Enki Bilal

I mentioned graphic novels in the last post, and it reminds that I wanted to bring up something I read the other day. I finally got a chance to read Enki Bilal’s Nikopol THE NIKOPOL TRILOGY (I read it in French, under the title LA TRILOGIE NIKOPOL). This was my first time reading some of Bilal’s works (yeah, I know, shame on me), and I was truly blown away. What’s got me even more excited is the fact that Bilal has directed a film adapation of the second book in the series, which will be released in France next spring (have a look at the trailer here). Artbomb has a few reviews of the Bilal books that have been translated in English. You can have a look at Les Humanoides Associes‘ website for most of his titles in French.

This also brings me to the subject of how hard it is to get BDs (BD = bandes dessines, the French term for graphic novels) in Tokyo. There are very few in select stores, and they’re always so pricey (I read the THE NIKOPOL TRILOGY at Junkudo, where it sells for 9000 yen). I’ve ordered some books from FNAC (a French media chain) in the past, but the shipping from France was way too expensive. I so hope that Amazon Japan starts offering French books, like they now do for English and German (you can access all of the books from Amazons US, UK, and Germany, but without any shipping charges). I miss the world of BD, which I had to leave behind after coming to Asia.