Summary
Takopi's Original Sin is a dark, poignant manga with relatable themes of human suffering and isolation. The manga has achieved immense popularity, with 1.2 million copies sold worldwide and over 2 million digital views per day. Takopi's Original Sin critiques toxic positivity and explores the complexities of childhood struggles, making it a powerful and impactful read.
I already read Shonen Jump in various forms for over twenty years, allowing me to broaden the scope of what Shueisha's flagship magazine has to offer. However, their digital publication, Shonen Jump+, has introduced many of the best-selling works I enjoyed growing up, including one particularly profound work that has achieved some impressive records, making it a worthwhile experience. Takopi's Original Sin It's definitely too dark for young readers, but it's one of the most important and devastating manga experiences I've ever had.
Takopi's Original Sin began its limited airing on December 10, 2021 and ended on March 25, 2022. It is a shonen science fiction series that revolves around a Happian alien named Nueinukf who travels from Planet Happy to Earth. His adventures bring him to many troubled nine-year-olds, and his simple mission is to make them happy.
Taking the name Takopi based on his octopus-like appearance, given to him by one of the Earth's children, Shizuka, he initially seems hopeful but quickly realizes The depth and root causes of human suffering are not always easy to address.
Takopi's Original Sin achieved great popularity as a Shonen Jump+ manga
Being a limited series doesn't stop Taizan 5's heartbreaking story from achieving high sales.
Readers on Japan's Shonen Jump+ platform and international fans via Manga Plus quickly consumed Takopi's Original Sin, helping it reach 1.2 million copies sold worldwide within five months. According to natalie.mu, Takopi's Original Sin is the first serialized work on Shonen Jump+ to reach over 2 million views per day on digital platforms. The readership of this series is huge, and the reason is obvious: behind the cute and deceptive appearance is a compelling story of suffering similar to Goodnight Punpun, and readers are eager to see how Taizan 5, the author of the series, will solve it.
The art shares expressive and stylistic quirks with other popular contemporary artists like Jeff Lemire, which immediately drew me in; I love Essex County and Animal Man. Despite being marketed under a shonen imprint, the story has a dark, mature twist to it that I can easily appreciate as an adult, and It will leave a lasting impression on readers past, present and future.. But most of all, despite featuring a cute octopus-shaped alien from Happy Planet, Takopi's Original Sin remains popular in part because it's relatable.
Takopi's Original Sin Helps Readers Reflect on Their Childhood
Being bullied by old friends is extremely normal.
While Takopi initially follows Shizuka, he meets two others, Marina and Naoki, each of whom face different hardships between 2016 and 2022. Shizuka is constantly bullied Marina's family and finds little comfort in her family life; her only comfort is her dog Chappy.
Marina lives in a broken home with a resentful and abusive mother. Naoki faces pressure at home to excel like the rest of the family and is hopelessly entangled in his feelings for Shizuka. Not everyone is entirely sympathetic in Takopi's Original Sin, but that's okay: they're kids learning about life in all its facets.
Anyone can empathize with the common problems these children face and the darkest moments that drive us to where we are.
Anyone can relate to the common issues these children face and where our darkest moments tempt us to go in those times, with Shizuka's actions prompting Takopi to resort to drastic intervention. Many people, myself included, feel the same isolation that Shizuka feltthe cruel words etched on her desk when she was harshly criticized by someone who could quickly become her friend. But I also related to being expected by third parties, perhaps not as weird as Takopi, to smile away my pain, a recurring theme in Takopi's Original Sin.
Toxic Positivity Examined in This Hit Shonen Jump Manga
Wanting Others to Smile Is Lovely, But Sometimes Wrong
The following content contains discussion of suicide in the source material.
Takopi's desire to make the Earthlings he befriends happy isn't wrong; it's his method of going about it that's fatally flawed and out of control. This includes the gadgets he deploys to achieve these means. Happy Camera turns time in a sort of cosmic mulligan, allows Takopi to try and reverse past mistakes to make his target happier.
The Reconciliation Ribbon was meant to instantly befriend anyone Shizuka wanted, with the intention of mending her relationship with Marina, but things took a turn for the worse. Shizuka used the Ribbon to commit suicide, something Takopi didn't understand. Why would someone given every tool to improve their life use it to commit suicide?
This leads to a time loop in which Takopi desperately tries again and again to find the root of Shizuka's suffering, only to further complicate the thread until, in a sinister irony, he ends up using it to end the life of Shizuka's tormentor. The resulting lies are all made to make Shizuka happy, creating a distorted sense of happiness that then collapses when a commentary on the effects of toxic positivity in Takopi's Original Sin.
The time setting of Takopi's Original Sin will be impressive
The COVID-19 pandemic is the perfect setting
What better setting for stories about human suffering than the pandemic of 2020? In Takopi's Original Sin, the series focuses largely on the events of 2016 and the years that followed, with moments like chapter #12 showing how people react to the constant stream of news about vaccine trials and more. The film is not about the coronavirus but about the isolation of people during that period.Instead, people are sadly staring at the latest news on their phones, and that's not even the darkest theme in Takopi's Original Sin.
Meanwhile, 2016 was perhaps not as sad a time in Japan as it is for many others, with many famous people passing away and many countries around the world falling into political unrest. Takopi's Original Sin offers readers around the world a vicarious glimpse into fictional lives set against a similarly bleak backdrop, and it's no surprise that the series is both popular and Winner of the Excellence Award at the 51st Japan Manga Artist AwardsThe series has been a hit with readers and Taizan 5 shows no signs of slowing down.
Manga's creative work continues in the present
Takopi's Original Sin Has a Spiritual Heir
For readers craving more of the same experiences as Takopi's Original Sin, Taizan 5 also created the surreal masterpiece The Ichinose Family's Deadly Sins, which deals with similar themes of grief, loss, and acceptance. It also has a similarly brief run, running for forty-eight chapters from November 14, 2022 to November 6, 2023, and is available to Western readers through VIZ Media and MANGA Plus. Additionally, Taizan 5 has no ongoing series but has shown a bright future and has built an impressive legacy.
Why I Think Everyone Should Read Takopi's Original Sin
Readers can benefit greatly from this thrilling comic series.
Takopi's Original Sin is only sixteen chapters long, and while it goes to some hopelessly dark places, it also builds to end on a surprisingly sad but uplifting note. Not everyone has an easy life in this story, and often, they learn much more painful truths about their upbringings to burst their sometimes warped, happy bubbles.
Takopi's Original Sin sends a powerful message of hope and empathy to those growing up in complex lives, acknowledging that they cannot solve problems immediately with a positive attitude.
Takopi broke one of the highest commandments of his society, but in the service of making the people of Earth happy, he finally succeeded. The characters realize that accepting sadness can be key, a lesson I learned over and over again as a child, thanks in part to manga like this and anime like Naruto.
The most amazing part of this story is how Takopi realizes his wrongdoings and clearly repents. The writing of the last chapter is absolutely perfect, especially for readers who are going through a hard time. Takopi's Original Sin Sending a powerful message of hope and empathy to those growing up with complicated lives, acknowledging that they can’t be fixed instantly with a positive attitude, but sincerely wishing for people to grow up and become happy adults without imposing solutions that we recognize, however imperfect, are one of the most important things we can do for the miserable people in our lives.
Source: natalie.mu