Confronting the deep unknown that stimulates your old curiosity
As a child, I dreamed of a pure adventure: "seeing a new world." I would watch travel programs and imagine the vast lands of Africa and South America, and the ethnic minorities who lived unique lives. However, as I grew older, my interest shifted to the exciting culture of America.
When I was 20 years old and distracted by music and fashion, I happened to see the movie "Naked Jungle," which awakened my old curiosity. The story unfolds on the African plains, with the protagonist engaged in a desperate chase with the natives, and is filled with shocking scenes, such as climbing into an elephant's belly to devour its flesh and executing a man by impalement. While full of B-movie vibes, it is packed with the "unknown" that I imagined as a child.
The story of the protagonist's escape after incurring the wrath of the African natives. 1965 USA / Director and Starring: Cornel Wilde / NBCUniversal Entertainment / 1,572 yen (DVD).
©1965 by Paramount Pictures and Theodora Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The same goes for "Happy Mexico." Shigeru Mizuki is excited at every step of the journey, and the scene where he is fascinated by masks and buys dozens of them along the way is a masterpiece (lol). His childlike, self-centered enjoyment, without regard for objective evaluation, makes you feel excited along with him.
This is a record of a trip Shigeru Mizuki, then 74 years old, took to Mexico with a non-fiction writer. It includes color photographs of his mask collection, which he purchased there, as well as original comic drawings.
Text: Oizumi Minori / Illustrations: Shigeru Mizuki / Shodensha / Out of stock.
