Alright, let's do this.
Crime and Punishment is a novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky from 1866. It's basically about a guy who loses hold on his life, that eventually becomes obsessed with the idea that correcting his life and to become a truly great person, he must be willing to rise and step onto the weak. Rather, he eventually comes to the conclusion that to fix his problems, he must kill an elderly moneylender and steal her wealth to get his own life back on track. She is very old, and basically, her existence does no actual good to those around her... the novel is about this man, Raskolnikov's inner conflicts and the problems that arise with actually carrying out "his plan."
...Hm? What? What do you mean that's not the right thing?
Oh. Oh, shit. I'm sorry, I meant--
#Introduction#
The manga Crime and Punishment: A Falsified Romance by Naoyuki Ochiai is a retelling of Fyodor Dostoevsky's classic novel. It's important to underline the fact that this is not a 1 to 1 adaptation, and while there are scenes and plot points almost directly ripped straight from the novel, this actually is a genuine retelling. To be honest, I'm almost willing to throw out there that this sort of transcended being just a retelling a little bit.
I guess the most flattering thing I can say about this is that not only is this a respectful take on the original novel that it manages to differentiate enough to be its own thing, but it also still manages to capture the spirit of the novel.
Right away, I should state... if you're looking for something lighthearted or happy to read... this is definitely not that. The elements that are different or changed are well... they made me feel absolutely horrible. I felt pure fucking misery reading some of this. There were so many sections where it just kept feeling like the manga would just not just stop piling it on. I couldn't stop going through chapter after chapter. As a person who read the original novel, I knew that it wasn't a complete fucking downer... that eventually, hope would enter the picture.
But in addition to the new or changed elements, this manga version was just fucking relentless almost the whole way through. Where's the hope? WHERE'S THE HOPE? THIS IS FUCKING HORRIBLE AND I FEEL TERRIBLE READING THIS, WHERE IS THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL???
For the record, the original Crime and Punishment is actually one of my favorite novels of all time. My favorite scene of the entire novel remains still burned within the back of my skull.
#Miroku Tachi#
Raskolnikov
Both Raskolnikov from the original novel as well as Miroku who he's modeled after are incredibly frustrating but wonderfully deep characters. They've both gone astray in life and are desperately searching for a means to correct this. Unfortunately, in isolation, they both arrive to the wrong conclusion. To murder a person and steal their money, which they hope to use to their own benefit, to correct their positions in life. They have two faces, really.
They are prideful and unrepentant and truly believe what they are willing to do is the right choice. History has shown it countless times. If you're unwilling to trample upon the weak, if you're unwilling to kill... then, you are on the side of prey rather than the predators. But both find themselves unable to cope with the overwhelming guilt that soon swallows them whole as a result of both what they've done, and their respective crimes going awry. Even after the switch, they are still clinging to the desperate belief that what they've done is right, and even seemingly purposely provoke or prod those suspicious of them.
Yet, they keep making mistakes or choices that seem to keep bringing them closer and closer to being caught, as if that's what they truly want deep down. And of course, in both cases... they eventually find that the supposed bounty of their crimes have resulted them very little. Unsurprisingly, neither of them ever actually truly get the chance to even try and use it, even if they actually wanted to.
Throughout both Raskolnikov and Miroku's journeys, I found myself repeatedly over and over again frustrated. Neither of them are truly evil or horrible people. But certainly, they're on a slippery path and they're sliding. You want them to repent. You want them to mend their relationships with their family. You want them to atone for what they've done. Because you are given a clear look into their minds and how everything changes after they carry out "the plan."
This was supposed to fix all of their problems. They repeatedly over and over again justify the act they're thinking of committing. But it just causes them complete and utter fucking misery and disgust with themselves. They further lash out and try to distance themselves from those around them, because they cannot simply pretend to be unaffected by what they've done.
Of course, there is a bit of a divergence between Miroku and Raskolnikov. Unlike Raskolnikov, Miroku has somewhat of a mentor character whom is originally responsible for putting in the roots that would lead Miroku down the unfortunate path he chooses. I don't wish to spoil much since it's one of the largest differences between this and the novel, but I fuckin' loved this character and his relationship with Miroku.
There is a character in the original novel that sort of shares a parallel with Miroku's mentor, but beyond that loose connection, he completely and utterly does not exist in the original Crime and Punishment. But he fits so fucking well in the grand scheme of things, that it almost fucking boggles my mind that he doesn't. I'm tempted to say that the quote he throws around from Terence also does not appear anywhere in the original Crime and Punishment, but don't quote me on that one, because some of the finer details of that novel have somewhat departed in the year or two since I've read it.
"I am human therefore nothing human is alien to me."
#Changed Elements, Old Elements#
Everything is a fucking blur, but I love both versions.
On one hand, I instinctively somewhat want to distill the praise I'm giving this because at the end of the day, it's a retelling. This was Fyodor Dostoevsky's story, but obviously in the form of the manga and rather than in the 1800's and in Russia, it's in modern day Japan. Obviously, some elements or parts of the story are going to shift or change. But it's so masterfully done that I'm having a bit of trouble wrapping my head around it.
"Hey, I really like this novel by this Fyodor Dostoevsky guy. It'd be great if it was a manga."
"Good news! Not only does that actually exist but it's basically perfect!"
"...Wait, what?"
The first chapter I believe ends straight up with one of the several dreams Raskolnikov has in the novel, of a group of people just beating the ever living shit out of a dying horse. The horse dream is in fact right from the novel, and it was at this point I kind of thought that this was just going to include some things from the original, but it wouldn't actually end up coming anywhere close to matching the original.
I personally think if you're going to remake or retell something, you shouldn't purposely go 100% for what the original did. What's the point of remaking something if you're just trying to copy it exactly? But of course, that's a Catch-22 because if you change too much or go too far away from the original... it enters a muddied territory. Since the Crime and Punishment is the title... I'm gonna want something at least similar to the original Crime and Punishment, especially if it's purposely a retelling.
You take the character and basically almost the whole of the basic story, move them over into the setting of modern day Japan, and then plug in all the pieces. Rather than this elderly money lender, perhaps have it be a high school girl who has basically formed a prostitution ring.
That's admittedly perhaps one of my few issues with this. The target of the main character... in this version, let's just say... I'm way more willing to lend some credence to the idea of "maybe it's not too bad that she's gone now." Which is genuinely somewhat of an issue, because the money lender of the original novel was way less actively horrible. But I guess that's a result of the different settings and time periods and whatnot. To be fair, she was basically hoarding wealth she's gotten as a result of feeding off of others' debts but... that's way less horrible to the manga counterpart. But in my opinion, that became much less of an issue as a result of how it actually played out.
I already brought up Miroku's "mentor", but it's worthy to note that I believe his whole section more or less replaces one of the subplots that was much larger a deal in the original Crime and Punishment. The slimming/removal of that subplot doesn't bother me because Miroku's mentor is again, one of my favorite parts of this manga. The idea of doing Crime and Punishment but having the Raskolnikov character know someone who's basically undergone the same sort of transformation he has is... it works. It really fucking works!
Oh yeah, there's another character who... I really don't want to go into it, given the importance of her character in the story of both versions, but... comparing the novel and manga versions of this character is like comparing night and day. In the manga version, this character is a lot less saintly and more... grounded? I really loved the spin put on this character in the manga while also keeping the character's purpose in the story intact.
#Conclusion#
Crime and Punishment is probably without a doubt in my top ten favorite novels I've ever read. As this is both a faithful retelling of the novel but effectively and respectfully manages to put a different spin on it while yet capturing the original spirit... yeah, I give this manga a 10 out of 10.
You absolutely don't have to have read the original novel to read this manga. I just wanted to underline the fact that even though I've read the original novel and knew exactly what to expect, this manga still tore me apart while also forcing me to keep reading chapter after chapter.
I felt frustrated, sad, angry, and disgusted at multiple points throughout this manga. Hope does eventually finally at a point enter the picture, but you have to (rightfully) fucking work for it. The suffering I felt was turned up way more in the manga version, but I was frustrated with Raskolnikov as well.
If you want to read about a character struggling and suffering and attempting to try and drag himself towards redemption, I absolutely recommend Crime and Punishment in either of its forms.
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