A Distant Neighborhood

Familiar Strangers (Japanese遥か な 町 へHaruka na Machi e, dt " in the remote town ") is a manga by Jiro Taniguchi published in 1998.

Action

The main character Hiroshi Nakahara lands by chance on a trip to his native city Kurayoshi that he has not visited for a long time. He visited the cemetery, on his mother's grave he falls into a trance, from which he awakes as a 14- year-old boy again. As a second chance he lives his life as a teenager again, but with the experience and knowledge of a grown man. An important goal is for him to find out why his father left the seemingly happy family suddenly and without explanation.

Publications

In Japanese the manga was published in 1998 in the magazine Big Comic of the publisher Shogakukan; in German language, however only in 2008 in Carlsen Verlag. The manga was the inspiration for the movie Familiar Strangers by director Sam Garbarski from the year 2010.

Reviews

" Familiar Strangers ' belongs to the best what has to offer the international comic literature. The fact that this book is now recognized also with us, is only logical. Taniguchi will help to correct our image of the manga as a Teen Mania. Japan is one of the leading comic nations, and this is the proof. "

" After all, it goes into " Familiar Strangers ", as in other stories by Taniguchi to the pursuit of happiness, which he describes in a touching and exhilarating blend of humanism, melancholy, easier skepticism, fine sense of humor and a lot of poetry. "

Awards

For the manga Taniguchi received the 1998 Award for Excellence in the category of manga at the Japan Media Arts Festival and the 2003 award for the best scenario of the Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d' Angoulême. 2008, the German Max and Moritz Prize and Comic.de followed chose Familiar Strangers 2007 comic of the year.