The Four Immigrants Manga is a semi-autobiographical collection of episodes that chronicle the lives of four Japanese immigrants in America from 1904-1924. The manga begins with the arrival of the four boys' by ship. After a quick stay in Angel Island, we quickly learn of their dreams and hopes for the new world. There's Henry (assumingly Kiyama-san himself), who wants to study Western art, Fred, who wants to become a successful California farmer, Frank, who wants to get rich and import goods from the Empire, and Charlie, who wants to study democracy. The main character of Four Immigrants Manga seems to be Charlie, as he is featured in nearly every episode. It's interesting to note, that all four characters seem to come from families that must have been well off. The suits they all don are western and each of them carry a high level of pride that's not just a pride for their Japanese Empire, but a middle class pride. They see themselves as students, entrepreneurs, not lower class servants.
Meeting with the local Buddhist priest, the Buddhist church sets Henry, Frank, and Charlie up with servant jobs. The boys try to do various housework for their white female bosses but get told to "go home" after humorously messing up; mostly due to cultural misunderstandings. Other significant issues and events include working on a farm, gambling, death, odd jobs, the great San Francisco earthquake, other immigrants, a visit by the President, investing, picture brides, marriage, business ventures, World War I, politics, racism, etc... Whatever topic they are dealing with, the general tone of the manga is always frank or whimsical. Structured much like a comic strip, the closing panel usually ends with a punch line. By the end, after the course of twenty years, the characters still remain loyal and proud of their Yamato people and we learn just how much of their hopes and dreams have been fulfilled.
Grade: B
Art:
Reading the introduction on Henry Kiyama and looking at three samples of his life drawings, there's no doubt that Kiyama was an excellent artist. He reached a high level of mastery for the Western arts. His manga, however, doesn't quite display those heights. Kiyama's cartoon renderings are reminiscent of American cartoonists of the time. Gazing at Kiyama's work, I often think of Winsor McCay's work. Kiyama's characters have that hollow eye design that many cartoon characters have of the early 20th century. One of the flaws I noticed early on was that two of the characters, Fred and Frank, look almost identical in the beginning and it was difficult figuring out who was exactly who. Towards the end, however, Frank becomes more distinguishable.
Due to translation, 95% of the hand drawn bubble dialogue is typed in. This means that all the Japanese lettering has been covered over with English dialogue in New Times Roman font. The composition of the panels and its contents are very consistent. Each page consists of six identically sized panels. And the characters are always placed in a full figure long shot or medium long shot with some background elements. On a whole, it's an elegant and simplistic style. There isn't a whole lot of detail that goes into the drawings. The linework stays at a constant thickness throughout. It works sufficiently for the manga and fits the times but it's not quite as nice as the greatest cartoonists from that era.
Grade: B-
Overall:
Though it may not always "wow" on either story or art, The Four Immigrants Manga provides a valuable and fascinating insight into the authentic hopes, dreams, struggles, failures and successes of early 20th century Issei immigrants' lives. One of the earliest known works of Asian American Sequential Art, Henry Kiyama is a true pioneer and for that, it is worth a read.