We all know Satoshi Kon by his anime works and greatly appreciate those. Some of us may know he drew manga before making his anime debut. I knew it, too, but until now I have never read any of his manga. Now, with Opus, I've got around to doing so and I must say I wish this had been turned into a movie.

Opus is about a manga artist who draws this action manga where the main characters are telepaths and/or can use raw power as a weapon. It's supposedly a great story full of suspense, but currently, the artist is in a slump and struggles to produce a coherent ending. So he decides to go out with a bang and kill one of the main characters, a teenage boy, along with the villian. Problem is, said teenage boy is NOT AMUSED by this and decides to take the matter in his own hands. Subsequently, the author gets sucked into his own manga and continues to struggle to save the world he created, only this time the stakes are much higher.

Opus is unmistakably a piece of meta fiction. The moment the author finds himself in his own manga it's less about the actual story and more about the relationship between creator and creation - whether the life the characters lead is truly their own, whether or not the author has the right to decide their every step and ultimately, whether or not they are free. Thing is, they do not sit in a parlor and chat leisurly about this, they are still in the middle of a story and that's what makes it a fun read.

It's not all dialogue either, the visuals also highlight how the creator works. There is this one scene where there is an unfamiliar setting with strange buildings and the creator is like "Hey, I didn't draw that". Immediately, the buildings fall over like a cardboard cutout and it's revealed that they are rather on the small side and are inhabited by tiny creatures that have vaguely human shapes and are all drafts and the creator is like "Oh, maybe I SHOULD have put more work into background details". This also becomes an important plot point further into the story where it's the only makeshift landmark they have.

But that's not all. We all know how detailed Kon's works are and how the art style approaches realistic but is still cartoonish enough and that is used to full effect here, turning some situations surreal, like one guy who literally rises from a sheet of paper and the viewing angle is from the side so it appears like he's coming out of the desk (and that's when I wish this had been a movie, the surreal side of things would have had so much more emphasis when in motion). And it's the same art style that we see in the animated works - people with realistic proportions, normal faces, a realistic approach to things, all this. Interestingly enough, this doesn't lead to immersion, you are at all times aware that you're reading a graphic novel. This is also helped by the fact that there are no two-page spreads whatsoever, everything that happens on one page stays on one page. It's also the same for panels, they are mostly strictly limited to their borders, only rarely does a scene break the panel border. The distance between the reader and the work that this creates is a double-edged sword though, you can't enjoy this as much as you probably want to.

Speaking of enjoyment, as many good ideas as there are and as well as they are put together into one coherent work, it's not as enjoyable as it could be. One reason is the aforementioned distance, one other reason are the characters. They are alright for what they are; they are lively, they are fun to watch. But they aren't developed equally. The teenage boy from before, for example, may be a main character, but he turns out to be not much more than a mouthpiece to produce some lines about morality. The villain is presented like this super-powered guy who might be a little too much for everyone to handle, but he is barely even there, only towards the end does he appear out of nowhere to shake things up. And the only character who's actually fleshed out somehow is the woman. Yes, that's all intentional, we are supposed to see how flawed and irresponsible the author is, but we have to watch these characters the entire time. They could have developed through the course of the manga, especially now that they are acting on their own, but no, they mostly stay the same.

And another thing: the manga ends right at a cliffhanger. This is due to the publishing magazine going out of business. Usually an author who gets hit by this sort of things tries to move on to another magazine, but Kon here was already involved with his first anime at that time, so Opus fell flat. One thing lead to another, more anime got made, so there was really no time for Opus - and then Kon died. Apparently he was working on a new chapter which has been published as a rough sketch (that's all they had), but even that doesn't wrap things up. And it's a damn pity, because this really affects your experience. You WILL be disappointed once you get to the end and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

So in the end, it's a good manga and had the potential to be great, but it's not as enjoyable as it could have been. Still worth your time though, especially because it's done by Satoshi Kon. So go read this if you don't mind meta fiction and are prepared to be left hanging.