Absolutely safe razor

Fumiko Takano's 17 short stories published between 1977 and 1981:

"Absolute Safe Razor" depicts a delicate, pretentious boy who indulges in suicidal fantasies like a young Werther;

"From Honancho to the West Exit of Shinjuku Station, in Front of Keio Department Store" humorously portrays the ambiguous stirrings of young men and women;

"Tanabe no Tsuru" shows an old grandmother returning to her youth, depicting the small, yet warm, frictions between her and her adolescent granddaughter;

"The Upside-Down Black Cat" is about the peaceful coexistence of parents and children in a fantastical world...

From her early works, one can already see Fumiko Takano's cinematic compositions and storyboarding, which, by capturing unexpected emotional shifts, express a purity akin to a child's perspective, and also showcase Takano's various attempts and explorations before her style was fully established.

A short story collection of immense collectible value, not to be missed by Fumiko Takano fans.

Highly Recommended

The scent of death like soap, a child's knee-deep perspective, and the ordinary daily life entwined with both. One moment, there's an ethereal, blank space; the next, a vivid urban landscape is sketched, enveloping innocent minds (and their cruel facets) and the subtlety of youth. The works collected in "Absolute Safe Razor" are all short, visually light, and have a pleasant atmosphere, but it's hard not to feel a certain radicalism throughout the entire book: Fumiko Takano has no intention of establishing a recognizable personal style, constantly changing her drawing style and technique. If you want to know what kind of burden absolute creative freedom entails, and what kind of harvest it might bring, then reading Fumiko Takano is the way to go.
──Mangasick | Comic Bookstore

"Absolute Safe Razor" reads like a breeze, with flowing words and unique humor hidden in the dialogue and images within neatly framed panels.

In the balanced compositions, following the emotional gaze of the characters, one can see mothers, children, dolls, or unreachable backs, enveloped in life and death, longing, and time.

These feelings, originally intense or even opposing, are flattened like thorny cubes, nonchalantly shredded, and finally become paper fragments blown away by the wind, through the smooth narrative of the images.
──Wang Wei | Comic Creator

Ever since I discovered Fumiko Takano through "Bus Four O'Clock See," I've been deeply captivated by her works. Now, I've finally waited for the day her first manga volume, "Absolute Safe Razor," is published in Taiwan!

This work collects several short manga stories she published between 1977 and 1981. It's hard to imagine that this work, created almost half a century ago, still appears so avant-garde and experimental from a contemporary perspective. In terms of the versatility of her drawing style, this period might indeed have been a bold experiment for Fumiko Takano herself regarding her artwork—almost every manga in the book is drawn in a different style. Some are delicate and agile, with hints of shojo manga; some are presented with a realistic and rich brushwork; some resemble minimalist illustrations; and some incorporate elements of traditional Japanese ukiyo-e, making the reading experience very interesting.

However, more than the artwork, the most astonishing aspect of this short story collection lies in the stories themselves penned by Fumiko Takano. If "Bus Four O'Clock See" is the culmination of her paneling and perspective changes, then "Absolute Safe Razor" undoubtedly showcases her brilliant ingenuity in narrative choices. Even seemingly simple elements of daily life, or merely fleeting thoughts, are skillfully captured by her and transformed into stories that one repeatedly savors. I particularly like "Tanabe no Tsuru," which centers on a grandmother with dementia. This story boldly visualizes the mental regression of the elder into childhood through the image of a "little girl" in the manga, paired with the indifferent or impatient reactions of cohabiting family members, quickly building a slightly bitter sense of disharmony within just a few pages.

In today's extremely flourishing manga creation, Fumiko Takano, as one of the representatives of Japan's 1980s manga New Wave, still maintains a unique and unclassifiable style. The only way to understand how unique she is is to read her works firsthand. If you have a soft spot for artistically rich and literary creative styles, then Fumiko Takano is definitely a treasure not to be missed.
──Hamster Ball in Business | J-Drama × Manga Review Fan Page

The malice of youth is the purest form of evil: wanting to cut up dolls, wanting to spill hot soup, wanting to laugh while watching a friend struggle while drowning. Fumiko Takano's debut collection vividly portrays the cartoonist's wild and vast feelings about the world, just before the evil dissipates and we must properly grow up at twenty-five.
──Zhang Jia-zhen | Writer

No matter who it is, as long as they have a charming scar, they always look cooler." Fumiko Takano's "Absolute Safe Razor" cuts into my heart again and again, so cruel yet so gentle, so precise yet so elegant. Life is "I'm sorry, thank you," and before I'm completely dead, please let me read one more story.
──Xu Ting-ting | Host of "Give Me a Story Time" podcast

Just like the title of this manga, "Absolute Safe Razor," it is gentle yet carries a sense of recklessness. Fumiko Takano sees through the unorganized, untamed, and fleeting emotions in life.

These are the unspoken words hidden within the body, those swallowed just as they reach the lips, or merely dialogues with oneself. They should not have been seen, but because of the space within the manga, they are contained within the pages.

Between the panels, lines flow lightly, soft and freely moving to another place. Thus, at the moment when the ratio of black and white changes, time stands still, allowing the virtual and real to intertwine. A certain reality dissolves, while another reality emerges through fantasy. Readers may see themselves in it, the fleeting shadows that once appeared in their consciousness, leaving their traces here, preserved.
──Huang Yi-wen | Picture Book Author

Feel with all your might! Those elusive inner landscapes that are hard to capture with words can only be fully preserved through manga.

Fumiko Takano, hailed as "the cartoonist's cartoonist," has always been a name constantly brought up and discussed among manga enthusiasts. Her debut work, "Absolute Safe Razor," collects her short stories from her early twenties, a period when she was still exploring her creative style.

The title short story, "Absolute Safe Razor," uses dark humor to explore a young boy's imaginings of boredom, death, self-awareness, and the meaning of existence; "Tanabe no Tsuru" boldly uses "paper dolls" as a metaphor for a grandmother suffering from dementia, and depicts the innocence and friction of living with family; "The Back of the Head" delicately portrays a young woman's resistance to gender stereotypes and the complex, elusive emotions she feels when facing the opposite sex, demonstrating the author's keen insight into private feelings; and "The Main Entrance," which concludes the book, is my favorite piece. Through the magic of paneling, it cleverly switches between subjective and objective perspectives, transitioning from a girl's inner monologue as she gazes at the ceiling to a close-up shot, precisely capturing the subtle jealousy and sadness of a young girl.

Fumiko Takano's drawing style is versatile, with simple lines imbued with a touch of childlike innocence. Her seemingly casual yet meticulously controlled unique paneling, which guides the reader's gaze, transforms fragmented memories, subtle emotional flows, and the interplay of time and light into a stream-of-consciousness manga narrative. Repeated readings continuously reveal surprises and delights.
──Cai Cai | Second-Generation Owner of Xinchuan Bookstore
 
Author's Introduction
About the Author

Fumiko Takano
Born in 1957, she is one of the most important creators, along with Katsuhiro Otomo (creator of "AKIRA") and Fumi Saimon (creator of "Tokyo Love Story"), who led the Japanese manga New Wave of the 1980s. With cinematic paneling, delicate and vivid brushwork, and a literary narrative style, she created her own manga language, holding a significant and unique position in the Japanese manga world, and attracting many academics and artists to write analyses and discussions specifically on her works.

A slow and meticulous worker, she has only published seven works in over thirty years since her debut, yet she has received many important Japanese awards, such as the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize and the Japan Cartoonists Association Award for Excellence, making her quite legendary. She is also widely known for not relying on assistants for her work, almost entirely completing her creations herself. Many cartoonists and critics in the industry have commented that she is "a writer's writer," opening new avenues for stylized depiction and profoundly influencing many subsequent creators.

Her manga works published in Japan include "Absolute Safe Razor" (Zettai Anzen Razor), "Friends" (Otomodachi), "Lucky-chan's New Job" (Lucky-jo-chan no Atarashii Shigoto), "Ruki-san" (Ruki-san), "Bus Four O'Clock See" (Bo ga Ippon), "The Yellow Book" (Kiiroi Hon), and "Dormitory Tomokinsu" (Dormitory Tomokinsu). She has also authored the picture book "Everyone, Help Me Sleep Well!" (Traditional Chinese edition published by "Daan Culture").

Related Works: "Absolute Safe Razor [Books.com.tw Exclusive Limited Signed Edition, Fumiko Takano's First Short Story Collection from 'Bus Four O'Clock See']" and "Bus Four O'Clock See: Fumiko Takano's Short Story Collection."

About the Translator

Hsieh Chung-Chi
His translations include "Disappearance Diary," "I Am Fine," "Ghost in the Shell 1," "Ghost in the Shell 2," "I Am a Cartoonist," "Forest of Light-Years," "The Pathfinder," and "The World's Simplest Fourier Analysis."