^{PART 48 of 52 ONESHOTS in 52 WEEKS
パンパンヤの『新しい世界』 “New World” by panpanya}

Japan has an exciting industry of self-published manga, which are typically known as doujinshi. These amateur works are compiled into self-made magazines and anthologies, either by individuals or groups collectively known as publishing circles, who exhibit and sell their print work at specialist conventions such as COMITIA and Comiket, which are attended by hundreds of thousands of people a year.

Many doujinshi are parodies of existing manga, though there is also a large market for original works, with several famous manga authors, such as Rumiko Takahashi and Koshi Rikudo, beginning their career publishing original doujinshi. Another exciting name within the doujin sphere is panpanya, who shapes simple topics such as homework and gardening into gorgeous, thought-provoking stories.

This week I’ll be taking a look at the 46-page oneshot Atarashii Sekai (meaning ‘New World’ in English), which panpanya describes as the first manga they created “with a proper storyline.” The author drew is as part of a doujinshi titled Deep-fried Cicada, which they debuted with the SF Kenkyukai (literally ‘Science Fiction Study Group’) publishing circle at COMITIA88 in 2009.

New World follows the escapades of an unnamed school girl, who is tasked with researching a topic for an independent study presentation. Stuck for ideas, the girl decides to take a trip to the local museum, only to find it closed. Thankfully, she happens upon a newly opened museum close by. Greeting the girl over an intercom, the museum guide introduces an exhibit on the ‘New World,’ boasting a fantastical array of futuristic and unusual concepts.

The manga captures both the wonder and frustration of not quite comprehending one’s environment, with outlandish future renditions of the existing world, commentating perhaps on the ever-creeping changes within technology and nature, and the impermanence of the world itself. On the path toward the museum, the girl encounters a crossroads, with one route leading to the ‘old’ and another to the ‘new,’ the latter of which she takes. The author seems to ponder humanity’s destination and the state of the future, though the plot is admittedly quite cryptic, and its character is more whimsical than serious.

The author’s manga have often been described as ‘dream-like’ — they hit that sweet spot between reality and fantasy, achieved in part by melding intricately shaded background art with understated and oversimplified character designs, creating scenarios that feel like reveries or out-of-body experiences. The imagery within the museum is striking and creative, with manga-esque renditions of different art styles and movements, including woodblock, surrealism, and retrofuturism. It all blends into an uncanny and extraordinary adventure, with enjoyable ruminations on the form and mechanisms of future concepts, where innovation and function is guided by the author’s spirited imagination.

Four years after its debut, New World would be included in a commercial volume titled Ashizuri Aquarium, which brings together work from two of panpanya’s early doujinshi collections. This anthology is filled with delightfully experimental shorts, where the author’s style is at its most raw, with some abstract stories drawn entirely in pencil and brush. Later works often take a more grounded and day-to-day approach in their content, yet maintain an ethereal quality through the author’s artistic flare and poetic voice, where they muse with tremendous ingenuity. New World is not as wonderfully unorthodox as some of its neighbouring oneshots, and it lacks a little bit of that wisdom present in the author’s latter manga, but it delights in its ideation and playful nature.

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