‘Areyo Hoshikuzu’, the Hearts of Men in a Post-War Landscape

Sansuke Yamada uses friendship and draws on the personal to examine universal topics. Areyo Hoshikuzu revolves around a duo. The first of the pair is Tokutaro, staff sergeant in the imperial army, and the second is Kadomatsu, a private, who openly worships his former superior. Things are often more complex than they first appear, however, and the multiple tomes of Areyo Hoshikuzu have a story of friendship running through them. These veterans do not just live anywhere; the plot of this series unfolds in the ruins of Tokyo, where most of the homes have been torn down. How, then, can people reinvent themselves, restore old ties, and imagine a worthy future when the American army has just arrived on Japanese soil?

Sansuke Yamada was born in 1972 and graduated from Osaka University of Arts then started working in manga in the early 1990s, producing illustrations for gay magazines before broadening his output to publications for children. He began his series Areyo Hoshikuzu in 2013. Sansuke Yamada is also an actor and singer in the kayokyoku (traditional Japanese pop that inspired J-Pop) group Tomari. 

Trafficking, alcohol, and brothels

To depict this vision of post-war Japan, Sansuke Yamada adopts a position at eye level and explores his characters’ depraved acts, vices, and wheeling and dealing with themselves and those in power without leniency or judgement. Trafficking, alcohol, brothels, the universe that unfolds around Tokutaro and Kadomatsu is a far cry from the glossy image of the Japanese people supposedly subject to authority. For the two protagonists, reinventing themselves after a defeat involves the exploration of underground routes, which allows them to shape themselves as they wish, for a while or forever. 

Areyo Hoshikuzu has been praised by critics, with the series being awarded the prestigious Osamu Tezuka prize and the Japan Cartoonists’ Association’s Grand Prize in 2019. Sansuke Yamada’s work was also recognised in France in 2020, receiving the Association of Critics and Journalists of Comics’ Asia Prize. 

Areyo Hoshikuzu (2013-2021), a manga by Sansuke Yamada, is published by Enterbrain (not currently available in English).