A thick cloud plunged the world into cold darkness, causing the death of most plants.
But humanity has found the solution: to transform part of the population into oxygen-producing plants thanks to “transfloration”.
Theoretically reserved for people condemned to imminent death, this operation consists of inserting a seed into a human body which, after two years, will become a "sanctiflore", a plant in its own right.
With 10 million yen at stake, or about 78,000 euros.
This is what Toshiro decides to do because the young man is at his wit's end.
His mother suffers from serious psychological problems (she attacked him with a knife) and he no longer has the means to pay for his medication, even while toiling 14 hours a day at the factory.
Once "transflorated",
The cover of the first volume of
Fool Night
evokes the American film
Joker,
which Kasumi Yasuda drew inspiration from to describe the social misery of its protagonist.
Glenat
Here are the dramatic beginnings of
Fool Night,
Kasumi Yasuda's first manga published in France, volume 2 of which is part of the official selection of the Angoulême International Comics Festival 2023. This darkness echoes the cartoonist's childhood:
“I let my little worries grow inside me without ever confiding in anyone, desperately looking for meaning in my life.
But since I do what I want to do, I no longer think too much about this kind of thing, ”
tells
Figaro
the 28-year-old author
.
The choice to tell the story of social misery and to stage a marginal hero is also inspired by the film
Joker
, by Todd Phillips, released in 2019. The title of the manga could be a wink (“fool” means “buffoon” in English) but the author remains evasive on this subject:
“I had first thought of call it "Flower Night", but I thought that lacked meaning, so I replaced "Flower" with "Fool".
The correct term would be rather "foolish", but when I discussed my title with one of my mangaka acquaintances, she was very enthusiastic about this formulation.
Read alsoJunji Itô, splendid master of horror, honored in Angoulême
The monstrosity of the "transfloraison" proves worthy of the best works of "body horror", an artistic current honored this year in Angoulême via the Junji Itô exhibition.
Fool Night
's animal-plant hybrids
are also reminiscent of the infected eaten alive by mushrooms in the HBO series
The Last of Us
,
adapted from a cult video game.
“The principle of humans turned into plants exists all over the place, but my main influence comes from an element at the beginning of the game
Dark Souls III.
It looked like humans pushing from the ground up to the sky, and I liked that idea.
I had to buy six botanical encyclopedias for my documentation,”
explains the designer in the Glénat press kit.
Kasumi Yasuda also aspires today to work in the video game industry:
“The immersion capacity of video games is infinitely superior to that of all other media.
I would like to be able to evoke the same emotions that I felt, me, while playing a title like
Bloodborne
”,
can we read in the December 2022 issue of
Atom magazine.
A human in the process of "transflowering."
FOOL NIGHT 2021 Kasumi YASUDA / SHOGAKUKAN
Born on January 20, 1995, Kasumi Yasuda only discovered manga at the age of 12 because his parents had kept him away from it until then.
His dream was rather to become a film director.
A fairly obvious passion when you observe the skillful cutting of
Fool Night,
especially in its contemplative passages and its many silences
:
“I think that the structure of my dialogues is largely influenced by Japanese films.
At the moment, I draw a lot of action scenes, and I am inspired by Western films to work on them, ”
he specifies in
Figaro
.
Attached to the traditional pen drawing (G-pen), the author only uses the digital tool for the assembly of the images constituting his boards.
“Analogue allows me to have this trembling side of the line, this living dimension”,
he assures in
Atom
.
His damaged characters, often emotionally fragile, turn out to be particularly well sketched visually.
Their tired eyes captivate and their hair is reminiscent of the leaves of a plant.
Regarding his line, the artist mentions two major influences: Sho-U Tajima (
MPD Psycho
, available from Pika) and, more surprisingly, Minetarô Mochizuki (especially his first
Bataashi Kingyo series,
unpublished in France).
He also quotes the Rugrats
cartoon
for
“the roundness of the characters”
!
Toshirô can "hear" the "sanctiflores", an ability that will prove very useful... FOOL NIGHT 2021 Kasumi YASUDA / SHOGAKUKAN
Although her manga is clearly dystopia and, therefore, science fiction, Kasumi Yasuda rejects this label.
It is true that, in his work, no flashy technology, futuristic weapons or flying cars.
Its large sets of buildings, whose verticality makes you dizzy, are rather inspired by Hong Kong and the current Chinese megalopolises.
Deceptively peaceful, the city-world of
Fool Night
is like a playground serving the characters and the story.
Without deflowering the plot too much, know that it slips towards the thriller from the second volume, with the hunt for an enigmatic serial killer.
The investigation is notably based on an interesting idea: Toshirô can "hear" the "sanctiflores", whose thoughts are represented in the French edition by
"a mixture of Esperanto, Greek and Latin",
according to the translator Hana Kanehisa.
While the first three volumes of
Fool Night
have conquered us, know that five have already appeared in Japan and that the author does not intend to stop there.
How far will he go?
“I would say about 12 volumes to cover everything?
But I can't say anything for the moment..."
Fool Night
(3 volumes published)
,
by Kasumi Yasuda, translated by Hana Kanehisa, Glénat, 7.90 per volume.
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