Dien Bien Phu 2 and 3, the review: the Vietnam War gets underway
Dien Bien Phu 2 and 3, the review
The adventures of Hikaru Minami continue in Dien Bien Phu 2 and 3, the manga series of historical genre created by one of the most appreciated Japanese writers, directors, mangaka and musicians in his country: Daisuke Nishijima. Thanks to Bao Publishing and its Aiken manga line, we Italians too are having the opportunity to read the realistic and bloody story set in 1965 in the middle of the Vietnam War. The series consists of 12 volumes and ended with great success in Japan in 2016. Before going into the review of the two volumes, we invite you to retrieve the review of the first issue to better understand the type and history of this work.Dien Bien Phu 2: war takes on a more psychological connotation
At the end of the first issue we left the protagonist, the young American reporter and journalist Hikaru Minami, while he was setting himself in Vietnam realizing of the hell they had sent him to. The second volume, of course, takes us back to the exterminations perpetrated in this sad wedge of land by discovering the history of the conflict on both sides. This time, however, the mangaka focuses on the life and psychology of American soldiers and the Vietcong, emphasizing the different points of view.We are still in 1965 and Hikaru is in the forest in the company of the Stray Dogs, a group parallel to the Green Berets in charge of searching for Principessa, the mysterious murderess whose protagonist fell in love with after saving his life. Unfortunately she is the one to find the group and her only goal is to kill all the soldiers in the company. It doesn't matter if her soldiers can be more trained than her, she doesn't even care how they fight her: she always manages to get the better of her opponents. However, it is Hikaru who always comes out unscathed and is not even touched by the attacks of the mysterious warrior. In the end, the team of American soldiers is reduced to only four members: the Native American Little, the sniper called Insomnia because he suffers from insomnia, the ninja Jajamaru and the handsome soldier leader of the team Tim Lawrence.
The story thus enters the heads of the soldiers who live in the perennial terror of never returning to their families. The contradictions of the conflict become more lacerating than the violence of the war itself. For this reason, the author decides to put a magnifying glass on the personal stories of the military with a particular interest in their emotional torments and the reasons that led them to leave their country of origin to go to a distant place where they would be could have stayed forever. Among the first central characters we find Little, a Native American whose name is already an oxymoron compared to his physical prowess. His story is intense and takes up many issues such as poverty, exploitation and racism. In fact, man was forced to live inside a reserve as if he were an animal. He therefore decides to abandon that claustrophobic life to fight like a warrior even accepting death, as his ancestors had done.
Thanks to Little we have the introduction of classic moments of Japanese culture, namely his mental journeys in the spirit world to try to find out where Princess is. There is also room for some somewhat obscure scenes to understand the character's desires and deep fears. Little is the central element of the second volume of Dien Bien Phu, but gradually the other Stray Dogs also begin to show themselves more human than they may seem. For example, already from this chapter we can glimpse some inner and past torments of Tim that have marked him even more than the war itself.
The conflict remains the main fulcrum around which the whole story revolves and for this reason it continues to be told in its most raw and tragic aspects. Although the protagonist is American, the point of view is not one-sided and there is also space for the Vietnamese one, continuing to follow the stories of the brothers Bao and Nhieun and, of course, of Principessa. The former are grappling with the technical analysis of the pros and cons of capitalism and how they can best use the money they earn. The second, on the other hand, shows the reader his motivations for continuing the bloody battle and hard training of his grandmother. Hikaru? In all this, the real protagonist of the story actually becomes a sort of secondary character who gets carried away by the particular situation. First he is at the mercy of his allies and then by the feelings of a Princess, without ever being able to wriggle out firmly.
Dien Bien Phu 3: the conflict reaches its climax
The third volume takes place. opens with Hikaru and the Green Berets moving to another impervious territory, namely the central plateau near Plei Me. Historically, the siege of Plei Me, which lasted from 19 October 1965 to 25 October of the same year, was the beginning of the first major confrontation between the soldiers of the North Vietnamese People’s Army and the United States Army. The war, therefore, also comes alive in the story by observing the Vietcong who, led by Princess's grandmother and by generals Dinh and Ton, decide to attack the American army. Contrary to what the latter might imagine, the Vietnamese are anything but a gang of peasants who attack without organization. Among the various guerrillas there are also real multi-award winning veterans for having fought in the Dien Bien Phu war eleven years earlier.Jajamaru is hit and seriously wounded in the battle, while Hikaru is saved by Insomnia who decides to protect him with his sniper rifle. He wants the boy to survive at all costs so that he can tell posterity about the atrocities of the war with his photographs. The problem, however, is another: the war began precisely because Hikaru, deceived by the sniper, had shot and killed a Vietnamese. Despite this, the local army proves incredibly strong so much so that the Green Berets are forced to field the formidable and powerful Colonel Jabo.
On the battlefield we get to know new characters and their strength. Tim Lawrence, leader of the Stray Dogs, begins a fight against Princess in a duel as brief as it is impactful in which there is also a strong sexist component of the American soldier who strongly despises the figure of the woman. The other important confrontation concerns Ton, the general of the 33rd regiment of the North Vietnamese army, against Colonel Jabo, instructor of the US Army Special Forces. Also in this case the duel is very violent, but also surreal acquiring a symbolic value because it represents the apparently definitive battle between the two factions.
In Dien Bien Phu 3 Daisuke Nishijima takes the Vietnamese conflict on much wider fields where there is also room for symbolisms and emblematic parallels. There are three specific examples: the first is the onomatopoeia of a rifle shot as a trigger for the true start of the war on both sides, the second is a quote to Apocalypse Now during Colonel Jabo's entry into battle and the third is another quote, but to Robert Capa alias of Endre Friedmann, one of the most famous war photographers. The latter is named by the sniper Insomnia with this comparison:
"The most out of place of all in a battlefield are photographers. Instead of the rifle they hold a camera and instead of the trigger they press a shutter. "
There is a lot of psychology in this volume, but even less Hikaru. His innocent air of him is also observed in his lack of trauma or reasons to be in that place if not to photograph the conflict. The excessive purity of him often turns into stupidity and ends up being considered only an observer even by his companions. Perhaps, however, the importance given to photography could be a way to give the protagonist a jolt in the next issues, in order to finally see him at work.
The artistic style and the extras
In both volumes, every narrative aspect is expertly described by Nishijima's wonderful and simple drawings. Nothing virtuosic or complex, but direct and concise so as not to belittle the theme of war, its cruelties and get straight to the point. The most interesting aspect is given by the numerous combat scenes that are dynamic and lively even with the use of different visual angles. The third volume, however, becomes even more powerful by causing the reader to pause to reflect and understand what he has just read and seen. Although the stroke is strongly kawaii, the mangaka manages to upset the soul of the observer through bloody and extremely painful scenes.Finally, it should be noted that at the end of both volumes there is a convenient chronology in which the main events that took place in Vietnam are described starting from 2880 BC, the year of the foundation of Van Lang, up to July 2, 1976, the day on which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam was born after the unification of the north and south. Furthermore, at the end of each chapter, there are mini-insights by the author on some secondary events in the story, but fundamental in real history. The third volume is also enriched by an extra chapter, entitled "The rest of the Stray Dogs", where the protagonists are some members of the Green Berets misfits team who see a further deepening of their private life.
