Sleep Is For the Weak

PG-16+ for, well, alcohol references and various seinen adultities; wikipedia page for general information and an explanation of the crazy influence this manga has had on wine sales

People who are really into wine and won’t stop talking about it are the worst people in the world. Literally and without hyperbole, they are worse than 10,000 Hitlers, lined up in a row, machine-gunning puppies. Did you know the term for a wine aficionado is ‘oenophile’? Doesn’t that sound a lot like pedophile? Hmmmm, what an interesting coincidence.

Okay, maybe that was a bit much, but that’s really my take-away from reading Kami no Shizuku (loosely translated as Wine of the Gods or Drops of the Gods). This is an incredibly popular title in Japan, though it has yet to be licensed over here. So popular, in fact, that the New York Times wrote about how it now moves the Japanese wine market: whatever wine is mentioned in an issue immediately sells out. It’s their Sideways, people!

The plot is straightforward. Kanaki Shunzuku is the only son of the famous wine critic Kazaki Yutaka. When his father dies, Shunzuku learns that the only way to inherit his father’s fortune is to correctly identify what his father has classified as the world’s 13 best wines. Pitted against him is the young, dashing Tommine Issei, who is the hottest damn thing to enter the staid world of wine criticism since Wine Aficionado’s controversial swimsuit issue. But, in what we in the manga review industry call the “twist,” our lead Shunzuku has never tasted wine. How can such a thing happen? Well, the boy was put off by his father’s constant attempts to train his tongue by feeding him exotic berries, fruits, and other things that wine ‘taste like.’ So to rebel, he swore never to drink wine, and ended up in the deliciously ironic job as a beer salesman. You’ll notice that this is basically the exact same setup as Oishinbo.

Shunzuku is a neophyte when it comes to wine, but thanks to his trained palate he can enter the world of wine tasting very easy. But he’s no match for Issei, who spends his free time eating the dirt of French vineyards to better understand their taste. Remember my Hitler comment? Yah, that’s where it comes from. He is this series’ evil bishounen. Helping Shunzuku enter the world of competitive wine tasting is Shinohara Miyabi, a young female sommelier. She’s no wine expert, which is good because she serves as the foil who explains everything out loud when exposition is needed.

I think Kami no Shizuku is possibly the best example I’ve ever seen of adult shounen. Oh, the powers that be might classify it as seinen, since its target audience is older males. But the plot is that of a ninja shounen like Naruto or Flame of Recca. At its heart, this is a tournament shounen. Shunzuku is given a challenge, for example: he must compete against Issei to see who can better match his father’s description of a certain wine. At stake: the deed to his father’s mansion. Or maybe the challenge is to correctly identify the exact vineyards the grapes that made up a wine came from, only here’s the catch – the wine is from an Etruscan wreck that’s been beneath the waves for 3,000 years! (Did I make that up? Maybe I did, or maybe it’s in Volume 8.)

Whatever the competition, it will end up being fought with the potent weapon of metaphors instead of ninja stars or wizard magic. All food manga are like this, and come to think of it, so is all porn. It’s not enough to just drink an amazing wine, eat an amazing meal, or get [beeped] with two [beep] in the [beep], the characters need to constantly talk about exactly what they’re doing and how amazing it is. In Kami no Shizuku, the merest sip of wine transports the drinker to sunset amid rows of grape vines in Bordeaux, or to the fields of wildflowers surrounding a hilltop winery in Italy. Whoever can better articulate the transcendental trip they have just taken wins the prize, which is often more wine.

I mean, just look at this panel from the first issue. Have you ever seen a more perfect example of the shounen hero? Shunzuku is pouring wine from a great height. Do you see the lines of excitement around Miyabi’s head? That is excitement surrounding the correct aeration of wine. Is there any better kind of excitement? If there is, I’ve never had it. This is no different than Naruto performing some secret ninja move to the amazement of all his friends.

But does this mean that this is a bad comic? No way! I mean, the 9-episode drama is terrible, just terrible, but the manga is quite good. There’s nothing wrong with shounen tournament manga. They’re fun, each battle builds on one another, and suddenly the hero’s power level is over 9000.

You know, after reading all that was available in English scanlations, I found myself drinking more wine. As I write this, I’m sipping on the last of a 2005 Cotes de Castillion from Chateau de LaFaurie-Monbadon. Wine is the perfect topic for a tournament manga. There are endless little details to go on and on about, like the exact geometry of the wine glass, the environment the wine was stored in (my God, it’s been left at 12C instead of the more correct 12.3C?!), and historical doings (I have no doubt that entire volumes of this manga will be dedicated to talking about the Great French Wine Blight of 1858). Sure, wine culture is stuffy and the people who are into it are terrible, but there’s something to be said for the joy of uncorking a good bottle and sharing it with friends (me, never, because I hate people), or cooking with half a bottle of red and drinking the other half alone as you make a delicious stew (me, last week, because stew is delicious).

Initial impression: As interesting and well-put-together this manga is, after reading two volumes, I can already tell it takes itself way too seriously. I guess there’s no way around it, when your main antagonist is a haughty, upper-class snob and your main character seems to only interact with people who are obsessed with wine. I just think this comic would be so much better if it was a bit less serious and a bit more goofy. Not too much – it doesn’t have to be Yakitate! Japan – but a bit of mirth might be nice. Maybe pair it with The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese. (Bad Jew)

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