PARCHED MEDITATION / 乾いた瞑想 - HARUMI SATO (1979)

 

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Harumi Sato is an incredible author and artist that remains relatively unknown, despite her large amount of works, unique storytelling and a sharp, recognizable style that retains a distinct balance between western animation and eastern comics. Browsing old manga magazines one evening, I was happy to catch a glimpse of this style for the first time. I assumed it might be an author without much other manga out there (Some one-shot artists will submit a few things to publications before promptly falling off the face of the earth - Or more realistically, seemingly realizing that the manga field was not for them) but to my surprise, Harumi Sato has a large number of works, many of them involving canids or other animals. (Obviously, right up my alley.)

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The glimpse of Harumi Sato's style I saw was in the 1979 October issue of Manga Shonen, so I promptly bought it:

October 1979 Manga Shonen cover.

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When I received it, I was so disappointed to see this one-shot fell into the unlucky and very dense pool of 'gorgeous one-shots printed on the worst quality paper imaginable.'

 

It was so disheartening to hold such pretty art in my hands and not be able to appreciate the delicate line art because it's just bleeding all over the place, and through every speck of the paper surface. Thousands of works fell to these insanely bad print jobs prior to the mid 80s. The print houses carefully gauge which works in each magazine are going to be popular based on initial feedback in their research, and condemn the less received works to what is essentially toilet paper.

For many, many one-shots, they meet their end here. They never get a nice reprint in a published book. The one-shot is never released on better paper. They go skipped in the magazines themselves because the print job has already signaled to the 1970s reader, "This is not the best our magazine has to offer. There's better content on the colour pages, and on the higher quality pages." It's been sentenced to boring status before most have offered it any semblance of a chance.

The best you can do in this scenario, if you want a nicer copy, is hope that you can snag a copy of the magazine with slightly less bleed, which is a huge gamble - Especially if the magazine the one-shot appears in is an expensive, rare one.

Some further examples of just how bad the bleed is, and how bad the quality of this paper is. If there's an atom of ink on the opposite side of the paper, it'll aggressively peer through at you. My phone camera is a bit forgiving with the bleed, but trust me, it looks ten times worse in person. A nightmare for anybody wanting to restore these for readers.

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The first time I received this magazine, I tried to read it but got disheartened quickly by how little of the art I could absorb. I googled further, unwilling to accept that this author's gorgeous artwork was limited to this terrible print job. Fortunately, I was happy to see that Harumi Sato has a few one-shot compilation books out there! One-shot compilation books are typically made with high quality paper, so I swiftly ordered that version instead.

The one-shot compilation book that Parched Meditation was reprinted in - This collection - "Winged Memories" - was published in 1981 and is relatively easy to find.

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Onto the story itself.

If you want to read Parched Meditation before progressing, you can read it in English on MangaDex.

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Sadly, the cover page is not in colour, though it still has gorgeous ink details. Animal one-shots with a few pages in colour were very rare around this time. They weren't a very popular genre, so manga magazines often saved these colour pages for premier series anticipated to be popular, or long-running series with an already proven fanbase. Luckily, thanks to the reprint, we can get all the pages in a very nice quality.

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The story begins with a painted dog that is struggling to hunt. Throughout the entire one-shot, it's left ambiguous as to whether this painted dog is male or female, and the character remains pretty androgynous throughout. I'm not sure if Harumi Sato's style is naturally androgynous or if it's an intentional part of her style, but I love that it's almost up to the reader to decide.

The painted dog is promptly kicked out of the pack, presumably for failing to help secure the prey. With just a few lines on the panel, the distance is poignant and painfully visible.

The painted dog begins to reflect on life in the pack. I adore the use of the other characters being plain outlines here, while our main character retains the artist's gorgeous detail lines. It really convinces you they're an alien among their own species that simply cannot fit in.

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The danger of the painted dog's situation becomes further apparent as pure, blistering heat is depicted on the following pages with amazing scope and painful, wavy lines that look like they might be a hundred degrees to the touch.

The imagery of this scolding heat is amplified by large, dead areas of pure black ink. The contrast is amazing on the above panel. Even if you're not in the middle of the Savannah, you can feel the pure misery the character is feeling from it.

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The painted dog wanders a bit, and ends up in a field of bones and skulls.

The shock in the initial page feels palpable. The bones are all wonderfully detailed, with some skulls being damaged and even missing teeth. Harumi Sato draws such incredible eyes on a shocked character, too. The detail in this fictional graveyard really sucks you in.

One of the skulls begins to speak to the main character, filling them with doubt regarding their ability to maintain a pack status, but also their ability to remain alive.

The skull goes a few layers deeper by trying to convince the painted dog to curl up and die.

The skull reveals itself to be that of a lion, and the other skulls in the mass grave join in on convincing the main character to give up on the burden that is their mortal life.

I love this panel. The painted dog still displays defiance, despite being surrounded by hundreds of spirits telling them to give up and submit to the easiness of death.

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The souls strengthen their presence and call louder and louder for the painted dog to give up and die. The detail here is incredible. So many creepy faces, so much amazing manual texturing, and scary looking sound effects litter the page with an aggressive font alluding to a terrifying noise the character is being flooded with.

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Prompted by the skulls, the painted dog begins to reflect on their past. The other pack members are still merely outlines in comparison - Still alien to the character. However, they are still memories and past that hold significant weight, regardless of whether or not their experiences were pleasant. It was still a learning experience and a part of the character's life.

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On the brink of death, an antelope runs into the path of the dying painted dog, offering them a life-saving kill and the faith that their time may not be up yet.

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Surprised, the skull of the lion tries to downplay the significance of this kill greatly - He wants the painted dog dead, to become as lost as miserable as he is, forever sitting in the pit of death where his remains now lay. The painted dog realizes the lion's trap and confronts him in this amazing panel. I love how half of the painted dog's face is straight black ink, as if they're realizing they can pull themselves free of the dark energy that is so desperately trying to catch and detain.

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The painted dog and the skull have another exchange, and the lion makes a last ditch attempt to persuade the painted dog to stay. However, the scent of rain soon comes, renewing hope for survival. I love how Harumi Sato depicted the rest of the Savannah here. Even with just a little bit of tone, it looks so vast and scary to cross when you're already a dehydrated wild animal.

The cross hatching used around the painted dog's face is such a cool technique too in comparison to how many mangaka will just slap tones on top for darker markings. While I have nothing against usage of tones, sometimes NOT using them can look so much more fantastic. It shows love of penwork and the dedication to getting down very specific details.

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The painted dog runs into the unknown, fueled by faith that a full stomach and the scent of rain has invoked. What happens from here? We'll never know, but it's an enjoyable open ending for a one-shot.

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When I first released the translation of this one-shot in English, I was really surprised by the positive reception. There were quite a few comments and threads on it at the time, discussing the philosophical values behind this one-shot. We'd done a few other more well known works - One by Tezuka, Sun Dog Zero, and a Hachiko manga in addition, and this one got more in the way of interest than all of those combined. It was unexpected, but still nice to see. I really enjoy the message, too. Don't let other people bring you down. Keep living for yourself, and don't throw in the towel until it's truly game over. Better things may be just around the bend, and you may never fully detect these positive changes until they're right upon you.

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There's virtually nothing to go with this manga and it's a shame because it's such a fun read. No additional promotional images, no colour pages, no merchandise, and somehow - No fanart at all that I could find. Usually even very obscure one-shots will have at least a little fanart out there. I'm not sure how this one has garnered seemingly none whatsoever.

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The only additional thing I could find at all, was a tiny little illustration in the mokuji (Contents page) of the 1979 manga magazine it was originally published in.

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Sadly, that's it for this one. It was vastly enjoyable and I hope to release some English translations of Harumi Sato's other one-shots. Her style is incredible and her storytelling reminds me of Aesop's fables in that they, so far, seem to have a deep lesson within each one.