Customer Reviews

Full Metal Apache: Transactions Between Cyberpunk Japan and Avant-Pop America (Post-Contemporary Interventions)

5 star:		(2)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In Tatsumi's early career, he was interested in cyberpunk, and you can still see some of that interest shaping his approaches in Full Metal Apache. Whereas cyberpunk had some fascination with coincidence, you can see where Tatsumi has refined this particular vector in his research and moved to synchronicity. This is not in the exact Jungian sense of the word, although it is related in the sense that meaningful associations may be manifested through conceptual frameworks. It is this construction of new theory that lead to the J.G. Ballard-esque condensed criticism that you find in Full Metal Apache, a book I highly recommend. If you read any of Tatsumi's considerable work, you will quickly see, usually by the end of the first page, that his critical apparatus harvests from a wide variety of sources and he begins constructing an intertextual mecha, an assemblage of seemingly unrelated components that are worked into something that, like those magnificent powered suits, slips on easily and magnifies the user's agency in the world.

This book is the cultural critic's equivalent of a richly textured and nuanced novel. It is full of startling juxtapositions and imaginative leaps; it can transform the familiar into the strange and wonderful; and its point of view is witty and ironic and generous. It is as valuable to me for its insight into the complex relationship between Lafcadio Hearne and Japanese folklore as it is for its explication of the intricacies of twenty-five years of contemporary Japananese/American post-post-modernism. As I read it, I looked forward with pleasure to re-reading it with deepened understanding.

When I first heard of this book, I preordered and awaited it breathlessly. When it came earlier than I expected, I was thrilled. After I opened the pages, I found myself emerged in a dry, difficult-to-follow, academic book that is full of more quotes from other books than it has original text.

I am not saying that Takayuki Tatsumi isn't knowledgeable on his subject, quite the opposite. I think perhaps he is too close to the subject to be able to write to a layman audience and it shows.

My difficulties with the book ranged from it's style to references. Perhaps it is more for the academic minded; it was definitely published via an academic press, and definitely reads like a dissertation. I believe the author is somewhere between 10 and 15 years older than myself, creating a gap in the information streams in which we were exposed to. He makes reference to far too many movies/books/relevant figures (authors, playwrights, directors), etc, that I am simply not familiar with. And while normally this is not a problem, he fails to explain to my understanding who these people and their works are. I felt in the completely dark throughout this book.

But perhaps the worse part was, it was a slow, painstaking read for the 200-odd pages of half-page text that graced the pages. It didn't help that I would have to stop again and again to consult online references to who people or their works were.

Normally, I would give this kind of book only 1 star, but it covers two subjects I am very fond of: Japan and cyberpunk. So it gets an extra star, for anyone NOT deeply interested in these subjects, I recommend to steer clear away. This is not a casual read by any stretch of the imagination.