Posted in: Comics, Manga, Review | Tagged: Dai Kaiju, doujinshi, godzilla, Great Metal God, indie manga, Iwakuni Kogyo, manga, Manga Mavericks
Great Metal God is an indie manga short story from Manga Mavericks that’s a nuanced homage to dai kaiju stories with deep folkloric roots.
Article Summary
- Great Metal God is an indie dai kaiju manga short rooted in Japanese myth and regional folklore.
- Created by Toho Studios artist Iwakuni Kogyo, the story is told visually without words or dialogue.
- The narrative explores themes of divine retribution, mercy, and humanity through stunning artwork.
- Manga Mavericks offers print and digital editions of this unique, self-contained manga tale.
How might one review an indie manga like Great Metal God without spoiling the whole story? It is a short, a complete tale told in fewer than seventy pages. It is everything you could hope for in a dai kaiju (“giant monster”) story, the type you find in the Godzilla movies and their ilk. Perhaps a discussion of the context of the story might give you something you might not otherwise find from just reading the story.
Great Metal God isn’t just a doujinshi (self-published manga) by a fan or amateur. Iwakuni Kogyo is has worked for Toho Studios drawing promotional and design art for the Godzilla films as well as artwork for Peanuts, Hello Kitty and various apps and games. Great Metal God isn’t a story created just for fun. Kogyo wanted to tell a story that digs into the cultural, region and even folkloric roots of kaiju stories. As the biographical note at the start of the book declared, the Chogoku region of Japan specialises in Tatara, namely irons works blessed by their patron saint goddess Kanayago-kam. Kogyo tells a story brilliantly entirely without any words or dialogue. It’s the manga equivalent of a short film paying tribute to the kaiju genre and its themes. The giant monster is a reckoning for Humanity, a golem, a monster visiting retribution on the world. The great metal god here is the heaven’s retribution, unstoppable by human weapons. But any manifestation of the gods means there is a representative of the gods present who might be the world’s last hope. The story draws on the Shinto Buddhist tradition of Japan, and mercy and grace comes in the form of a shrine maiden who represents mercy, a mercy that Humanity may not deserve, but that nobody deserves mercy, which is why it’s granted. All this is told with only pictures, not words, and masterfully.
Manga Mavericks publishes indie manga that don’t follow the usual Shonen Jump or Seinan (late teens-twentysomethings) rules. The Titles they select tell complete stories at less than a hundred pages. They don’t always follow the usual predictable plot turns that editors might dictate. Great Metal God shows that indie manga and indie comics in general are every bit worth our time as the biggest manga franchises and get anime adaptations.
Great Metal God is available in print and digital editions from Manga Mavericks Books.
Great Metal God
Review by Adi Tantimedh
8/10
An elegant manga short story with no dialogue or words that pays tribute to giant monster movies like Godzilla while also delving into the folkloric and regional roots of the Dai Kaiju genre by an artist who has worked on illustrations for the Godzilla movies and decided to craft a personal story about the giant monsters and iron works.
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