I have been re-reading Prisoner Riku for these past few days and I had some thoughts that I wanted to share about it.
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| Shuujin Riku - @ Shinobu Seguchi / Akita Shoten |
First to give some context of the series, the story is set in a Tokyo that has been partially destroyed after the fall of a meteor. The destroyed part became known as the slums of Tokyo where the poor gathered and with no interest in rebuilding it the investments all focused on the intact part of Tokyo. This heavy focus of the state on the prosperous area meant soon the slums became an area of perceived degradation and lawlessness.
This lawlessness was directly caused by the retreat of the government interest in the area which left it open to many criminal gangs to take over. Of course, this image of lawlessness created fear within areas outside of slums and a wall was created to segregate it from the outside world, and policing of these areas was reinforced with the use of violence.
It is in this realistic world that Riku, a thirteen year old orphan from the slums is arrested for killing a cop, who was a father figure for him. Of course, it was not him who killed the police officer but the Police Force's Superintendent General, Kidoin. The police officer was investigating him but was found out and killed for it. Kidoin stands on his tough stance against the slums but within the slums with his own loyal force, he commits various crimes such as smuggling and organ trafficking.
Riku is then sent off to a maximum security jail. In this Jail, Riku with his naivety and his willingness to help people and his optimism but also his toughness makes him gather respect from his fellow prisoners. One notable one being Renoma, the other protagonist. If Riku is the shonen heart of the series as the kind hearted, naive kid living in a cruel world then Renoma is the more adult centred main character. Renoma unlike Riku, Renoma was beaten down by the cruel world and this shaped who he is. in his youth was betrayed by the person he trusted most and after that in order to survive in the slums, he stole, killed, threatened and beat anyone in his way until he formed his own gang.
Renoma is one of many other prisoners that are captivated by Riku's kindness and his stubbornness to do what he thinks is the right thing. This is partly why I called him the shonen heart of the series because this influences the others and drives some of them to try to escape prison. I can not help but wonder since overall the rest of the series aside from Riku is grim and violent, if you take him out of the series and have Renoma as the single main character, the series would have a very different mood.
However, RIku is an endearing underdog character, who is against all odds not backing down from going up against tough prisoners or guards. It would be easy for him to be engulfed and beaten down by the cruel world he lives in but he is never willing to give up. This does not mean he gets stronger, Riku is not a fighter, he is only tough and his personality gives hope for many downtrodden cynical prisoners.
I do not want to spoil it but every character has their own troubled past as a result of the state of slums. These characters are all entertaining in their own way and they have their own reasons for being arrested and wanting to escape. So they scheme, fight and suffer together with Riku all in order to escape the prison but also attempt to change the fate of slums by bringing down Kidoin.
The world of Riku is one that I can recognise and relate to in many ways because of its reflections in real life especially in certain places. I feel like Shinobu Seguchi makes these links purposefully because he knows these are real things that exist, and he adds Riku, the hopeful downtrodden kid who gets beaten time and time again, but who dares to challenge the injustices of his world to pass a hopeful message that change is not impossible.
Prisoner Riku has a lot of charm and I applaud Shinobu Seguchi for sticking even after many years trying to write this wonderful shonen work which is heavily under-read in the west but for anyone in the fence, this is a real fun work. It was a not a massive hit but it deserves a spot in Champion's history and I am happy it was acknowledged in the 50th year anniversary.
