Today we are attacking volume 5 of The Fable, Katsuhisa Minami’s manga. And now that the introductions are over, it’s time for this story to fully engage us. A tension is indeed more present since the more dramatic turn made on the previous volume.
This 5th volume, still published by Pika Edition, can therefore be seen as the calm before the storm. Storm that should put our hero to the test and get him out of his new routine.
Exile
This new part opens with Kojima determined to convince Misaki to work for him, not hesitating to threaten her, as one would expect from this kind of individual. At the same time, Sunagawa complains about Kojima’s behavior, believing that the latter is messing up the clan’s affairs. Sunagawa therefore chooses to hire a contract killer to eliminate the intruder. On Satô’s side, the routine continues and he celebrates his salary increase in a restaurant with Misaki. Until Ebihara contacted him to offer him a mission. He will have to furtively investigate Kojima, he must check if Kojima has seized the weapon stored in “The Reserve”.
If the burst of violence expected since the character of Kojima is present will wait, a real tension has been developing for several chapters. And as we predicted from the more dramatic turnaround, compared to the very first chapters, this dynamic is maintained in volume 5. The wheel will soon turn, the repercussions are more and more heard. Misaki will be very involved in this volume, she who finds herself in a rather bad position because of the pressure exerted by Kojima. Not to mention that she still ignores being spied on by one of her work colleagues.
But through her friendship with Yôko, Satô’s sister, a relational triangle emerges between them and Satô. The latter will also have to honor Ebihara’s request in this context. One more step that directs us to a confrontation between him and Kojima. Two characters with intelligently opposed writing by the author who manages to blur our objectivity on their balance of power. After voyeurism, it is the body trade in Japan that is singled out by the manga. These chapters confirm that The Fable has a certain potential to tell, to highlight relevant facts and subjects, and still topical.
The mission
The Fable still offers such a captivating plot that is coated with a little more tension over the chapters. However, the author does not forget to subtly defuse sequences with good breaks in tone, with a much more noticeable finesse than before. But it works. Satô also takes up a little more space in the progress of the main plot, even if Kojima still dominates. However, Misaki acts as a junction point between the main and subplot. A whole that fits together very well and coherently.
In addition, the apparent naivety of Satô systematically leaves a feeling of innocence, but also of serenity around the character. His actions and his way of apprehending situations, all carried by the drawings which always bring as much detail, expressiveness, helping to perpetuate this feeling of permanent discrepancy, between what is happening and the reactions generated. Without saying too much, the balcony scene is a good example to illustrate this discrepancy. Everything will go through the framing of Katsuhisa Minami and the attitude of Satô vis-à-vis the situation in which he finds himself. The story constructs a situation and the drawing transcends it through shifting. A spring that comes up quite often.
The various plots and sub-plots are so far all interesting in The Fable, which helps to have characters with so much personality. The manga easily manages to balance everyone’s presence time, without hesitating to deviate from it, the time of a few sequences. The author takes the time to go deeper into all these heads. This creates an ever more exciting character gallery from one chapter to the next. There is no doubt that the story is completely launched and that the first major upheavals will occur very quickly.
Should we fall for volume 5 of The Fable?
We can never say it enough, so for each volume treated it is the same chorus. The Fable it is, in our opinion, fascinating since the first volume. A work that for the moment does not leave us indifferent. As we had already seen on volume 4, this sequel once again abandons humor to focus on a heavier atmosphere. Since the arrival of Kojima we feel that the manga can at any time switch to violence. Especially concerning Misaki who finds herself trapped by the latter. A volume 5 which seems to want to sink a little more into mature themes which will favor certain excesses of our societies. Especially those of Japanese society.
The dramatic force of The Fable is more and more felt, as well as the undeniable qualities of writing. Katsuhisa Minami clearly knows where he wants to take us. This does not mean that the humor is no longer present, it is just subtly diluted in order to agree on an atmosphere and guarantee a good rhythm. Despite everything, the comic is never far away, especially the absurd and the tongue-in-cheek. As we have already mentioned in other volumes, the influence of yakuza films is omnipresent, especially the films of Takeshi Kitano. Like The Fable, Kitano’s cinema has a propensity for realistic, rapid and impactful violence, but never forgets the small dose of comedy. Effective and relevant at the same time, often even absurd. In the filmmaker’s filmography, as in Katsuhisa Minami’s manga, this approach aims to make us take a step back from his works. And this despite an obvious search for realism.
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For now, The Fable is flawless in its proposal and holds perfectly in suspense with its well-calibrated rhythm. The script seems to promise to deal with several interesting thematic tracks and which, if handled well, will give the series a lot of body.