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Marc Notes:
Translated from the Japanese.;As butterflies ominously proliferate into 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?."
Review Quotes:
It's a brilliant piece of psychological horror that is both deeply intimate yet expansive in scope, with a large cast of characters that are sucked into the terror in different ways. The cyclical, abstract story is challenging, but greatly rewards rereading, and it's easy to get lost in Asano's intricate art, which does outstanding work realizing the setting that is so important to the plot.--Oliver Sava "The A.V. Club"
Review Quotes:
This beautifully drawn but elliptically told story is almost relentless in its depiction of the evil that lurks behind everyday life, but it's impossible to put down. Fable and film-noir crime mix in a small town where the children believe a beast living in a tunnel is a sign of the end of the world, and adults cope with the aftereffects of a hideous crime. This is a book that rewards repeated readings...--Brigid Alverson "Robot 6"
Publisher Marketing:
Fantagraphics is proud to welcome the great Inio Asano (
Solanin,
What a Wonderful World!) to its acclaimed literary manga line. Even as butterflies ominously proliferate in town, the rumor of a mysterious creature lurking in the tunnel behind the school spreads among the children. When the body of Arié 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 Arié, 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 Arié 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 stalkerish would-be girlfriend; and 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.
Review Citations:
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Publishers Weekly 03/17/2014 (EAN 9781606995839, Hardcover) - *Starred Review
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Booklist 04/15/2014 pg. 41 (EAN 9781606995839, Hardcover) - *Starred Review
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Wilson Graphic Novels Catalog 04/11/2019 (EAN 9781606995839, Hardcover)
Contributor Bio:Asano, Inio
INIO ASANO was born in 1980 in the Ibaraki Prefecture. The Japanese national Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper described him as one of the voices of his generation.
Contributor Bio:Thorn, Rachel
Rachel Thorn is from in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. She is a cultural anthropologist, writer, and an associate professor in the manga department at Kyoto Seika University. Her translations include the
New York Times Best-Seller
Nijigahara Holograph by Inio Asano and Hayao Miyazaki's
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
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