Tsuruta Kenji’s paramount best work by far! When people say "a picture can tell 1000 words," it's art like this they’re referring to, and as dramatic as that sounds, I don’t think another manga has ever managed to expound so much rich characterization and intrigue over the course of just four chapters, which comprise the first of, unfortunately, only two volumes. Tsuruta’s highly artful approach to storytelling is realized to an uncompromised extent throughout the pages of this masterpiece. It’s clear to see the deliberation, thought, research and meticulous attention to minutia he put into this manga to help it feel so lived-in. Similarly to Emanon,something about the general tonality of Tsuruta’s work evokes a very misplaced, odd feeling of nostalgia. It’s an adventure manga through and through, but an atypical one, rid of the trite that so often comes with that genre tag. Wandering Island feels incredibly subdued, and at the same time, awe-inspiring.

And there are no better words than that to describe our protagonist—well, there probably are better words, but who has time for that? Amelia sure doesn’t. She immediately leaves an impactful impression with her instantly striking character design, and despite the design in question being fairly underclothed, it never comes off like Tsuruta’s capitalizing on sex appeal—well, he is, but it's not patronizing, or pandering, or some other word starting with "p" that I can't think of. The way Amelia carries and prostrates herself is so stoic that it dispels any notion of shallowness on the part of the reader. She reminds me of a character from a Taniguchi Jiro manga in that regard.

It’s easy to make comparisons to Miyazaki's rather similar Castle in the Sky, which is comprised of a similar conceit. The key difference here is the relationship between the protagonists and the arcane legends they pursue. Whilst Sheeta and Pazu seek out and involve themselves in a grandiose quest of adventure, Amelia, in her ever-abundant curiosity, is consumed by obsession and develops a neurosis of sorts, as seeking out this elusive island comes to define itself as her life goal, which she is determined to fulfil, seeing as she's finally found something to give her life purpose. Even down to these legends I speak of, Laputa is enchanting in its own way but feels like an anticlimax somehow; it's not as mystical as I envisioned, whereas, Elektriciteit Island really feels like someplace I’ve been before in a dream. The island's architecture is so vivid, but at the same time, impossibly vague, and it's that carefully balanced line between vivid and vague which elicits this, illusory quality, making the island's atmosphere seem so ethereal and idyllic, without somehow coming off as passé or banal, or purposely dreamlike.

As the newest edition to my favourites, I felt somewhat obligated to write at least something so I could solidify my thoughts and feelings after catching up with its tragically short catalogue. But to be honest, I don’t really mind how long Tsuruta takes to publish the next chapters, that is, if they're actually coming at all. He can take as long as he needs to flesh out and explore the mystifying, enigmatic nature of Elektriciteit Island—because really, that’s what’s required for a manga of this calibre.