Introduction

Life is such an interesting concept. Whether you believe in a higher power or that we were placed here by chance, we often wonder what the purpose of being here truly is. Many have wrestled with that question, and most likely many more will until the end of time. So it is not that difficult to fall victim to such voided thoughts. But with that pain comes the opportunity to connect. Even though all living creatures have the ability to express emotions, none can do it to the depth and ability of human beings.

All throughout history, humans have fought the constant battle of expressing themselves. Our true, ugly selves. It is safe to say that we are far from perfect, but that is why we can feel so deeply. With these intense feelings, we can bottle them and push them away, or bring them up and transform them for the sake of connection.

Despite your interpretations, that is what art can be used for. A way not only to process and externalize our struggles, but a way to possibly find someone else facing the same.

I bring up these thoughts and sentiments because I feel none would do justice to the tone and feeling of Shuzo Oshimi’s newest work: Sound of a Blink.

Art Style

The art is raw, to say the least. It is scratchy, unpolished, and sometimes amateurish. Yet that is precisely what it is going for. It puts you straight into the protagonist’s mind without filtering anything, no matter how beautiful or disturbing. There are many panels, and even full pages, that are simply a still image of a single subject, yet each is meticulously designed to be exactly that way. It allows the reader to interpret events in many different ways. Words and dialogue are used sparingly, with the art taking the foreground. Yet through that restraint, it manages to feel almost like a first-person perspective, and a lot of the time, it literally is. There are many moments when objects or even people appear distorted, shaped by the protagonist’s fragmented and incoherent memories.

Story and Characters

When I first read this manga, I believed it to be fictional. After doing some research, I discovered that it is actually more of an autobiography by Oshimi himself. That is why I chose to set aside the more lighthearted and playful narration I usually bring to these reviews. This is based on real life.

Sound of a Blink is a raw and intimate memoir piece rooted in Oshimi’s childhood experiences. It places us directly inside his mind and exposes the thoughts, feelings, and events he lived through during that time. As most of us know, life is not always kind, and through his perspective, we get to witness that firsthand. Oshimi is purposely transparent throughout, showing the aspects of his life that caused him great pain. You witness his familial and personal struggles expressed through a psychological breakdown of himself. There are moments so raw and unfiltered that you can do nothing but sit and stare with a swirling sense of awe, fear, disgust, and pity.

Since the story is a reflective, first-person narrated piece, very few characters receive significant attention outside of Oshimi himself. As of the first volume, the primary presences are his family and, most importantly, his younger brother. If you are unfamiliar with the events of Oshimi’s life and what happens to his brother, I will spare you the spoilers. But in Sound of a Blink, their relationship is presented as one of the most psychologically fascinating, and perhaps one of the most tragic, that two characters could share.

Pacing

As noted earlier, words and dialogue are few and far between, with the art taking up most of the space and weight. This makes the pacing almost entirely dependent on how long the reader chooses to sit with each image. I am usually a slow reader, and I finished this volume in roughly half an hour to 45 minutes. Narratively, the pacing is solid and gave me no real problems. Most of the dialogue is internal, broken, fragmented thoughts, which allows the story to maintain a cohesive, rapid, yet deeply impactful rhythm throughout.

Themes and Tone

Trigger warning: the subject matter handled in this manga is very intense and may cause readers genuine discomfort depending on their mental state. It is rated mature for good reason. This is further amplified by the fact that it is based on real events, these things actually happened.

The overall tone is not quite dark in the traditional sense, but there is a persistent air of melancholy and instability that never fully lifts. That is, of course, exactly what Oshimi was aiming for.

Like many psychological and reflective works of art, the themes can come across as disjointed and difficult to pin down. Even so, you are always able to sense the essence of what is being communicated. Sound of a Blink‘s themes revolve primarily around growing up and the guilt carried from actions done in the past. It also explores how time can warp and reshape memory, and how that reshaping becomes a key factor in who we are today. It makes a point of showing how intense and ugly people can become, including yourself. It is easy to get lost in your own mind and in the spirals it falls into.

This work does not pull its punches. It states, and often shows, just how vulnerable and messy human beings can become. Yet despite all of that, there is always an overhanging sense of the desire for connection and the need to be understood, as most psychological reflective pieces tend to carry.

Conclusion

To be honest, I had to take a step back and breathe after I finished this volume. Yet at the same time, despite its melancholic tone and heavy subject matter, I felt a strange sense of comfort. I felt that there was someone out there unafraid to show their real self, no matter how ugly, perverse, helpless, or broken. That there was someone out there experiencing the same emotions I do, not from the same things, but with the same weight, and there was a sense of unity in that pain. If there is one constant in this life, it is that we will suffer. However, to suffer means you have loved. And to love, you have to have suffered.