The Timeless Globetrotter: Emanon

What does it mean to be immortal? To be unable to experience death? Is it to be constantly reincarnated?  To live forever? Is it to be unkillable? Or maybe being immortal is to be remembered throughout history even after your physical time in this plane of existence has come to an end. It’s been man’s dream since antiquity to be able to fly but there are also other things humanity has craved for centuries: eternal life, eternal youth and endless knowledge. If humans could live forever or transcend life and death, perhaps people would suffer less. But is being immortal perhaps a curse disguised as a blessing?

What if you existed before you were even born? I assume that last sentence probably left you in bewilderment but it’ll all make sense momentarily. The story of Wandering Emanon and/or Emanon’s Wanderings is the story of a woman who’s quite literally, as old as life itself. Emanon (no name backwards) is reborn again and again throughout life and retains all her memories and experiences from all previous lives. Before life on Earth existed, she was a concept. Before there were humans, she was a fish, then a monkey and now she’s a human female. This is the story of her travels as she wanders through life, looking for some kind of meaning in it.



This manga has a few parts to it. It’s not very long but there are three manga that tell the complete tale (so far, for now at least). Omoide Emanon (Memories of Emanon), Emanon - Sasurai Emanon Episode: 1 (Emanon's Wanderings) and Sasurai Emanon (Wandering Emanon '67, Wandering Emanon '73, Wandering Emanon '80). The artist for the manga is Tsuruta Kenji and the writer is Kajio Shinji. Tsuruta has worked on some other notable manga such as Spirit of Wonder and Forget-me-Not. This manga was published by Comic Ryu starting in 2006 and ended in 2013.

This manga is a fantastic piece of art and literature; let’s get that out of the way first. The artwork is delightful as is it eloquent. The drawing is fluent as in it speaks to the reader through character expressions, background settings and overall scenery. It’s quite expressive. The manga is not at all heavy with text, in fact, there isn’t much dialogue, yet somehow, it still speaks to you. Kenji’s drawings of Emanon are beautiful and it’s hard not to be infatuated with her the moment you look at her. A lot of the various panels are images of Emanon smoking and being in deep thought.

There isn’t exactly a central plot. There’s no,'do the thing to get the thing' or 'become the thing'. Unlike most other narratives that have an antagonist and an endgame, this manga does away with all that and to be honest, that’s one of the stronger points of the series. There’s no bad guy to defeat or straight forward task to accomplish (like becoming Hokage). The point of the story is for you to connect with this character and ponder about important life questions as she does. It’s an immensely thought provoking chronicle. 

Emanon’s Wanderings presents the readers with some intriguing content and context. On the surface it may just seem like some immortal earth walker ... just aimlessly wandering the globe, but it’s so much more. Einstein describes insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. But what if you didn’t have an option? Forced into a never ending cycle of something you cannot control but yet, yearning for something more, something different? You see, the way Emanon’s cycle of rebirth works is as follows: at some point in Emanon’s life, she’ll lose herself, as in her memories become a bit hazy and she feels a compulsory need to reproduce. After finding a sexual partner she gives birth to the new her, the offspring becomes the new Emanon, taking all the memories and experiences from her old body, into the new one. The old body then becomes a mere empty shell of what was once Emanon.

From there, Emanon, though more knowledgeable and older than everyone around her must once again grow up over and over again. Leaving behind her old body and former lovers, time and time again. She’s also forced to outlive everyone she knows and loves. It’s a tale of potential insanity and loneliness. There isn’t a person in the world who could truly ever understand her and we all feel that way sometimes. Like no one really understands us and it makes us feel truly alone. Emanon like all of us is just trying to comprehend her place in the grand design.

Emanon is a superb character and the best part of the story. She’s beautiful, she is mysterious and most importantly, she acts exactly how I imagine someone that old would act. I find that with enough life experience (I’m talking like over one thousand years) a being that old would just be beyond certain issues. Such as: being overly emotional, life, death and other things wouldn’t mean much to an immortal. Emanon, being technically 3 billion years old acts this way. Emanon is extremely detached, aloof, distant and she looks like she’s constantly looking for something stimulating. For something of substance that she might find remotely intriguing. Emanon doesn’t care for names either since she’s had thousands so she just goes by that name. In addition to that she’s always drinking and smoking in an attempt to dull and numb all the things she’s dealing with.

The story of Emanon shows the readers several moments and chapters in her long rich history. It’s divided by years and we get to see her in different stages of her cycle: as a child, teenager, adult, in her reincarnation period and the empty shell she eventually leaves behind. She’s such a curious woman that you can’t help but get attached to and want to figure out.

Wandering Emanon is truly an amazing manga series that I believe you should all try. It’ll evoke critical thinking, the artwork is expressive, Emanon is an enigma you can’t ignore and the themes are powerful. It’s also quite short therefore it’s not time consuming. I implore you all to try this manga out, it’s a personal favorite of mine but objectively, it’s still a really solid read.

Written By: Nya Hemmingz: SFV Rookie, Sm4sh Sophomore, Manga Overlord.

Follow me on Twitter @LolitaZenpie

Blog: http://zenpiesama.weebly.com/