The Alice-in-Wonderland inspired horror manga, Wonderland, will be released in stores tomorrow. But about Yugo Ishikawa’s title makes it fresh compared to other works inspired by Lewis Carroll’s book? Well, you can find out by reading the answers from the translator of this manga, Molly Rabbitt (Fairy Tale Battle Royale, Beware the Kamiki Brothers!):
TheOASG: In one sentence, how would you describe what Yugo Ishikawa’s Wonderland is all about?
Molly Rabbitt: I would say that it’s a story that asks you to suspend disbelief and trust in the world around you – in the people around you.
This manga is Alice in Wonderland inspired, but what have you noticed is the biggest change from the original story?
That even though it’s very much a fantasy, it strays more into magical realism instead, which is completely different. Magical realism makes you question if this is truly reality or not (much like surrealism), whereas in fantasy, you know what you’re in for. It’s really hard to depict magical realism in comic form, I’ve found, but Ishikawa absolutely nailed it. The only other series that have been able to do that consistently is The Girl From the Other Side and Ancient Magus’ Bride as of late. It lures you in with the promise of survival horror manga and it’s… well, it’s not, to be honest. It’s both of those things, but it’s also so much more, and that’s where the magical realism comes in.
What were some of the challenges of translating this manga?
Honestly, much of the content that’s related to the Japanese Self-Defense Force (or the SDF) was rough because though I’d known about some of it (my mentor at UCSB wrote a few books about it, and she taught me a lot about it), I didn’t know enough (or couldn’t remember) so there was a lot of research involved. Especially when you get to the final volume in this series – there was a LOT of obscure stuff that just isn’t on the radar in Western history or culture. Like there were incidents that were really important to Japan (and another country, which I won’t reveal due to spoilers) but they were just… not very well known over here, or at all.
Shout out to Wikipedia for having my back, though! I’m hoping my notes are enough, and if they’re not, I’ve requested to either ask the author or my mentor more about certain points that may lose Western readers.
Any one thing surprised you the most as you were working on this?
Oh, this would be Ishikawa’s really well-done commentary on Article 9, the SDF, and Japan’s tumultuous history with having a military. Article 9 is the article in the Japanese post-war constitution that says “no offensive military for you, only defensive” due to their actions in WWII. Since that time, the LDP, the party that’s ruled for most of the post-war period (even until now) has sought to overturn it. PM Abe is still very, very aggressively trying to overturn it, and Ishikawa kind of made his opinion about that known by volume 6. But he did it in such a way that kept me guessing, so that by the end I couldn’t help but be amazed at how he did things. I think you’ll all be very surprised and pleased with that, and you’ll definitely get a crash-course education in how Japan has struggled with all of that the last 70 years or so. Also some of the science bits were really well-thought out too, which was a plus as well.
Finally, what should readers expect when they check out Wonderland?
I think you’re definitely in for more than just a survival manga. Ultimately, it’s about compassion, and how a lack of it can really destroy everything – quite literally, as you’ll see in some scenes. It’s also about how we’re all in it together, and that in the end, borders, races, countries – all of that shouldn’t matter as much as it does. As long as we have and trust in each other, we’ll be okay, I think. Ishikawa threaded that throughout the story as well.