RON 龍

Author:  murakami mokoto (村上もとか)

Where do I begin with RON? The first thing that comes to mind is the intense passion, and yet delicate emotions that the manga radiates. RON is an epic story of the lives of our heros and heroines in the turbulant history of 20th century.

The story opens in 1928 Kyoto. The main character is Oshikouji Ryu, the heir of Oshikouji group. Although he is expected to take over the company, Ryu's real passion was in practicing Kendo. He entered the Budo university and studies kendo under the famous master Naitou Takahara. Ryu's mother died when he was still a baby, so he grew up among the geishas in the Gion district of Kyoto. He soon falls in love with Kosuzu -- his childhood friend, now a geisha as well. But their are brutally torn apart by Ryu's uncle Takuma by taking Kosuzu in as a second wife. Takuma doesn't love Kosuzu, but simply did it to teach him that "compare to Ryu's idealism, only power and money are the real truth in the world". As despicable as Tazuma seems in the begining, it was finally shown that he does in fact love Ryu, and only did to help mature him. The love between Kosuzu and Ryu however, was heart wrenching. As good a martial artist Ryu is, Kosuzu is just as good a geisha. Ryu is young and hot headed, but Kosuzu is much more mature. She hides her emotions behind her professionalism as a geisha, and keeps her thoughts to herself most of the time. The scene of their final date on the Daimonji Okuribi festival, where they confess their feelings, but are helpless against the reality surrounding them, torns my heart to shreds mercilessly.

A few years laters, Ryu meets Tatsuru. Tatsuru is a poor peasant girl, Ryu met her by saving her from drunks. Later she ended up working as a servant in Ryu's house by chance, and they fell in love. Tatsuru is much more like Ryu, has a compassionate heart, speaks her mind, a little naive and not afraid of hard work.

There are many more characters in RON, each with their distinct personality, and each with a rich story to tell. The charcters in RON are very human, they fall in love, get mad, becomes jealous. They can be cruel, manipulative and plotting. They are sometimes selfish, and they make mistakes. What's more is that they all grow as humans, and they do their best to live in their world. As the world slowly spins out of control, where chaos, death and war slowly creep into their lives, they all tried their best to survive. Although I have to admit that I didn't like what Ryu later becomes. He essentially becomes a very "perfect" person, both powerful ( physically and socially ), extremely moral ( almost sickenly so ), and is never wrong. In a scene where when he received news of Tatsuru giving birth to his child at home alone, he simply smiles and says "You are incredible, Tatsuru". What happened to the Ryu who collapsed on the street and wailed when Tatsuru was arrested by secret police for conspiring with communists? Or the Ryu who bowed to the image of master Naito that appeared in the sakuras in the wind with tears in his eyes after receiving news of the master's death ( I have to admit I was fighting back my own tears )? Ryu's later fate for me actually became a secondary story, compare to the stories of the other characters such as Tatsuru, Kosuzu or Kazuma.

The amount of detail in the world of RON is amazing. The author had very deep knowlege of the time period, especially about Japan. We can clearly see that much research have gone into the historical characters, the costumes, and the events. The author had a very neutral view of history. Wars are depicted as they are, terrible and with great human suffering. The story had a very sympthetic toward Koreans and Chinese. ( Keep in mind that this is after all, a Japanese manga ) It depicts the sufferings of Koreans and Chninese, and made no attempt to justify the Japanese occupation ( Japanese historical works are known to do that ).

All in all, RON is a great adventure. The story takes place from Kyoto to China, where the plot takes an interesting turn, becomes a treasure seeking adventure.

The story now has published 34 volumes, and still keeps on going. I've only read up to volume 31, and the year had advanced to 1941.


Other RON Resources:
YoungRok Lee's Comic Page