CONTEMPORARY AUTHOR - KEI URANA
Kei Urana is a a Japanese manga artist who's most admired for her work, Gachiakuta, which goes over topics such as discrimination, prejudice, social class, and the value of the things around the people that live in the world of Gachiakuta. Its serialization began in Weekly Shōnen Magazine in February 2022 and it's become Urana's most prominent works to date.
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| Kei Urana |
About The Author
(1) Growing Up As Kei Urana
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| Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan |
Kei Urana had been born in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. Her interest in stories was apparent when she was growing up. As stated by an interview with Urana with KMANGA, one of those stories was called Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe. During her earliest years of elementary school, she tried to recreate Brave Story as a manga on her own.
Urana's road towards becoming such a professional and influential artist and author wasn't a straight one, and only began truly developing her skillsets and writing capabilities when she started entering manga competitions. Her one-shot Nokase won the Magazine Grand Prix in 2018, and later on she was able to win the 103rd Rookie Manga Award in 2019 with her work Shikido. Additionally, she had also worked under author/artist, Atsushi Ohkubo, whom was famously known for his stories such as Fire Force and Soul Eater. This gave her a fantastic chance to work professionally in the manga industry before creating her own series.
Much of Urana's childhood personality was incorporated into the story of Gachiakuta. This is prominent in the protagonist, Rudo, who was partly based off of her own experiences and her difficulty to communicate and understand other people's thoughts and feelings. Because of this, she would act without thinking or even lash out, and these parts of her were able to influence how she wrote Rudo as character.
(2) Gachiakuta
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| Gachiakuta Vol. 1 Cover |
In 2022, Gachiakuta had been released and follows a boy named Rudo who lives under the slums of a very high wealth society.
The people that live above the slums look down on the people that live there, and Rudo is treated differently because of a past he had no part in. Rudo had been falsely accused of murder and was tossed into a place known as the Pit, which is an immense place where the rich dispose of things they deem as trash. Additionally, trash is one of the most important parts to the story as Urana explains that she hasn't seen many stories make it its main focal point in the same way she had in mind. She talked about how she had felt a deep connection with her pen at some point in her life, and after it broke it helped influence the idea that objects could be more than just inanimate and have their own value and feelings in the story.
The people of the slums are constantly judged because of where they're from and it connects to the subject of discrimination and prejudice as some of the major conflicts Rudo ends up facing.
Gachiakuta also has an anime adaption which doesn't veer off the original story. Kei Urana was not the director or an animator of the anime, but was still very involved with the adaption.
(3) The Discussion of Discrimination and Stratum
The biggest theme Urana tries to clarify in Gachiakuta is the difference between people in wealth and the people living in poverty below. Rudo lived in both places, and is mostly judged because of his background he had no part in choosing for himself. This is very similar to real situations where people find themselves facing prejudice at every corner because of their social and or economic class, or even the group they may belong to. Gachiakuta also explores the idea of people being disposable. This is prominent in parts where the wealthy throws away things they no longer want or need, including people. This connects an interesting connection between how marginalized people are treated and
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| "The Pit" (Where those considered trash reside) |
actual garbage.
Gachiakuta is primarily an action based in a fantasy oriented world, but the theme gives the story more meaning than just the fights in it. Rudo's experiences can be a direct lens into what can happen when a collection of people are judged based off of assumptions about them. The story itself isn't just about surviving but also deciding what he's worth in the world he's living in.
Why is Kei Urana Interesting?
Kei Urana was a great example of a 21st-century Asian artist for me because her story takes the ideas of her own experience and the notions of the real world to implement and combine them into what is Gachiakuta. I find that this story stands out because the story doesn't need to be realistic to discuss the real issues with society and uses fiction to explore and educate her readers on prejudice. It makes you question what makes something worthless and what makes something have value? And who gets to decide that? To conclude, I really enjoy Kei Urana's works and I suggest you give some of them a read!
Work Cited
(1) Kei Urana's Background
(1) The Anime Effect - Gachiakuta Creators Interview
https://podscan.fm/player/the-anime-effect/gachiakuta-creators-kei-urana-amp-hideyoshi-andou-talk-out-the-trash-the-anime-effect-episode-77 (I listened to this in the background)
(2) Story Of Gachiakuta -
https://gachiakuta-anime.com/en/ (You can also read a sample of the manga itself here)
(3) Short Summarization And Mention Of Discrimination - https://www.bones.co.jp/work/gachiakuta/
(3) Reviews of Show/Manga and Mention of Discrimination - https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/gachiakuta
I really like this blog! I have never heard of Kei Urana and this was a great introduction.
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