Kamigami no Itadaki

“The sky sinks steadily until the foot of the mountain until the first snowflakes begin to fall. The traces of the chamois are fading. I am happy, that I am still alive and gaze at my shivering hands. Then I’ll open my fist...” – Jiro Taniguchi.

Today, the 11th of February in the year of 2017, is a very sad day indeed. One of the most influential, ingenious writer of mature stories of all time, Jiro Taniguchi, did see the end of the day. And as for today, I can’t help but feel a little saddened because his demise leaves a big void in both the Manga industry and quality story-telling overall. But as I did skim through KnI’s (abbreviation for Kamigami no Itadaki) final volume of the German release once again, I encountered this statement after the actual Manga ending, which led to me surprisingly feel all the vibes this Manga did give me, all the feelings I did go through while reading once again, just after reading the final sentences of his afterword. It actually shows one of the biggest strengths of Taniguchi once again, a juggler of words who can create subtle poetry through all of his Manga, by a simple and ingenious combination of artwork and powerful dialogues/monologues. And ironically, these words do not only make up a fine closure for each character’s wishes and desires in the mountains, it also adds a sense of closure to Taniguchi’s life, finally reaching the roof of the world and go even further beyond.

Starting to read Taniguchi’s (arguably) Magnum Opus after reading a lot of Manga which is aimed at young adult and older teens is like experiencing a fresh breeze coming straight out of the Manga’s spine, captivating you with a sophisticated and mature story from start to finish. A lot of its quality shows from the subtle, but because of that even more emotionally striking character-conflicts and ideals, which get shown superbly by the amazing combination of text, exact understanding of human emotions and masterful artwork to cover it up. Additionally, seemingly straight-forward and overused methods of elaborating and explaining character-motives and internal struggles like four chapter long flashbacks into their pasts are easily forgiven by just how genuine and consonant they are with the main story, never feeling out of place or even a little too long.

As the main subject of the story is alpinism, a lot of readers may be a little deterred by it, since a lot of details and insights of this form of sport isn’t spread widely through society. But as the Manga can expand widely on different topics of alpinism and the procedures while actually climbing a mountain, it actually manages to explain every single needed detail to the reader and actually awakened some kind of enthusiasm in me for the sport and what kind of determination it does involve. A huge credit for it has to go to Yumemakura Baku, the original creator of the Japanese novel on which this Manga is based on and its' incredible attention to detail.

Taniguchi is an absolute master when it comes to how to detect the perfect mixture of narration, dialogues, monologues, and artwork. Since there is a lot of text and information to be covered from the original novel, this Manga needs a perfect composition of both text-based and visual storytelling, the huge majority of Mangaka would most probably fail to adapt the original novel's essence by either emphasizing one of the aspects too much. However, finding the correct balance between visuals and the written text was apparently no big challenge for Taniguchi, as the text never distracts from actual happenings from the story, when the artwork tells an even bigger picture than the text does. Crowded places in Japan, the narrow alleys in Kathmandu and the howling wind on top of the mountain managed to get me as intrigued into its story as this Manga surely did. On the other hand, when Taniguchi decides to drop in more information, for example through the means of an actual narrator or goes for expanding dialogues, I’ve not even once encountered a chapter where the Art did distract from the written information which gets delivered. The ascents of icy cliffs in winter as well as the long marches towards the summit get depicted through a variation of different angles, shots and larger-scale perspectives, while being accompanied by the narrator, describing the thoughts and feelings of the ones ascending in a constant state of flux, making for a very diverse and indescribably enjoyable read through all the climbing-sessions, while those events are also feeling deucedly grounded.

A common problem a lot of stories have with a set-up being (almost) as good as KnI’s is, that those actually don’t manage to exploit its well-executed beginning and end up being marked underwhelming in our memories because of that. However, similar problems will surely not occur during your read through Taniguchi Magnum Opus, making it pretty apparent that he has perfected the usage of a steadily increasing arc of suspense in the works of creating it and makes use of the perfect 'by the book' timing to lead his story to the grande finale, while also providing worthwhile input with the short after story following it. Some might argue that a by the book arc of suspense is not necessarily a sign of quality by any means, or that a book/manga with an absence of one can still end up being good and they’re absolutely right, a lot of experimental works in the Anime/Manga medium renounce an arc of suspense by definition and end up doing so well in spite of that. However, as I’ve already stated, KnI does read like a tale of rivalry and ambition written in a very worthwhile piece of literature and follows the 'tried and tested' rules for creating an absorbing and thrilling story step by step, absolutely mastering what it’s trying to achieve with its narrative. The deliberate incorporation of the narrative framework in the beginning, very similar to ones in Novellas, gets utilized to the fullest during the final pages, creating one of the most cathartic endings I’ve ever experienced so far.

Inner conflicts, pressure and intriguing thought-processes the main characters go through the story are unique qualities I've already talked about, but I have yet to touch on the main characters themselves. Fukamachi, our protagonist, is an avid sports photographer, working for an alpine magazine. He finds himself troubled and torn between different goals and relationships to keep up with and a seemingly impossible riddle to solve, haunting both, his consciousness and sub-consciousness for wherever he goes. Over the course of the story this Manga manages to beautifully show how we not only see Fukamachi being confronted with new acquaintances and challenges over the course of his journey to solve and his discovery of why he exactly values to solve this riddle so highly over so many other things in his life, but the author allows us to see and understand the inner-conflicts and questions being raised by Fukamachi himself, developing him throughout in a convenient, relatable and deliberate manner.

Habu Jouji, the second main character and undoubtedly the best one in the whole story, definitely is the highlight of KnI character-wise. His consistent journey to constantly top his concurrence, lack of determination to anything else but alpinism and incredible backstory help us to see Habu not only as a character in fiction but to stand right beside us while we’re reading as some kind of guidance and the initiating key-figure of this story. Also the approach Taniguchi took to illustrate his way of thinking, behaviour, desensitization, and inability to grasp the feelings of different acquaintances surrounding him through his climb of life is remarkable in its own right, namely painting a picture of Habu by the narration of the said people surrounding him and slowly get to know different impressions of him as time progresses. His characterization is honestly one of the best ones I’ve ever seen in any kind of medium.

Conclusion:

As you’ve already seen in all of this review, my appraisal for KnI almost sees no ends, but it still just barely didn't get the adjective "flawless" by me, even though it came very, very close. Volume 3 did drop in quality a little bit, especially compared to the following two volumes to come, as it essentially just worked as a setup for what's to come and did get entangled a little bit too much with a subplot halfway through. Habu and Fukamachi, their interactions and mutual influence, especially und Fukamachi's outlook on life, are the prominent focus of KnI and provide an introspection almost unrivaled by its complexity and genuity. Nonetheless, this does definitely not mean that side characters aren't good at all, quite the contrary, since most of them offer enough substance to still feel genuine and human, even though they didn't receive as much spotlight as they would in some other Manga.
These minor flaws I did find while reading through this Manga is extremely and dare I say so, utterly negligible by the sheer amount of greatness this Manga offers in every category. If you’re looking for a mature, poetic and incredibly enclosed story with themes like escapism, pressure inflicted by both society and oneself, ambition and self-discovery, KnI might be the raw gem you’ve been looking for in all of your life, as it raises its greatness above the clouds and maybe even further beyond.

I sincerely hope that this review got at least one person to read this wonderful piece of art on this sad day, where one of the greatest storytellers did decease from our world and hopefully this Manga will finally climb as much in the popularity ranks as it truly deserves.

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Rest In Peace Taniguchi Jiro.
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Story (9.5/10)
Art (10/10)
Characters (10/10)
Enjoyment (10/10)

Overall (10/10)

From the master Jiro Taniguchi himself comes the greatest and most gripping high altitude stories you will find.
I love Taniguchi's work, the detailed background, soft flow of the reading, the calm moments. His work is poetic and outstandingly beautiful.

For summit of the Gods, it was the first time I was reading a story of his that had a faster pace, lots of action and suspense. And as always he does it brilliantly.

Story: It's about alpinism, it's about the mountains, the cold, the solitude and being one with a hostile environment.
I knew not the slightest thing about mountain climbing and I still LOVED discovering the passion of these men who are ready to die for their love of the sport.

Plot --> a photographer for an outdoor adventure type of magazine, Fukamachi stumbles in a shop on a camera that could have belonged to Mallory. Mallory attempted the ascension of the Everest summit in 1927 but disappeared with his colleague Irving and no one knows if they actually made it to the top or not (if so they would have been the first ones on record).
While he's investigating Fukamachi finds out he's a lot more interested in finding out about the man who found the camera Habu Joji and piecing up his past.
We follow the investigation of Fukamachi on both the origins of the camera, how it was found and the mysterious Habu who's been hiding in Nepal for many years. In the alpinism world, he used to be a prodigie, capable of climbing many dangerous summits with ease but he disappeared one day without leaving a trace.

I never imagined a story on the mountains would be so addicting. But it's so well put together, the tension, the emotion, the hard work it takes to carefully, one step after the over claim a difficult summit. It takes courage, it takes instinct and incredible mental strength. Habu Joji is absolutely fascinating with his love for climbing, like nothing else matters. You look at mountain climbing with new eyes after this series. People die every year practicing their passion and the emotion really transpires in the series. I loved this story to bits, I would even give it an 11 out of 10.

Art: it's Jiro Taniguchi. Expect only the best. The backgrounds in Nepal and in the mountains really were my favorite but everything is stunning. Only fault I can find is a lack of diverse facial expressions but that's also his style of having mostly stern characters.

Characters: I gave it only 8/10 because although they were all amazing, some weren't really necessary to the plot. And again, it's sad that there isn't a more diverse ray of facial expressions. I loved the complexity of Habu Joji's personality and all he's been through. Fukamachi was for the longest time just and observer, I couldn't really relate too but he has a lot of development.

Enjoyment: Can't you tell? I loved it. Only thing is, I find Taniguchi's works to be a little mentally taxing, it sucks you into the story so much that sometimes it's a bit overwhelming and I often had to take breaks to read something lighter.
But it's well worth the read because it's epic and amazing. I have never felt so gripped by a manga series before, it pulls you in until you're completely obsessed by it. It took me a while to get over this amazing story.

If there's one thing you should know it that you should read it. It's my favorite manga and I have found no other like it. Taniguchi is a genius and the writer Baku Yumemakura knows how to write an extremely compelling story.
I love this manga.