese manga artist. Regarded for her contributions to ''shōjo'' manga ( manga aimed at young and adolescent women), Hagio is considered the most significant artist in the demographic and among the most influential manga artists of a ...
. It is set in a near-future Japan, and begins with a girl, Jyujo Aoba, who has been in a coma since she was nine years old, who was discovered next to her parents' bodies, with their hearts inside her stomach. To discover why she killed her parents, a specialist enters her coma dreams and finds that Jyujo is dreaming about and simultaneously creating the future. The series was serialised in Shogakukan's ''
Flowers
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
'' between September 2002 and August 2005 and is collected in 4 volumes. The series is licensed for release in the United States by
Fantagraphics Books
Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and the erotic Eros Comix imprint.
History
Founding
Fantagraphics was found ...
.
In 2006, ''Otherworld Barbara'' won the Grand Prize of the 27th
Nihon SF Taisho Award
The is a Japanese science fiction award. It has been compared to the Nebula Award as it is given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan or SFWJ. The Grand Prize is selected from not only Science Fiction novels, but also various SF mo ...
Development
Hagio "wanted to do something about meat" when she created the story for ''Otherworld Barbara'', and felt that the story "turned out kind of gross". Thorn felt that Hagio also used her interest in
the right and left brain, and the
origin of language
The origin of language (spoken and signed, as well as language-related technological systems such as writing), its relationship with human evolution, and its consequences have been subjects of study for centuries. Scholars wishing to study th ...
. She read
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...
's ''Noam Chomsky on The Generative Enterprise, A discussion with Riny Hyybregts and
Henk van Riemsdijk
Henk van Riemsdijk (born 27 April 1948 in The Hague, The Netherlands) is a Dutch linguist and professor emeritus at Tilburg University.
Career
Van Riemsdijk studied linguistics at the Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis and at the Universi ...
.'',
Vilayanur S. Ramachandran
Vilayanur Subramanian Ramachandran (born 10 August 1951) is an Indian-American neuroscientist. He is known for his wide-ranging experiments and theories in behavioral neurology, including the invention of the mirror box. Ramachandran is a disti ...
's ''
Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind'', and
Andrew B. Newberg
Andrew Newberg is an American neuroscientist who is a professor in the Department of Integrative Medicine and Nutritional Sciences and the director of research at the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health at Thomas Jefferson University Hospita ...
's ''Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief''.
Volume list
Reception
''Otherworld Barbara'' won the Grand Prize of the 27th
Nihon SF Taisho Award
The is a Japanese science fiction award. It has been compared to the Nebula Award as it is given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan or SFWJ. The Grand Prize is selected from not only Science Fiction novels, but also various SF mo ...
by the
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan, or SFWJ (Japanese official name: , ''Nihon SF Sakka Club'') is an organization of SF-related people, professional or semi-professional. It was formerly a friendship organization, but it is a general inco ...
(SFWJ) in 2006 and was the first manga in 23 years to have won this award.
Paste Magazine
''Paste'' is a monthly music and entertainment digital magazine, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with studios in Atlanta and Manhattan, and owned by Paste Media Group. The magazine began as a website in 1998. It ran as a print publication fro ...
praised Hagio's sense of pacing.
References
External links
Official site(flash required)
{{Fantagraphics translations
Josei manga
Moto Hagio
Science fiction anime and manga
Sharp Point Press titles
Shogakukan manga
Fantagraphics titles