Junji Ito’s Hypnotizing Body Horror
In Junji Ito’s body horror manga Gyo, the invasive parasitic infection forces compliance. You will be taken, you will be inflated, and then you will dance.
manga
Healing Fiction from Japan and South Korea Is Comforting Yet Complex
The origins of Japanese and Korean healing fiction are intertwined, but the recent wave of Korean healing fiction demonstrates its unique fusion with European and American cultures.
Manga ‘The Sky Is Blue with a Single Cloud’ Is a Superb Collection of Kuniko Tsurita’s Works
The late manga artist Kuniko Tsurita's works virtually demand repeat readings: initially cryptic, always compelling, inviting the reader to try again, and offering new suggestions and meanings with each read.
Shintaro Kago’s ‘Dementia 21’ Showcases Surrealist Manga
As much as I admire Shintaro Kago's oddness as a writer, his artistic pen is even sharper (but not without problems) as evident in Dementia 21.
Classic Shōjo Today: Moto Hagio’s ‘The Poe Clan’
Moto Hagio's The Poe Clan manga series a gender-fluid melodrama marked by deep psychological trauma.
Nazism Repackaged? A Closer Look at the “Fascist Subtext” of ‘Attack on Titan’
Many fantasy writers have incorporated the visual footprint of the Third Reich into their fictional worlds. Few, however, have done so as extensively as the creator of Attack on Titan, who revisited this terrible chapter of history not to find inspiration for a fearsome antagonist, but to excavate the divisive ideas that lay buried there.
What’s to Be Believed in Yoshiharu Tsuge’s ‘The Man Without Talent’?
Tsuge's narrator's mustache is no more convincing a disguise than Superman's Clark Kent glasses—which is the paradoxical point in The Man Without Talent.
Tsuge’s ‘The Man Without Talent’ Is a Perfect Manga Parable on Capitalism’s Failed Dreams
In The Man Without Talent, Tadao Tsuge captures the element of fantasy reflected in the childish utopianism of free market capitalism and the committed entrepreneurs who are its happy-go-lucky evangelists.
The Catharsis of the Void in Anime Horror, ‘Vampire Princess Miyu’
Within the 26 hard-to-find episodes of Vampire Princess Miyu, there are murders, suicide, and even murder-suicides. There really is something for everyone. So why did it fail?
Michael Cho’s ‘Shoplifter’ Showcases What He Does Best
Existential loneliness and small comforts are perfectly conveyed in three simple colors in Michael Cho's graphic novel, Shoplifter.
Tadao Tsuge’s ‘Slum Wolf’ Provides a Dramatic Look at the Persistence of the Disaffected
After the devastating effects of American bombings of Japan during World War II, how do people rebuild themselves and their society? Tadao Tsuge explores these difficulties in Slum Wolf.
‘Red Colored Elegy’ Is a Most Un-manga Manga Classic
Seiichi Hayashi renders struggles through sometimes obscure, but always evocative imagery in Red Colored Elegy.