21 results
Anywhere But Here
Tooku e ikitai· 遠くへいきたい
manga

A wordless comic somewhat in the vein of "The Far Side" with a Japanese twist.

Sword of Sand
Suna no Tsurugi· 砂の剣
manga

*Note: Part of Okinawa by Fantagraphics* Sword of Sand is a collection of stories that take place at the end of WWII. Susumu Higa gives us an inside look at the battle of Okinawa, from the first signs to the aftermath, through different points of view of inhabitants, soldiers, Japanese and American, in this war where there is neither good nor evil, neither good nor bad, only a cruel sense of absurdity. The men are in turn overwhelmingly stupid, full of wisdom or infinitely touching by their humanity. Because Higa's work has something deeply generous, which is also felt in his simple and precise lines.

Mabui
マブイ
manga

*Note: Part of Okinawa by Fantagraphics* In Mabui Susumu Higa continues to weave stories set in Okinawa. This is a collection of his unique and previously uncollected stories about the present day.

Fukushima Devil Fish
Shinkaigyo· 深海魚
manga

More than twenty years before the meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi reactors in 2011, Katsumata Susumu was using his cartooning skills to alert Japanese to the dangers of nuclear power. Inspired by Katsumata's research trips to the now notorious facility and his background in physics, Fukushima Devil Fish begins with two stories from the 1980s on the subject of nuclear gypsies", the men who labor under oppressive conditions to maintain Japan's fleet of "nuclear power plants. The book then cycles back to the late 1960s and 1970s with a group of stories, originally published in the legendary alt-manga magazines Garo and COM, populated with creatures from Japanese folklore and lonely young men bereft of home and family. At turns haunting and endearing, Fukushima Devil Fish reveals Katsumata as both a master of comics as a poetic form and a true friend to the victims of Japan's modernization. The collection is rounded out with a suite of essays by the artist, historian Asakawa Mitsuhiro, and critic Abe Yukihiro, which illuminate Katsumata's life and career and the importance of his work in a post-Fukushima world. (Source: Breakdown Press)

Wandering Son
Hourou Musuko· 放浪息子
manga

Fifth grade friends Shuichi Nitori and Yoshino Takatsuki have happy homes, loving families, and are well-liked by their classmates. But they share a secret that further complicates a time of life that is awkward for anyone: Shuichi is a transgender girl, and Yoshino is transgender boy. (Source: Fantagraphics)

Nijigahara Holograph
虹ヶ原 ホログラフ
manga

Even as butterflies ominously proliferate in town, the rumour of a mysterious creature lurking in the tunnel behind the school spreads among the children. When the body of Arie Kimura's mother is found by this tunnel's entrance, next to apparently human traces, the legend seems to be confirmed. Is the end of the world coming? In order to appease the wrath of the beast, the children decide to offer it a sacrifice: The unfortunate Arie, whom they believe to be the cause of the curse, is shoved into a well that leads to the Nijigahara tunnel—an act that in turns pushes Komatsuzaki, the budding thug who has carried a torch for Arie for a while already, entirely over the edge. But this is only the beginning of the complex, challenging, obliquely told Nijigahara Holograph, which takes place in two separate timelines and involves the suicidal Suzuki; Higure, his stalker-ish would-be girlfriend; their teacher Miss Sakaki, whose heavily bandaged face remains a mystery; and many more―brothers, sisters, parents, co-workers, teachers, aggressors and victims who are all inextricably linked to one another and all will eventually―ten years later―have to live with what they've done or suffered through. (Source: Fantagraphics) *Note: Includes three extra chapters.*

Dementia 21
ディメンシャ 21
manga

Yukie Sakai is a sprightly young home health aide eager to help her elderly clients. But what seems like a straightforward job quickly turns into a series of increasingly surreal and bizarre adventures that put Yukie's wits to the test! Cartoonist Kago, who is well known for combining a more traditional manga style with hyper realistic illustration technique, an experimental visual storytelling approach, and outrageously sexual and scatological subject matter, has single-handedly created his own genre: "fashionable paranoia." (Source: Fantagraphics) *Note: Includes the unrelated oneshots "Detective SumoKING" and "Separate."*

Search and Destroy
サーチアンドデストロイ
manga

This is a tale of rage. Rage against hypocrisy, injustice, exploitation, and the wrongs done to a child who grew into a righteous killer….Complete in three volumes, Search and Destroy transplants the vengeful action of Dororo from feudal Japan into a dystopian future where mercenary robots known as "creatures" serve the human elite and victimize the city's scrabbling, desperate masses. The violent death of one of these creatures connects an orphaned thief named Doro with a mysterious girl in a stinking animal hide that conceals deadly cybernetic implants. Who is this mysterious girl? How is she killing, one by one, the city's most twisted and powerful creatures? And why is she so angry? (Source: Fantagraphics) *Note: Includes 2 extra chapters.*

oel

Usagi Yojimbo is the story of a fictional, idealized, totemic, and somewhat historical Japan. It is a story told by following (primarily) a single wandering ronin as he follows the way of the samurai, seeking enlightenment, honour, justice, and the beauty of living. Note: Won the Eisner Award in 1996 (twice), 1999, 2012, 2015, 2018, 2020 (twice) and 2021 (twice) in multiple categories.