Books: Tanpenshu Vol. #1

"You should buy this book immediately. If necessary, you should also spend the cab fare needed to get to the nearest bookstore. You should do this because this is a book that knows perfectly well that you are seething inside."

— from Algis Budry’s review of Harlan Ellison’s SF anthology Dangerous Visions

And yes, Tanpenshu knows you’re seething inside, too. This is praise, since so few manga ever reach for anything like that. They may entertain, but they don’t always touch us. Tanpenshu doesn’t just touch you; it cuts you, and it draws blood as well.

I’d actually encountered part of Tanpenshu before (the chapter entitled “For Those of Us Who Don’t Believe in God,” in a fan-translated edition), and it shook me so badly that by the time the whole book came out in a legitimate edition, thanks to Dark Horse, it ended up sitting on my shelf for weeks, still in the shrinkwrap. It was one of the most profoundly intimidating manga stories I’d ever read — not just the subject matter or the treatment shook me, but the sheer amount of insight and talent Hiroki Endo had to burn in that one story made me feel like I simply couldn’t measure up. I finally choked down my nerve and broke open the plastic — and yes, I was again intimidated. Made jealous, even, but in a good way, a way that made me want to go out and create something at least as good so I could measure up.

Article originally written for AMN. Click here to read full text.