Jaadugar – Tomato Soup
A broad smile, an ingenuous look, Sitara seems stupid at first glance. However, when the kid frowns, we think that the kid is hiding her game. Sitara is a young Iranian slave. Sold to a rich family, she sees no way out of her condition. But she doesn’t know that this is her chance. It is the young master of the house who makes him understand: “If you study, you will be able to adapt to all situations. Even the most difficult.” First lesson: emancipation requires knowledge.
But the war turns everything upside down. Genghis Khan’s troops invade the village of Sitara. They kill all the women around, including Lady Fatima who, dying, delivers the essential: “Don’t touch my daughter.” Lesson Two: Never forget who reached out to you. The third part of the story arrives. The clever Sitara, who now calls herself Fatima, will learn everything from the Mongols in order to be able to play with them and recover a book stolen from those who taught her everything. But there is always something stronger. Fatima will discover it with one of the wives of a son of the great Khan: “As you can see, my husband is a bit simple. It is my duty to acquire knowledge and pass it on to future generations.”
Jaadugar is not a manga like any other. It’s a finer drawing, inspiration Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. These are old-style boards with very small characters, round faces, profiles that reveal upturned noses, inspiration Tezukathe master of modern manga. Tomato Soup mixes these styles while delivering its message. Yes, this story is inspired by the big one, the real one. That of two influential women of the Mongol empire in the 13th century. That’s it and it’s also a way of addressing young girls today: wherever you are, fight, don’t give up. Jaadugar chez Glénat.
The World in Their Eyes – Ebine Yamaji
Times are more modern. The drawing is also far from the manga canons, with fine lines, little decoration, particular attention to round, soft, full-frontal faces. They show girls in several countries. Each of these young girls learns to deal with those around them and the situation in the country.
In Saudi Arabia: “Are you daddy’s first wife?” In Morocco: “Once married, a woman doesn’t have time for all that. Books are for men.” In India: “They say about widows like me that they bring misfortune. Because they let their husbands die.” In Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban in 2001: “We have notebooks and pencils! I’ve been dreaming of this for so long!” In Japan: “Grandma says that women who succeed in school are unhappy.” These little stories in different places around the world are not caricatures. This is life as it is still lived or was lived in these countries.
Women ostracized in Saudi Arabia if they cannot bear children. The widow in India who must be happy if a man wants to marry her. The old Moroccan woman who was deprived of learning. Young Afghan girls who discovered school in 2001 and who find themselves deprived of it 20 years later. Misogynistic Japanese society. A woman cannot earn more than her husband. It’s a whole that must be taken for what it is. Ebine Yamaji’s message is the same as Tomato Soup. Woman is the future of man. But the road seems long. The World in their eyes at Vega.
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