Never Open It: The Taboo Trilogy Puts Fresh Spins on Japanese Folk Tales
- WRITER
- Ken Niimura
- Artist
- Ken Niimura
- Letterer
- Abigail Blackman
- Publisher
- Yen Press
- Price
- 20.00
- Release Date
- 2021-10-26
Never Open It: The Taboo Trilogy collects three short comics by Ken Niimura, the Spanish-Japanese artist behind the webcomic Umami, the manga Henshin and Image Comics' miniseries I Kill Giants (co-created by Joe Kelly). The stories in this collection vary in tone but are all adaptations of traditional Japanese folk tales about the consequences of disobeying the rules.
"Never Open It," the volume's titular story, is based on the legend of Urashima Taro. The story of a boy transported to the realm of mermaids, only to find time has passed very differently between worlds when he returns home, is a deeply influential one in Japanese literature -- audiences can easily see its anxieties about time reflected in the works of Makoto Shinkai. Niimura's storytelling captures both the joy and sadness that make this tale stick while building upon it to add a wallop of bloody revenge.
The second story, "Empty," is based on the comedic tales of the monk Ikkyu-san, and is the most detached from the fantasy/horror tone of the other two stories and the book's overall marketing. The story of a master and his young apprentices trying to trick and outwit each other for their own ends is cute, funny and well-suited to Niimura's art style. In the acknowledgments, Niimura notes that this story was written at an animation workshop in Denmark, and his illustrations do indeed read like animation storyboards.
The book's final story, "The Promise," is its longest and most emotionally involving. It's based on the folktale "The Crane Wife," in which a man saves a crane's life and goes on to fall in love with a woman he doesn't realize is that same crane in human form. The crane wife, Tsuu, becomes a master weaver, plucking her own feathers to do the work, while her husband is prohibited from watching her work. This is a deeply tragic story, and it's impressive just how much feeling Niimura's minimalist style is able to evoke.
The strength of "The Promise" alone is enough to recommend Never Open It: The Taboo Trilogy; that it comes with two other interesting stories is a bonus. This book is a fine read both for those who've never experienced these classic tales before, as well as for those looking for an original take on Japanese mythology.
Never Open It: The Taboo Trilogy is now on sale from Yen Press.