Message to Adolf
Message to Adolf | |
Adorufu ni Tsugu (アドルフに告ぐ) | |
---|---|
Genre | Political thriller[1] |
Manga | |
Adolf | |
Written by | Shukan Bunshun |
Demographic | Seinen |
Original run | January 6, 1983 – May 30, 1985 |
Volumes | 5 |
Message to Adolf (アドルフに告ぐ, Adorufu ni Tsugu), known in earlier English versions as Adolf, is a
Plot
In 1936, Japanese reporter Sohei Toge travels to Berlin to cover the Berlin Olympic Games. Upon arriving, he finds that his younger brother, who has been studying in Germany as an international student, has been murdered and had connections with Communist organisations. Furthermore, all traces of information regarding his younger brother's study in Germany has vanished. Investigating the matter, he later learns that his brother's murder is connected to documents he mailed to Japan with information regarding Adolf Hitler. This information is crucial to the Third Reich as it contains proof that Adolf Hitler has Jewish blood.
Wolfgang Kaufmann, a
As events progress, the lives of the three Adolfs intertwine and become more and more tangled as Sohei Toge searches for his brother's murderer. After being tortured by the
In the years leading up to 1945, Kaufmann ascends the hierarchy of the Nazi Party and completes his indoctrination as a Nazi. He eventually becomes a loyal subordinate of Hitler and a coordinator of
Kaufmann and Kamil later meet during the
In the 1980s, Toge arrives in Israel to visit Kamil's surviving family after he is killed in a terrorist bombing attack. He resolves to write a book called "Message to Adolf", recounting the stories of the three Adolfs, and what the concept of "justice" can lead to.
Characters
- Sohei Toge (峠 草平, Tōge Sōhei): A Japanese reporter sent to Germany to cover the 1936 Olympics only to find his younger brother murdered. He then proceeds to investigate who killed his brother and why, leading him into a dangerous web of espionage during World War II. He was born and raised in Niihari, Ibaraki (now Tsuchiura).
- Isao Toge (峠 勲, Tōge Isao): A Japanese international student studying in Germany and a member of the Communist movement in Germany. When his organisation discovers a shocking secret, he is brutally murdered.
- Acetylene Lampe: A member of the Nazi Party and the Far East Chief of German Intelligence who pursues Toge around the world both to get the documents and kill him for revenge.
- Rosa Lampe: Acetylene's daughter and a Gestapo informant. Reports Isao, resulting in his death, and later Sohei which results in his torture. Commits suicide after Sohei rapes her and leaves Germany.
- Nigawa (仁川): A Japanese police chief who takes Toge's side, and lets him stay at his place. Is killed in a shootout with the Gestapo.
- Mieko Nigawa (仁川 三重子, Nigawa Mieko): The chief's daughter, who falls in love with Yoshio. Later moves to run a bar with Okei, after Honda's death.
- Okei (お桂): A widow who wears Yakuza tattoos. Falls in love with Toge and shelters him during a pursuit by the secret police.
- Sachi Honda (本多 サチ, Honda Sachi): A geisha who was secretly working for the Communists. Murdered by Kaufmann when they were involved in a tryst during the Gestapo's search for the documents.
- Honda (本多): Sachi's brother, an Imperial Army officer. Loves Yukie and pulls favors for her, including guaranteeing Toge which prevents him from being tortured to death in the beginning of the story. He kills himself after his high position in the Army makes war crimes accusations likely.
- Yoshio Honda (本多 芳男, Honda Yoshio): Honda's son. After living in Manchukuo and seeing Japanese oppression firsthand, becomes part of Sorge's spy network. Admires his disgraced aunt's motives, and later becomes friends with Toge and Kamil. Falls in love with Mieko, but is killed by his father after revealing that he is a spy. His father conceals his death as a suicide.
- Adolf Kaufmann (アドルフ・カウフマン, Adorufu Kaufuman): A half-Japanese, half-German boy living in Kobe. Though he opposes the Nazis at first, he develops a hatred for the Jews during his stay in Germany and persecutes them fervently, only renouncing these views at the end of his life. He later joins the Sicherheitsdienst, then Gestapo, then the PLO. He is killed by Kamil, in revenge for the murder of his father.
- Wolfgang Kaufmann (ヴォルフガング・カウフマン, Vorufugangu Kaufuman): Adolf Kaufmann's father and a strong follower of Adolf Hitler. He works for the German Consulate General in Kobe.
- Yukie Kaufmann (由季江・カウフマン, Yukie Kaufuman): Wolfgang's wife and mother to Adolf. She is unaware of what her husband is doing for the Nazi Party. Later renounces her German citizenship and marries Toge. Dies of injuries sustained during the Kobe bombings, but births their daughter before passing.
- Adolf Kamil (アドルフ・カミル, Adorufu Kamiru): A Jewish-German boy who considers himself Japanese, and who accidentally learns the secret behind Adolf Hitler's ancestry. He joins Toge's group during the struggle for control of the document, and emigrates to Israel with his wife after the war, joining the Israeli army.
- Noriko Koshiro (小城 典子, Koshiro Noriko): Also known as Ms. Ogi. Kamil's elementary school teacher who is later marked as Communist for writing anti-war poems. Helps Kamil hide the documents.
- Eliza Gerd Hymer (エリザ・ゲルトハイマー, Eriza Gerudo Haimā): A Jewish-Chinese girl living in Germany. She escapes Germany with the help of Kaufmann, but eventually marries Kamil.
- Isaac Kamil: Adolf Kamil's father and a Jewish man who seeks to actively help other Jews around the world. He is murdered by Adolf Kaufmann while in Germany.
- Adolf Hitler: The German dictator himself. Many liberties are taken for the sake of plot, especially concerning his death.
- Richard Sorge: The German communist spy in charge of Soviet espionage in Japan. He plays a prominent role towards the end of the story.
Awards
Adolf won the Kodansha Manga Award in 1986 for general manga.[4]
Publications
Adolf was published in
Volumes
Volumes of English translations, in order:
- Adolf: A Tale of the Twentieth Century
- Adolf: An Exile in Japan
- Adolf: The Half-Aryan
- Adolf: Days of Infamy
- Adolf: 1945 and All That Remains
See also
References
- ^ "Message to Adolf, Part 1 By OSAMU TEZUKA". Penguin Random House. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
- Vertical, Inc.Retrieved on February 3, 2013.
- ^ "Message to Adolf (Manga) - Tezuka in English". 29 January 2015. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
- ^ Joel Hahn. "Kodansha Manga Awards". Comic Book Awards Almanac. Archived from the original on 2007-08-16. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
- ^ "Loja Conrad - Adolf - Vol. 1" (in Portuguese). Conrad Editora. Archived from the original on 2012-07-14. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
- Tonkam. Archived from the originalon 2014-02-26. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
- ^ "Adolf, Band 1" (in German). Carlsen Verlag. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
- ^ La storia dei tre Adolf vol. 1. ASIN 8875021015.
- ^ "Adolf Integral nº1 a 5" (in Spanish). Planeta DeAgostini. Archived from the original on 2012-09-30. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
External links
- Adolf manga at TezukaOsamu@World Archived 2008-03-31 at the Wayback Machine
- Message to Adolf (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
- The Comics Get Serious review of the English release of Adolf at RationalMagic.com