Kyoko Okazaki

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed

I’ve written a bit about Kyoko Okazaki before, mainly in book threads, but I wanted to do a thread for her work myself for two reasons:

- to post occasional thoughts I have about her work
- in the hopes of interesting others in her work

Also, yet another dumb Sally Rooney thinkpiece about the bodies of her heroines dropped, and that, paired with Fizzles finally returning my copies of Pink and Helter Skelter several years later without having read them * made it feel like the time is right.

First thing to know about Kyoko Okazaki: she is no longer producing work. She was struck by a drunk driver in 1996 and was forced to stop writing. Therefore all her most recent work is set in the late 80s/early 90s, so bubble Japan or the aftermath.

Her work is aimed at adult women and common themes revolve around sex work, regular work, childhood trauma, money, beauty, fashion and maiming your rivals. Girly shit.

Her art reflects her beginning in fashion illustration; her linework is very simple but suggests motion and energy. It doesn’t look as dated as so much work from the period does.

https://i.postimg.cc/JzJDrW9x/IMG-5693.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/j5qL4nC3/IMG-5694.jpg

Most of her work is very dark. Pink is probably the lightest longform work she has but this is tinged with darkness throughout and certainly not recommended as light reading. Helter Skelter is cynical, Rivers Edge is just straight up brutal.

https://i.postimg.cc/vBB6d2ft/IMG-6089.jpg

Most of her work is set in Tokyo or its suburbs. Tokyo is famously populous and there are scenes here and there that reflect it, but Okazaki seems to set her characters in its scant empty spaces, as if to reflect its isolation. And even when they are in crowds or amongst others, they are usually set apart or see themselves that way.
https://i.postimg.cc/xdk3vdF2/IMG-6090.jpg

Isolation, usually mental but occasionally physical, occurs frequently in her work. Yumi in Pink works a normal office lady job during the day but moonlights as a sex worker at night and exists as neither of these things in the aggregate. Helter Skelter’s paranoid Liliko is at the height of her fame, but painfully aware of how precarious it is. River’s Edge is populated by teenage characters drawn together by their fascination with a dead body found in the rushes that surround their Tokyo suburb.

https://i.postimg.cc/s2R0g7gL/IMG-6091.jpg

So yeah. If any of that interests you at all, feel free to post itt. Otherwise I will just use it as a repository for these kinds of posts!

gyac, Thursday, 26 September 2024 22:03 (two months ago) link

Weirdly enough Helter skelter arrived in the post yesterday! It will be my first Okazaki.

bert newtown, Thursday, 26 September 2024 22:24 (two months ago) link

Nice, let me know what you think

gyac, Thursday, 26 September 2024 23:16 (two months ago) link

I've only read River's Edge - very worthwhile but damn it's BLEAK. Apparently she said in an interview that she most identifies with the model chick who tries to seduce (?) the protagonist.

Daniel_Rf, Friday, 27 September 2024 10:03 (two months ago) link

That’s Kozue! She also has a role in Helter Skelter.

Fun fact: Rivers Edge was adapted for Netflix and is on there right now.

https://i.postimg.cc/hv10yqk8/IMG-6103.jpg

gyac, Friday, 27 September 2024 11:36 (two months ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.