Last Gasp

Taking place during the turn from the Taisho to the Showa period, this story centers around an unsuccessful science fiction author who masquerades as the dead son of an industrial magnate. With his new family's riches, he creates a fantastical island to satisfy his desires. In his manga adaptation of The Strange Tale of Panorama Island (Panorama-Tou Kidan), Maruo strays from…

Barefoot Gen recounts the bombing of Hiroshima from the perspective of a young boy, Gen, and his family. But the book's themes (the physical and psychological damage ordinary people suffer from war's realities) ring chillingly true today. Gen and his family have long been struggling without much food, money or medicine, but despite hardships, they try to maintain a semblance…

The story is set in a dystopian alternative present where any kind of substance able to alter the state of mind is legalized and authorized for consumption at home or in designated places called Pomp Bars. These products, once considered very dangerous, are now freely advertised on TV. The bartender chooses the ones more suited to his customers and serves them with special…

Part 1: Hiroshima, 1955. Ten years after the city was consumed by a scorching flash of light, a woman's soul is still deeply shaken by the earth-shattering explosion that devastated her home and changed her life forever. A family from Hiroshima struggles to come to terms with their survival of the atomic bombing of their city. The protagonist is Minami Hirano, about 20 years…