By Chao Peng & Weidong Chen
Yen Press, 170 pp.
Rating: Teen (13+)

Have you ever felt lost? Have you ever felt surrounded by people who know exactly what they want out of life and how to get it, but you just can’t get a break? This is what’s been on the mind of Ayou, the protagonist in An Ideal World. He works at a delivery company stacking boxes and lives with his parents. He has no ambitions in life and it doesn’t help that his mother, boss, and current crush Su Fei are constantly on his case about getting ahead in life before he gets left behind. Ayou, ultimately too afraid to try at life, lest he fails, takes a small trip to the countryside to clear his mind and ends up spending the night in a tree, where he is magically transported another world, a happier place.

The first thing that really grabbed me about this book was the size. It is not the same size as a normal manga; the book is a bit bigger, giving each page an opportune amount of space to work with. The book is very easy and pleasing to read because of this. Not only was the size of the book a nice factor, the artwork is an amazing element. Full of fully colored pages, An Ideal World brings a fresher perspective to manga. The colors really jump out at you, setting the mood of the scene well, while keeping the backgrounds alive. The character designs are also tremendous, enhancing the mystical and magical elements of the story. No two characters look alike, each sporting distinctly different clothing and features (some human, while many others not even close). Chao Peng also uses a lot of animals to play key roles in the story, using a number of white rabbits and an enigmatic and quite successful zebra. There’s also a nice balance of silliness and seriousness in the artwork, which also enhances the underlying tones of the book greatly.

In terms of writing, I like the overall story idea. It is reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, with Ayou chasing a white rabbit and escaping his problems by traveling to a mystical world. At times though, I felt it was too predictable; there isn’t much surprise in terms of where the story goes. Don’t let this get you down, though; the book’s main focus is not about the hero’s journey so much as it is about the philosophy of life. An Ideal World focuses greatly on discovering what makes you happy and integrating that into whatever it is you do. Ayou meets thousands of happy citizens along his way, including a dance-crazy street sweeper and Picasso house painter. The story also talks a lot about great philosophers like Aristotle, Socrates, Hegel, et cetera. It shows that Chao Peng really took his time to think about the story and put substantial evidence behind it.

Interestingly enough, this was one of the first Chinese manga (or “manhua”) I have ever read. I learned from the information given in this volume that a company called Tian Jin Creator World Comic Company was founded for creating comics in China. I know that in the ’90s comics were not well received in China and it is nice to see the medium becoming stronger. I hope that Yen Press decides to license some of their other titles and bring them over to American shores sometime soon.

All in all, the book flows really well (I read it a few times over with ease) and it does a great job connecting with the reader. That’s one of the best things about this book, that anyone could read and enjoy it. I would certainly recommend it as something you could use to introduce your friends to manga.

Volume one of An Ideal World is available now.