Word is going around that manga great Jiro Taniguchi has passed away at age 69. His best known works in English include The Walking Man, The Summit of the Gods and The Magic Mountain, all meditative books about man and nature and his place in the world. In Japan he was probably best known for Kadoku no Gourmet (The Solitary Gourmet), written by Masayuki Qusumi, in which a lone business traveler goes around the world eating art restaurants, a work turned into a TV series.
Taniguchi’s introspective, meticulous books were also greatly appreciated in France, where he was a frequent award nominee. His work is available in English from Viz, Fanfare/Ponent Mon and NBM and I give it the highest possible recommendation. Taniguchi was one of the finest cartoonists of his generation, one whose themes transcended language and cultures. Here’s a link to an online roundtable about his work.
One of my favorite cartoonists. I also loved A Distant Neighborhood by Taniguchi.
Well, crap.
– “His best known works in English include The Walking Man, The Summit of the Gods and The Magic Mountain”
Isn’t A DISTANT NEIGHBORHOOD both better-known and better?
– “In Japan he was probably best known for Kadoku no Gourmet”
His more meditative books only sold well in Europe. Half of his 60+ volumes are action/adventure genre books (some of them very good) and in Japan he was best known for them, or for his graphic adaptation of the classic BOTCHAN.
Oh wow! That’s awful news!!
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