Artigo Revisado por pares

Who Let the Dogs Out? Race as Illness in Tezuka Osamu's Ode to Kirihito

2024; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 50; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/jjs.2024.a918582

ISSN

1549-4721

Autores

Ben Whaley,

Tópico(s)

American and British Literature Analysis

Resumo

Abstract: This article examines the link between illness and racialized difference in the medical manga Kirihito sanka (1970–71; Ode to Kirihito , 2006) by Japan's "God of Manga," Tezuka Osamu (1928–89). Centering on a fictional disease that physically transforms its victims into human-canine hybrids, Kirihito sanka illustrates how easily ethno-racial stereotypes can inform discourses on disease, and how discrimination and racism are illnesses without national or cultural boundaries. As such, the manga is a sterling example of Tezuka's gekiga -inspired works of the 1970s that evolved to tell more literary and socially resonant stories reflecting the author's racial politics.

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