La noción del espacio en el manga Ekkusu (X): entre lo tradicional y la posmodernidad

Abstract

In this article we develop that in the narrative of X, a manga published in Mexico between 2003 and 2005, two different conceptions of space are represented. In the first one, the space is only a stage where the story takes place; in the second one, the traditional Japanese notion of Ma is used and its proposal is that space is an active element that merges with the subject as a unity. We base our affirmation on the following arguments: first, the territorial niches of humankind are represented as a stage: the house, the neighborhood, the city, and the whole world; second, the construction of space in X is strongly influenced by the traditional Japanese notion about space, in which the last one is active, defines subjects, and exists in an interdependent whole with humankind and its constructions; third, this space has several functions and becomes the object and heart of the story because it will be conserved or destroyed. Lastly, the city of Tokio reuses the concept of decentralization —proposed by Jose Miguel Cortes— when is represented as a fragmented and diverse metropolis, where technology, consumption spaces, and skyscrapers are mixed with the traditional temples and sanctuaries. To do this, we recovered the indicial reference method by Carlo Ginzburg and the acting matrix of A.J. Greimas that are in Helena Beristain’s methodological proposal for a story analysis.