Spark by Naoki Matayoshi Review

Tokunaga dreams of becoming a successful manzai comedian (a type of Japanese comedy involving a duo, one straight man/one fool) with his troupe, Sparks. Then he meets up with an older manzai comic called Kamiya who takes him under his wing. Will they become the headlining comedians they hope to be?

Several things appealed to me about Naoki Matayoshi’s Spark: I had no idea what manzai was and wanted to find out; I’ve never read a comedic Japanese novel before and wanted to see what passes for Japanese comedy; and this was a huge bestseller in Japan and I wanted to see what appeals to modern Japanese readers.

Well, having read Spark now, I have the answers - and I know my tastes don’t align with Japanese audiences in the slightest because this book was AWFUL!

OK - are you ready to experience Japanese manzai comedy? Hold onto those sides now, you don’t want them splitting - here’s a sample:

“What’s your favourite food?”
“It’s hotpot.”
“Hotpot, eh?”
“Yes, hotpot.”
“You eat pots?”
“No, you know, the stuff that goes with it.”
“You must have extremely strong teeth.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“My teeth aren’t strong so I couldn’t do it, but what do you like better: metal pots or earthenware pots?”

I can’t bear to write any more of this tedious exchange but it goes on like this for another page. I know - it’s like a kid writing jokes. Later on, Kamiya (the more experienced comic) writes some “hilarious” haikus for a baby:

Two flies settled on a nun’s right eye.
Two flies sitting on the grave of a benefactor.
I am a fly, you are a cricket, that is the sea.
The flies are the antithesis of Parisiennes.
A melon from my mother covered in flies.

If I hadn’t been told beforehand that they were meant to be funny, I wouldn’t have known because they’re not even remotely amusing. Other “jokes” include Kamiya making the easily-manipulated Tokunaga get an erection while he moves his stuff out of his ex’s flat, to distract him from feeling sad or something; more childish crap about God painting the leaves different colours to signal the change in seasons; and the novel culminates in Tokunaga saying the opposite of what he means (eg. “Your place is a pigsty!” meaning it’s tidy) - sob sob, so funny AND emotional!

I’m just amazed that this barely-clever, unsophisticated material could be considered comedy by any adult.

Even without the unfunny material, there’s nothing about the novel that’s entertaining. Struggling entertainers struggling to make a living in showbiz - that’s it. They’re struggling because they’re not talented or funny and Kamiya might even be brain-damaged, he’s so unfunny. Take the ending, which was unpredictable but only because it was so bonkers. 

SPOILER

In an act of desperation, Kamiya gets F-size breast implants, like Meat Loaf in the Fight Club movie, because he thinks it’ll be so funny, he’ll immediately be put on TV. 

END SPOILER

Amazing.

The writing is amateurish. A couple lines stood out to me: “The pain was painful... The pain was beginning to sting.” The pain was painful - wow. How did this win the Akutagawa Prize in 2015?!

Maybe manzai comedy works better live and I’d understand the humour better if I watched the TV adaptation on Netflix, but, going by this, it doesn’t surprise me that Japanese comedy has zero appeal outside of Japan. Spark is the antithesis of entertainment - not recommended to anyone, anywhere, anytime, anyhow!