Satoshi Kon’s OPUS Review

Story By: Satoshi Kon

Art By: Satoshi Kon

Published By: Dark Horse

Satoshi Kon is one of the more recognizable and infamous names within the anime world. With films like Paprika, Perfect Blue, and Tokyo Godfathers he was heralded as one of anime’s most superb creators and his death was a shockingly sad occurrence that made many of us wonder if we’d ever get a taste of the complex themes and fantastical worlds he brought to the table. Luckily for us all, Dark Horse has published his manga OPUS in full. And what a wonderful masterpiece it is.

Opus tells the story of a mangaka (or manga artist) named Chikara Nagai who’s all set to wrap up the manga he’s been working on called “Resonance”. “Resonance” itself is a story about a mind-reading cop named Satoko desperately trying to track down and defeat a telekinetic cult reader called The Masque. And as things heat up, Nagai decides that the only way to defeat The Masque will be to have another main character named Rin heroically sacrifice himself to kill The Masque. The bad guy dies, readers get one more shocking loss, and Rin becomes a hero. Sounds good, right?

The only problem is, Lin decides that he has no desire to die and ends up pulling Nagai straight into the pages and world within “Resonance”. For Nagai, the simple matter of finishing his manga turns into a much greater task of dealing with his fictional characters who have suddenly come to life and are keen on deciding how their own lives play out. Nagai is suddenly not only up against his deadline, but his own characters he created.

The interesting thing about OPUS is that it not only gives us this wonderful story, but that it begins to ask metaphysical and even religious questions early on. For Satoko and Lin, Nagai isn’t merely a man. He’s their creator. Or, as they call him, God. Nagai can’t but deny this, seeing himself as an average man, but he quickly has to learn to deal with the fact that people he created are actually alive.

More importantly however, are the ideas of fate and deus ex machina that are present. When Rin discovers he’s going to die and he decides to change that, Nagai is frustrated because it messes up his plan. In other words, it’s messing up Lin’s fate and the carefully laid plan Nagai had for him. And as Nagai struggles to find a fitting end for “Resonance”, he’s almost shocked to hear both Rin and Satoko ask why they can’t just determine the future themselves. To him, they’re just fictional characters. To them, they can’t understand why a man would create so much pain and sorrow for sake of story.

Kon’s artwork is also beautiful and instantly recognizable within here. Despite this being one of his earliest works, Kon’s distinctive style is in full effect, especially in regards to his characters. I’m actually slightly amazed at the amount of detail Kon manages to fit into his panels. Doors break and he painstakingly draws splinters of wood. Shots are fired so Kon can give us smoking guns in his next panels. Fires start and panels get covered in smoke. OPUS has some of the best artwork I’ve seen in any manga period.

The realism isn’t the only thing that’s great though. Kon also changes up his art to help hammer in some of the ideas of the abstract and it’s quite interesting to see the worlds merge through a sheet of paper. In fact, some of the art goes to show just how methodical Kon is when it comes to ideas. When Lin begins to deter from the script, Kon gives us a flat world of simple drawings that Nagai explains away as being poorly drawn backgrounds he rushed through. This kind of stuff didn’t need to be included by any means but it really helps hammer in the idea that the world of “Resonance” only exists as far as Nagai has created it. It’s a lot of fun but also gives the reader a lot to look for and think about in regards to the story at hand and the themes it presents.

It should be noted that this collection also includes the additional unfinished chapter that was discovered after Kon’s death. While it still leaves the story fairly up in the air, it adds in an extra layer of complexity and gives us a rather nice look into Kon himself. It’s really cool, especially when you consider the fact that this is the Kon who was just starting out and getting ready for his first major film.

OPUS excels at these questions because of the way it presents them. Every character is interesting and has their own set of morals and ideas that are executed flawlessly across these pages. Satoko is pained to realize she’s not really “real” (or is she?) but is willing to sacrifice herself if it means her world can achieve happiness. Rin is keen on exploiting the fictional universe and stopping the evil from ever coming into existence, even though that may mean his world can’t exist because its whole purpose was conflict. Nagai questions his own existence within his world and what makes something real. It’s an interesting look into fate, purpose, existentialism, and the idea of having a purpose in life.

It’s these themes that really make OPUS a masterpiece that wholeheartedly deserves a spot next to his other works. It’s a story that’s exciting, hopeful, dark, and deeply intriguing in terms of what it has to offer. This is a work of art that you’ll reread time after time just because there’s so much to it and so much to dissect. Fans of Kon’s other works should rush out immediately and pick this up because it’s guaranteed to become an instant favorite.