It’s been a long, long time since I was in Norway; I think it was 1998 or something like that. I spent most of the trip skiing in Åre and the Ostersund area, so I didn’t see much of the country. Still, it was a good trip and the food excellent, except for the reindeer roast. That sucked.
Anyway, this blog is not entirely new to travel stories; While they are not a specific interest of mine, I am always curious to see what a Japanese visitor might find interesting about Europe, as I usually experience things the other way around. Scandinavian travel notebook -Trip to Denmark and Norway- (“Nordic travelogue: a trip to Norway and Denmark) is an 82-page, mostly black-and-white manga by artist Midori of Circle Magic (Michikusa Palette), who pretty much specializes in the genre. batch more where this comes from.
The volume is quite comprehensive, both in number of pages and depth of content: the account of the journey through the two Nordic countries, which took place in September 2014 and lasted 10 days, does not skimp on technical information, including information about the countries in general, maps of the specific routes taken, and some fairly detailed representations of the main places Midori experienced. This is balanced with the tongue-in-cheek humor you’d expect from a manga travelogue, ranging from broken zippers on backpacks (which are very annoying, especially when traveling) and uncomfortable encounters with food and local inhabitants. To Midori’s credit, perhaps given her experience in the genre, I have to say that they don’t overdo “fun.” gaijin‘, focusing instead on interesting and occasionally funny mishaps (I think most of us had one of those newfangled key-card hotel doors fail just as we were about to board something).
Midori’s drawing style is quite simple, sometimes simplified bordering on chibi, but sometimes very detailed and rich in detail, especially when depicting monuments and places of interest (some perhaps drawn from images? I’m not sure). The cover also has that “manga character in the background of the photo” thing that I love. He dojinshi It also came with an elegant embossed card that reproduced its cover.
Overall a very good travelogue, I will definitely be on the lookout for more.
