Tekkonkinkreet: Black & White -- absolutely extraordinary comic fuses manga and French comics in a story of violence and lost boys in a surreal Japanese cityscape

Taiyo Matsumoto's 600+ page manga masterpiece Tekkonkinkreet: Black & White is utterly unlike any comic I've ever read, a thrilling fusion of French and Japanese comic-book styles that scintillates with originality, daring, adventure and metaphysics. Black and White are the Cat Brothers, a pair of ultraviolent lost boys who rule Treasure Town, a surreal Japanese pleasure-ville where hoods and cops and gangsters battle for dominance. Black is violent, cunning and brilliant; White is naive, foolish, and sweet. They are ten years old, and they complete each other.

But Treasure Town is in flux: new powers are come to the city, and as it sickens, so do Black and White, who are, in some metaphysical way, its soul and avatar. The story moves between Black and White's struggles to remain together and defend their turf and the huge political upheavals underway in the adult world.

Unapologetically weird, violent and sweetly sentimental about cities, Tekkonkinkreet is a valentine to cities everywhere, the biggest machines humans have built, ever on the verge of collapse, magnificent even so. Matsumoto learned his craft in France, studying its visual and storytelling styles and Tekkonkinkreet mixes everything from Metal Hurlant to Tin Tin alongside the manga visuals and mythos. There's not one thing unlovable about this comic -- it is 612 pages of pure win. Absolutely extraordinary.

I see that there's a movie based on the comics, and that it got pretty good reviews. I've ordered a copy -- I'll let you know if I like it when I get a chance to see it. TEKKONKINKREET: Black & White, Tekkon Kinkreet DVD

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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loci

Yes its great, one of the few manga’s i did not give away or sell.
You are a few years late with this post tho!
I doubt anyone with even a remote interest in manga hasn’t already read it. (and seen the anime)
23

I imagine you’ll like it – Studio 4Â°C is one to watch. My favorite bit by them is the third short in Sweat Punch, Comedy – best ten minutes of anything I’ve ever seen.
Anonymous

Uhm, very interesting… Time to add something next to my Akira anime and comics? :-P
codydjango

this movie hauls. its north american premier was at the 2007 “fantasia” festival in montreal, canada.

one of the most impressive animations from recent history, with unique style and flow, memorable characters and excellent soundtrack…

the same animation crew put together a short for the recently release batman: gotham night collection.
Anonymous

The movie is great! And yes the link is a bit out of date but smashingly good art!!
Boba Fett Diop

Matsumoto also the author of No. 5. If anything, it’s even weirder, but also displays its early Moebius influences even more strongly (both in its art and its surrealist narrative).
Mr. Protocol

There have been a couple of movies shown around L.A. outside the normal distribution channels – Tekkon Kinkreet was shown at a local Landmark theater, and Fathom Events showed Vexille at a theater down in Orange County. I’ve kept an eye on Anime News Network (http://animenewsnetwork.com), which has been quite good at staying on top of these events.

I didn’t join the near-universal chorus of praise for Tekkon Kinkreet, but Paprika and Vexille were both just wonderful – albeit very different.

Keep your eye on Fathom Events. They do a lot of this sort of thing.
giusbox

Another thumb up on the movie… great mix of cgi elements and traditional animation… there are some scenes in the movie that must have taken a huge ammount of care, experience, and skill to execute.
JamesMason

The description of two ultraviolent boys who rule the place makes me think of those two boys who were the leaders of some rebel army in Sri Lanka or Malaysia or something. The picture of them when they were captured showed them smoking cigars – and they were 11, I think…
Zergonapal

Sometimes your at the forefront of the news and sometimes you are so far behind you could bump into yourself.
Let me tell you about this exciting anime, its about a boy, but really he is a robot with amazing powers and a machine gun in his arse….
fantasmaglow

The movie is even better. It’s breathtaking.
danbanana

saw the movie and loved it so i picked up the manga (something i rarely do). i was blown away at how powerful and beautiful it is. honestly, i hadn’t been that moved in both a visual and story-telling achievement since “moonshadow.”
TheAmazingYeah

The film is absolutely amazing, very much in the same vein animation-wise as Paprika and Vexille. 4Â°C, the animation studio who did two of the segments on the recent Gotham Knight DVD and three of the segments on The Animatrix are really at their best in this one. The art style is very Takashi Murakami and I almost like the animation better than the manga, although the film trims a lot of the juicy fat from the story and we all know that the fat is what makes the rest of the meat so delicious.
Pat K

if you enjoyed this i recommend you give Number 5 a look!
also by koji morimoto.
He was also director of animation on MindGames, wich is pretty cool:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_Game_(film)
rollerskater

21: yeah, all of that stuff is clearly Osaka. that guy on the right is a killer neon sign if you haven’t seen it!
cassidy armstrong

!

http://www.linesandcolors.com/2008/08/13/tekkon-kinkreet-background-art/
rollerskater

google image “osaka glico” for pix of it.
harriedhare

Sorry, but this isn’t news. Kudos for pushing an excellent series, but just a little late in to be jumping on the bandwagon.
- Antinous
  
  harriedhare,
  
  Boing Boing isn’t a news site.
Jake0748

Longest headline ever! :)
MarlboroTestMonkey7

Great movie indeed… found it at Blockbuster off all places.
cellocgw

Black and White brothers?

Sounds like a ripoff of Spy vs. Spy
:-)
David Voss

The anime version is astonishing and a different feel entirely from the excellent manga. Better yet, the soundtrack for the animation is done by electronica wizards Plaid and is brilliant. Nice extras on the DVD as well. Director Michael Arias has recently done shorts for Ani-kuri on NHK and is about to release a remake of Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (http://h-door.jp/).
jimmyjojo

I saw this movie (coincidentally so, given all the promotion they’ve done via BB) on a Virgin America flight.

It was amazing, and I went looking for the DVD, which I found (unsurprisingly so, now that I think about it) at the Virgin Mega Store.
Liquid 2

I’ve read the manga before. It’s fantastic.
I’ve been meaning to get to the movie for a while. Maybe I’ll watch it tonight.
Dan Freeman

@#4 CodyDjango:

one of the most impressive animations from recent history, with unique style and flow, memorable characters and excellent soundtrack…

One of the more significant aspects of this film (and hence one reason for it’s “uniqueness”) is that it’s the first feature-length Japanese anime to be directed by an American (he’s lived in Tokyo for something like 20 years). While this might not sound like much, the anime industry (and much of the established Japanese art world) is intensely insular, so it’s truly an achievement.

My claim to fame is that my cousin did the sound design ;-)
Anonymous

SUCH a good movie.
Backgrounds so insanely detailed.
Characters who are gangly and imperfect as opposed to the classic bigeye/tinynose pretty.
Really touching.
and Plaid, wow. An amazing score that really is part of the movie.

Coulda got it at Secret Headquarters when you were interviewing the owner!
Avram

Loci @2, you’re wrong. I’ve got a more-than-remote interest in manga and anime, and I haven’t read Tekkon Kinkreet yet, or seen the movie.

I have heard of it, and considered buying it. Cory’s recommendation makes it more likely that I’ll pick it up sometime (though probably not till I’ve worked my way further down through my unread-comics stack).

Just because a book’s been out for a while is no reason not to write a review of it. There are always people who haven’t heard of it, or have but haven’t read it. Each reviewer brings his or her own particular angle to a review, so even if you have read a book, sometimes a reviewer will pick up on some element you hadn’t noticed.
Anonymous

Both film and comic are excellent. I first picked up the comic 7 or 8 years ago on the rec of someone over at Giant Robot.

@ #7:

You mean Johnny and Luther Htoo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_and_Luther_Htoo
clashcityrockerkat

Got this on Blu-ray, it’s a really good watch – you’ll enjoy it, Cory!
melissa

the movie is really quite amazing. now i wanna see it again. grrr. thanks!
electric-durian

Studio 4Â°C is effing incredible!!

Check out this video they made for
Wulfo

I fully intend to purchase the manga and will probably prefer it to the film, but I really can’t recommend the animated version enough. It’s easily one of the most impressive, touching and awesome films I’ve ever seen. I was stunned for days after seeing it.
avidd

It’s a really really good movie. Pay attention to the Soundtrack by Plaid.
Sarah_83

The film is one of my top five of all time, the Plaid soundtrack is also fantastic. HOWEVER don’t get it dubbed into English.
electric-durian

Sorry to post twice. I tried to post a link to youtube (showed up in preview), but it didn’t work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElAfrbcSl9s
Anonymous

Judging by the cover that looks like Shinsekai (new world) in Osaka. It is one of the most fascinating city within a city I have seen so far, with tons of homeless people singing karaoke in front of their cardboard houses, mexican wrestling, lobster UFO catcher machines etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinsekai
justONEguy

The movie is a stunnner. Brilliant animation, especially how they rendered the hybrid CGI and painted backgrounds in the city scenes.