Rizal manga comics is an innovative way of teaching the young generation of heroism and history. Jose Rizal is the Philippine national hero and there’s a lot about his life that can be emulated by today’s youth.
Takahiro Matsui is the manga artist and he prides himself in his work. His online Japanese comics was launched last June 19, on the 157th birthday of the Philippines’ national hero.
Heroic tales have continued to thrive in Filipino communities, which has resulted in a deeper understanding of his achievements. This has led many Filipino to think they know every detail of their heroic leader but a new perspective into his life has been written in a Japanese Manga Comic book format called “José Rizal: The Filipino Hero’s Life Illustrated.”
The manga was published by Torico Co. Ltd in 2018 by Anvil Publishing Inc and provides a new outlook through which young audiences look into their hero. It was a bronze statue of Rizal in Tokyo’s Hibiya Park that sparked an interest in the life of Rizal according to the manga writer.
This realization led him to believe that it was a good idea to provide a platform where readers will interact with the heroic endeavors Rizal undertook that during his life.
Manga comics in two languages
Matsui then wrote the manga in two languages. During this time, he had traveled to the Philippines as a language instructor working in Cebu. it is here that the urge to write about the Philippines freedom fight was realized. He had previously read books on Rizal by Reynaldo Ileto, Renato Constantino, Vicente Rafael and Floro Quibuyen.
Manga comics depicts Rizal’s life not commonly featured in mainstream education and publishing. It has followed the Japanese manga art style, making it more visually appealing and easy to follow up. The dramatization of events such as the writing of the “Noli Me Tangere,” and his execution are very detailed in a way that readers have not interacted with Rizal before.
Matsui has admitted that he wanted to release the manga version of the life of Rizal targeting both young Filipinos and Japanese. He also focused on other Filipino descendants living in Japan, admitting that he wanted them to connect with their hero. The manga which was published online on June 19, 2018, Rizal’s 157th birth anniversary has gained a lot of media attention which led to Anvil to publish the title in print form. This was released a year later in a title called “José Rizal: The Filipino Hero’s Life Illustrated.”
Born a few centuries too late, Rizal could have been an ideal Renaissance Man, he was a polymath who excelled at anything he put his considerable mind and talents to.
In defense of the comic culture, one man has this to say:
Over the years, that penchant for “simplicity and directness” has been equated with childishness and an inability to speak to complex social issues. Yet, comics have often been used as a method of political discourse more often than people realize. The problem has never really been about comics’ ability to facilitate discourse, but rather about the storytelling methods used to convey opinions about society’s problems.
Where lies the connection…
Indeed, Innovation is needed in education to allow learners to interact with their surroundings. There are innovative ways to ease the tediousness of schools like classroom attendance checking or use of interesting classroom elements.
More often than not, the shock which was effectively used as a tool in early comics proved effective to draw positive public attention to injustice in society and also caused the medium to become the target of a moral crusade, then and now.
