Bright Sun - Dark Shadows is the start of a new manga thriller series from the pen of author Yasuki Tanaka, who is also responsible for the drawings. The graphic novel combines a lot that fans want from such works: the classic murder in paradise, an exciting story about time warps, an inviting setting and a precisely balanced mixture of goose bumps and gore. With this new literary series, KAZÉ Manga invites fans of Japanese comics to an exciting literary mental cinema.

As a reader devoted to Japano comics, you immediately feel at home with Bright Sun - Dark Shadows by KAZÉ Manga: The graphic novel is manga in its purest form. Direct, unmistakable and stylish, author Yasuki Tanaka merges the imagery and text elements typical of the genre to create a manga-style thriller that combines drama and mystery - and that without having to forego the right portion of splatter.

Bright Sun - Dark Shadows: Murder in Paradise

Goes too offensively Bright Sun - Dark Shadows not pretending to move the story forward. Many story elements initially remain blurry and mysterious. Tanaka unravels the riddle about the mysterious island and the siblings Shinpei and Ushio step by step and initially carefully dosed.

Back on the island, isolated from the outside world, Shinpei quickly notices that his old home has changed: familiar faces from the past suddenly seem strange, the residents tell confused stories and a wordless horror has cast a shadow on the island. Is that because of the circumstances under which his stepsister Ushio died? And what about the rumors about doppelgangers on the island?
Blurb for Bright Sun - Dark Shadows by KAZÉ Manga

Even the blurb of this thriller from KAZÉ Manga is so wonderfully meaningless that you have to get involved with the story. The urge to find out what actually happened on the paradise island haunts the reader on every page - sometimes obviously, sometimes subliminally. However, the feeling of wanting to solve the riddle is always palpable.

SUMMER TIME RENDER © ︎ 2017 by Yasuki Tanaka / SHUEISHA Inc. Photo: Volkmann

SUMMER TIME RENDER © ︎ 2017 by Yasuki Tanaka / SHUEISHA Inc. Photo: Volkmann

Yasuki Tanaka succeeds in creating an intense basic tension in the opening work Bright Sun - Dark Shadows, which motivates you to turn the pages. In a manga this is not a matter of course: Many works scratch the surface of their possibilities, work purely as images - and sometimes rely on the typical fan services that are familiar from such Japanese comics.

The manga thriller Bright Sun - Dark Shadows also contains elements of this kind, but always focuses on the story. Even the premise is convincing: the idea of ​​a murder in paradise is as old as humanity itself, but in this graphic novel it takes on a very modern touch thanks to the time loop theme.

SUMMER TIME RENDER © ︎ 2017 by Yasuki Tanaka / SHUEISHA Inc. Photo: Volkmann

SUMMER TIME RENDER © ︎ 2017 by Yasuki Tanaka / SHUEISHA Inc. Photo: Volkmann

The author could be accused of using “time loops”, which are considered antiquated, for his work in order to create the necessary portion of confusion for the reader - Tanaka manages, however, to weave the basic theme into the story in a rather unobtrusive way. And thus without the often feared leaps in time, the comprehensibility of which suffers in some works.

Because different genre elements are whisked together with different weightings, the reader is forced to actually think about the story anyway. The fact is: you don't have to like time warps to have fun with Bright Sun - Dark Shadows.

Manga experience not only for the experienced

The genre has its idiosyncrasies that fans love - but which sometimes leave beginners in despair. Bright Sun - Dark Shadows is a graphic novel with which KAZÉ Manga does not only reach experts.

SUMMER TIME RENDER © ︎ 2017 by Yasuki Tanaka / SHUEISHA Inc. Photo: Volkmann

SUMMER TIME RENDER © ︎ 2017 by Yasuki Tanaka / SHUEISHA Inc. Photo: Volkmann

This is mainly due to the mixture of thriller and mystery, which changes over the course of the book. At the latest from halfway through, a mild goose bumps feeling turns into a tough title that doesn't skimp on gore and splatter. Because everything - and this is typical for Manga - is processed in a special artistic style, there is no shock of brutality that makes the faint-hearted reader put the book down. Bright Sun - Dark Shadows doesn’t shock, but rather creeps pleasantly - despite some harsh imagery.

Info about the book

Title: Bright Sun - Dark Shadows
Original title: Summer Time Rendering
Publisher: KAZÉ Manga
Page number: 208
Language: German
Price: € 6,95

The author's trick is simple, almost imposing, but ensures a flow of reading: from the crime thriller element to the love story, it contains a lot, but none of it pushes Yasuki Tanaka into the foreground.

SUMMER TIME RENDER © ︎ 2017 by Yasuki Tanaka / SHUEISHA Inc. Photo: Volkmann

SUMMER TIME RENDER © ︎ 2017 by Yasuki Tanaka / SHUEISHA Inc. Photo: Volkmann

Basically, Tanaka could do that because mangas do it not infrequently. Instead, Bright Sun - Dark Shadows stays true to one line, follows a red thread and drives the story forward with every page, without forcing reading breaks through unnecessarily inserted literary ballast. This thriller is a Japanese comic for everyone, because it contains elements for each one that you can work your way through the book - from the first to the last of the almost 200 pages.

KAZE Bright Sun -Dark Shadows manga thriller

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