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Deja-Vu:
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter
Manga Review
Most manga concentrate on one story with one set of characters that exist in this one world. Most manga have their story written by one person and drawn by one person as well so that there is a consistency for their fans. Most manga just fall into one genre. Have you noticed all the ones that I have repeated? Please welcome Deja-Vu to the game because it has just blown away all these ones.
 Even though Youn In-Wan wrote all the stories that appear in this manga, you would've never guessed it if you just read the book and didn't check out the credits. The diversity that this guy can write in is amazing! The first four stories were supposed to be stories about unfulfilled love set to different seasons. Now, how many ways can you really write those types of stories, right? Let Youn In-Wan show you. Not only was he able to set it to different seasons, but also different periods in history like WWII Japan and post-apocalyptic Earth. If that wasn't difficult enough, each story was also able to flow seamlessly to and from each other between different settings like ancient Korea and modern day U.S. Through all these differences, Youn In-Wan was able to give each story its own feel and the different emotions that he wanted us to associate with unfulfilled love during that particular season like sorrow or acceptance.
 Here's the thing: The greatness of Youn In-Wan's writing is that even when the artwork changes between stories, his message and his stories remain consistent and seamless. The four stories that were set to the seasons were drawn by four different people, one for each season, and the last two individual stories were drawn by two other people. The diversity of the artwork makes you feel like you bought six mangas, taped them up together (blasphemy, I know), and you are reading them in one book. Between an artist whose style is described as "hyper-realistic" to another whose style is described as "traditional ink sketching", your eyes will not be subject to anything that have similar looks. And if you are one of the lucky few whose eyes can see rhythm and music, we have a couple of artists that can make your eyes tap their toes and dance a waltz.
 Once the writing and the artwork is meshed together, you get the most enthralling manga that you will ever witness. Since it's not a series, you know the ending that you are waiting for is in this one volume and trust me, you will not be able to put it down until you are done with all six stories even though you got your ending in the fourth story and that last two are only separate short stories. Everything will draw you in, grab you by your you-know-whats, twist a little to really make sure they have your full attention, and they will not release you until you see that last page flip over and you go, "Hey! Where's the next story?".
"These familiar and unfamiliar worlds... crawl down the story's back, up its neck, behind its ears, and wrap it all up in the armpit." I personally might have skipped the armpit bit but this just about sums up Deja-Vu.
Reviewed by Carolyn Whu, March 2008
Below: Various panels from the manga Deja-Vu: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter.
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