This book is based on Shimada Keizô's picture stories (emonogatari) that first appeared in a magazine Shônen Kurabu [Boys' Club]. At that time, both emonogatari (in which words to tell stories were added to serial pictures) and manga (comics, in which words are put in the pictures with balloons) were popular among children. While Norakuro by Tagawa Suihô represents manga at that time, Bôken Dankichi represents emonogatari before World War II.
In this story, a boy protagonist drifts to a southern island in his dream.
He becomes king of the island. On the one hand, this work tells a story
about creating a pastoral utopia on an island; however, on the other hand,
it can be read as an embodiment of the idea to conquer Southeast Asia at
that time.
This book is printed in two colors, and each volume was sold in a box. Before Bôken Dankichi and Norakuro, few emonogatari or manga were published in a book form. The fine binding and the use of color of Bôken Dankichi (and Norakuro) shows that publishers gradually came to think more of emonogatari and manga. |
