Y'all know I love historical manga a lot, and I've always had a fascination with the French Revolution and the time period around it, so this manga in particular was practically made for me.
INNOCENT (Inosan), by Shin'ichi Sakamoto. First published in 2013 and first published in North America in 2023.
PLOT:
Charles-Henri Saison is the heir not just to his noble family but to their terrible role in the French royal court: executioner. They are outcasts among both the nobility and the peasantry, and Charles wants no part of their grim legacy. Charles struggles in vain against both the literal and spiritual torture he is subject to, but in the end he submits. On that day he vows to become the last executioner of the family, taking the first steps towards becoming the man behind the guillotine in the bloody revolution to come.
STORY:
I hardly know where to begin with Innocent. On the surface it's a fictionalized take on a very real figure in French history, but it's more than a mere biography. It's a wild exploration of sex and death, pain and pleasure, and of the turbulent times leading up to the French Revolution. There's a part of me who wants to treat this as a companion piece to The Rose of Versailles. While the details of the two couldn't be more different outside of the time period they are set, both are driven by the struggle their young protagonists endure against their duty, their morals, and the hypocrisy and decadence of the ancient regime.
At times, it feels like the whole world is conspiring against Charles. His family has foisted this distasteful role of executioner on him out of obligation, to the point of employing torture upon him to force him into obedience. No matter how well or poorly he performs his gruesome task, he and his family are judged by everyone. To the nobility he is nothing more than a pawn to use for their own personal grudges or decadent spectacles. To the peasantry he is a dread specter, another symbol of the monarchy that ignores their needs and oppresses their freedoms. When he tries to rebel, he is tortured by his own family into obedience. When he tries to bend the rules his way, others bend them back. It really doesn't help that his first victim is his first crush, a count's beautiful (and secret Protestant) son. It's little wonder that he spends most of the first half of this omnibus in metal anguish.
So what changes in the second half? A few things. The first is a shake-up of the family dynamic, as Charles takes on more and more of his father's duties after he has a stroke. This begins to give him the confidence to stand up for himself against his other, other scheming relatives, and the domineering, sadistic grandmother who rules them all. The second is that he ends up becoming radicalized by an encounter with a starving pauper who ends up stabbing the king. It's not just the first time that Charles is exposed to the suffering that the poor of France are enduring, but the man's determination in the face of unspeakable torture inspires Charles like nothing else. Finally, he discovers one of the most potent personal motivations possible: spite. When he learns how little his family truly thinks of him, he becomes determined to be the last in his line to bring an end to their cursed lineage. This, more than anything, is what gives Charles the inner strength to endure his many trials and tribulations. That's a good thing because this story has barely begun. This omnibus ends only in the 1750s, and there are decades of drama, suffering, and other notable historical figures to meet before Charles begins his reign at the guillotine.
ART:
Shin'ichi Sakamoto's art is truly something else. There's a great episode of Manben that gets into his technique (which is entirely digital, but reliant on a lot of photo/physical reference and layers upon layers of work) and the results are truly unique. There's a tangibility to his characters, as if you could reach through the page and feel the plumpness of their lips, the silkiness of their hair, and the softness of their skin. There's a gaunt, haunted quality to everyone in this book, regardless of age or social status. It's certainly true of Charles, whose lithe androgyny only further emphasizes his delicacy and alienation from the world. There's also a great emphasis on eyes and gaze, with Sakamoto laying out his panels as to invoke the quick edit of a
Sakamoto makes the most of his digital tools to cram this world full of detail and texture, from the finest brocades to the horrors of festering, bloody wounds. I wasn't joking about the juxtaposition of sex and death, because you can easily have a bloody execution or gruesome fiery torture followed (or even interrupted) with a bunch of nudity and banging. The only thing he shies away from is drawing dicks, which are nothing more than ghostly shapes. He also makes the most of dramatic lighting, something most obvious in the dark, oppressive rooms of the Sanson estate. Then there are the moments where Charles's reveries explode onto the page in surrealist visions where time and space itself are mutable. Make no mistake, Innocent is absolutely stunning...just maybe don't read it in public.
RATING:
This manga is published by Dark Horse Comics. This series is complete in Japan with 9 volumes available. 3 volumes have been released in a single omnibus and is currently in print.
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