Hitomi #1 // Review
A girl seeks a samurai. She isn’t looking for his help. She’s looking for revenge. She’s going to find a whole lot of danger in the hunt in Hitomi #1. Writer/creator H.S. Tak begins a tale with art by Isabella Mazzanti. The artist works from layouts that have been crafted by Nicoletta Bea. Color comes to the page by Valentina Napolitano. The debut issue opens in on a promising, heroic adventure of a single girl looking for revenge. As the story begins, Hitomi feels like it could go in quite a few different directions. The little hero’s world is just starting, and it looks like it might be captivating.
The samurai in question has a face and hands that are the color of beetroot. It’s a very brief and strikingly specific description that should make the search quick and efficient. The samurai in question killed her whole family and left her alive. She’s confident that she can find a weakness if she can find the samurai. Along the way, she will find an ally in a young peasant fisherboy. She’s going to pull him into the distinctly ominous kind of danger that comes from hunting samurai.
Tak keeps the story simple at the outset. It’s feudal Japan. There’s a young woman in over her head while looking for a monster in human form. She’s a humble hero who also happens to be completely driven and totally confident in herself. There’s an appealing folk tale style of simplicity about it that could make for a powerful adventure story if it continues as it has for the full length of the first issue. The story of an underdog hero suits the setting of feudal Japan. Tak’s tale doesn’t politely obey authority. Given the right momentum, the punk heroism could make a very clever impact on the comics page.
The art team does a beautiful job of fusing traditional Japanese art style with the contemporary comic book form. Some of the establishing shots are beautifully laid out by Bea. The snowcapped mountains that the hero ventures into are gorgeous. Mazzanti gives the wintery chill of the surroundings a rich emotional heat. The story isn’t given a whole lot of action quite yet. (Tak is still establishing the basic elements of the story.) What action DOES make it to the page DOES look good. There’s a clean simplicity about it that feels highly kinetic without being too flashy.
The rhythm of the story feels very much like a traditional samurai film taken from a slightly skewed angle. There is a grand sense of scope about the story that makes the world feel large and imposing for the little hero, even if much of it is snow and empty space. It’s difficult to tell quite where the story is going, though Tak and company have clearly defined it in a way that feels like it could open up into a big, sprawling adventure if everything makes it to the page just right.
