Masaomi Kanzaki
Kaze

Masaomi Kanzaki is part of the generation of Japanese authors who took their first professional steps in the early 80s (I'm referring to people like Yoshihisa Tagami, Ryōji Minagawa, Masamune Shirow...), and following in the footsteps of Katsuhiro Ōtomo, they brought about a small revolution in the world of Japanese comics. With them began a cyberpunk era, temporally spanning the decade bridging the 80s and 90s (the golden age of screen tones, in my opinion) with publications united by new elements that made them appealing to the tastes of both shōnen and seinen market targets: very raw stories, largely centered on the man-machine relationship, densely drawn panels, no skimping on ink, detail accuracy, frenetic lines, extremely dark atmospheres, massive use of screen tones and motion lines, and a particular attention to mecha design.

As highlighted in the review of "Xenon" on the site, more or less around the early 2000s, Kanzaki drastically 'revised' his drawing style, to the point where comparing works from the first part of his career with those post-2000, it would almost be possible to speak of two different authors if it weren't for the name on the covers.

The style of the (let's call it) "first" Kanzaki is emblematic of the cyberpunk era I've mentioned. It reeks of late 80s/early 90s at first glance. Xenon, Street Fighter II (a huge flop), and Kaze are what reached Italy of what the guy produced in that phase of his career. Not much then.

When I was a kid, reading Xenon completely overturned my tastes in comics. The expressiveness of the drawn faces was what struck me the most. At the time, it was something new, a bomb compared to the little emotional rendering of faces in American comics and totally different from what was produced in Italy (maybe excluding Nathan Never). Xenon also had a great story on its side. The one told in Kaze (wind) in my opinion is not as good.

The story revolves around a young wrestling fighter, sent through a magical ritual into a parallel world to our own where he reincarnates as one of his ancestors. The world he ends up in is a dreamlike world where elements of the Keicho era Japan (info found online), fantasy elements, and sci-fi elements (strange aircraft and war machines) merge. His task is to thwart a wizard's intent to resurrect a powerful evil being.

A bit of the cyberpunk spirit present in Xenon and other titles that I happened to glimpse at fairs in the past (e.g., Ashguine, strictly in Japanese edition) has been lost. But on a strictly graphical level, Kaze is probably the best work of the first Kanzaki. The particular context he engineered offers the author more freedom, giving him the opportunity to play the surreal card and create very beautiful, fantastically detailed, and highly evocative panels.

The impressions I report come from my 'readings' of the original Japanese editions of the tankōbon circulating in Italy about fifteen years ago. For those interested, I know that the Italian edition is being published. I'm staying away from it as I'm only interested in the graphical aspect of the work. I don't know the price, but for lovers of old-school manga, it might be an opportunity to feast their eyes.