Author:
The manga was created by Minetaro Mochizuki, a Japanese manga writer born on January 29, 1964. He mainly focuses on love stories and lively themes for his manga, however, Dragon Head is a different story. He started the manga in the year 1995, right after the terrorist attack on one of the subways in Tokyo. This event is the major contributing factor on why Minetaro Mochizuki created the manga, because it was this time when he wanted to express his thoughts with regard to the effects of fear to human beings and the unpredictability of life in general. Dragon Head is dark for this reason, but his preference to love stories is still present in this manga nonetheless.
Setting:
The setting of the story is in the country of Japan, Minetaro's homeland. The first 2 volumes of the manga were set at a destroyed subway. At first it may seem like the wreck was only caused by a freak accident, but as the story unfolds, the destruction of Tokyo was actually a planned attack. This setting is in reference to the terrorist attack on the Tokyo Subway that occurred in 1995. Majority of the setting consist of dark and abandoned sewage plants, hospitals and towns to further emphasize the fear that the characters are experiencing as the survivors of an extreme tragedy.
Characters:
Teru Aoki
Teru Aoki is one of the main protagonist in the story together with Ako Seto. He is a teenage boy that got caught in an accident, making him realize the importance of his home. The story revolves around his struggles to conquer his fears, his will to live, and his efforts to ensure the safety of his companion, Ako Seto. He is the image of what an ideal person the author envisions, a person that has a strong will even when the world seems to turn against him.
Ako Seto
Ako Seto is the other main protagonist of the story. She is a teenage girl that had already faced tough challenges at an early stage in her life due to the loss of her parents. As one of the few remaining women in Japan after the disaster, she faced numerous dangers from the people around her. She is a compassionate yet resilient person that would do anything for her comrades.
Nihimura
Nihimura, also called the captain, has this moody attitude which makes him unpredictable in certain cases. He is authoritative, cocky, and abusive at times. He is the picture of confusion between rationality and instincts because he tends to have sudden changes in perspectives on certain tasks.
Iwata
Iwata is the helicopter pilot of the group. Although he had some evil thoughts at the earlier parts of the story, he was able to overcome such thoughts and was able to contribute to the well-being of the main protagonists. He showed that the bad does not necessarily mean that out of one's own choosing, and that the bad can still be the good.
The woman
The woman is the "guidance counselor" of the group. She is a person full of wisdom that she was able to share to her fellow.
The strange boys
These are the men and women that got affected by the experimental drug placed on the food that they ate. They are represent those individuals that are merely going with the flow, those people who merely exist but not living the life.
Nobuo Takahashi
Nobuo Takahashi is one of the first three survivors of the accident. However, he was eaten by his fears which made him insane at some point of the story. He is the portrayal of our natural tendencies as humans to crumble under the pressure. Although he was left behind early on in the story, he was present on Teru's mind, reminding him on the effects of letting one's fears control oneself.
The Scientist
He is the hidden antagonist of the story. He is the one that caused the destruction of Japan with the use of nuclear weapons and the poisoning of the survivors. He longs for a generation that is without fear, because for him, fear is what makes humans become irrational and murderous. He wants to accomplish his goals however, through violence, which is a complete irony by the way.
Theme:
The theme of the story is about fear. The manga seeks to inform its readers that there should be a balance in feeling fear, and not giving into fear. It implies that the worst enemy anyone could ever face is the demon within ourselves. It also shows the unpredictability of us human beings in face of danger. It shows the reality of our selfish tendencies especially when there is scarcity, however, it also shows our capacity to become compassionate to other people. Aside from these, the manga is also about our attachment to mysteries. We are curious creatures that tend to search for truths within our own capacities.
Conflict:
There are numerous amounts of conflicts present in this manga.
The first is man against man. This can be seen on the fights of Teru against Nobuo and Nihimura on different ocassions because of Teru's will to ensure that Ako is safe.
The second is man against society. On the part when the Ako and Nihimura were tasked to get medicine from a town, they were tortured by the townsfolk of the town because they do not belong to their group. The two groups simply have completely different ways of coping up with the disaster, the other being a destructive and harmful way.
The third is man against nature. As a post-apocalyptic disaster manga, nature has its impact on the characters. Although the explosions were initially ignited by the terrorists, the succeeding disasters, such as the land slides, earthquakes, and tidal waves, are all from mother nature herself.
The last conflict is man against self. This is the most difficult conflict to resolve, because it is about the character's perception of what is to be done. In Teru's case, he was about to become paranoid because of his increasing fear towards darkness, but his will to survive pushed that darkness away from him again.
Symbols:
There are a lot of symbols in this manga enumerated as follows:
The first is the flashlight at the beginning of the story. It symbolizes hope in spite of the harships in life.
The second is the series of earthquakes that the characters have felt all throughout the story. It symbolizes the challenges in life because everytime there is an earthquake in the story, something troublesome is awaiting the for the characters
The primal tatoo of Nobuo too is also a symbol. It represents the sudden surges of our instincts when we are faing trouble.
Another symbol is the dead professor. It symbolizes our need to rely on another's authority when we are clueless on what to do next.
The next is the train wreck which refers to the terrorism done in Tokyo last 1995.
Another symbol is the experimental supplies that led to the passiveness of the mutilated people. It represents the compound that the terrorist on the Subway Sarin Incident.
The last symbol is the endless pit in Mount Fuji. It represents the things that beyond our understanding. In life, we can never truly know everything, because life is unpredictable as it can be.
Final thoughts:
Overall, this book is something worth our time. It is an exciting book that is full of surprises, because it challenges what you think. It shows us the nature of being a human being, and that we have our own strengths and weaknesses. It shows us that our lives depend on whether we will fight for it or not. The best part of this manga is that it opens the eye of its readers about the current status of our society today. We are a generation that disregard the most important factors in our life and value those that are possible to live without. It is a literary work that values the importance of being thankful for the gift of family and friends, because we can never be sure on what awaits our future.
