In the aftermath of World War III, the inhabitants of Tokyo are living underground in a giant dome. With no meat or vegetables, everybody eats... more>> highly addictive nutritional pills called Pure Trance - and the nurses of hospitals like Center 102 are there to help with the resultant eating disorders. Center 102 is run by the sadistic, homicidal director, Keiko Yamazaki and the only way for nurse Kaori Suzuki to protect her charges is to escape to the off-limits surface world. <<less

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... more>> 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 of normal life. The adults are exhausted and near despair; the children take air raids and starvation more or less in stride. Nakazawa, a Hiroshima survivor, effectively portrays the strain of living in this environment and shows how efforts to stay upbeat in dire circumstances sometimes manifest as manic, irrational humor. The story offers some optimism: characters perform acts of self-sacrifice for the sake of neighbors and loved ones (e.g., when Gen's pregnant mother becomes ill from malnutrition, he and his brother pose as orphans and perform in the streets, throwing the money over the walls of their home so they won't get caught). Underneath this can-do attitude are the parents' deep guilt and sense of helplessness. When the children clamor ecstatically over a scrap of food, the parents dissolve in shame and grief. The art is sharply drawn and expressive, and the narrative has such a natural rhythm, it's easy to get pulled into the family's life, making the cataclysm readers know awaits them all the more real, intimate and difficult to take. Despite its harrowing nature, this work is invaluable for the lessons it offers in history, humanity and compassion. <<less

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.... more>>

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 of age.

Part 2: Set some decades later, the niece of Minami Hirano is bewildered by her father's mysterious disappearances. She and a friend follow him to discover what he is doing.

The main theme of this is historic manga concerns the question what impact the war and the atomic bombing had on the most vulnerable. Fumiyo Kôno examines this question in her outstanding book- an award-winning, widely-discussed masterpiece.

Note: Won the 2004 Japan Media Arts Festival's Grand Prize for manga and the Tezuka Osamu Creative Award in 2005. <<less

A compilation of short stories by Keiichi Koike.... more>>

1. Knockin' on Heaven's Door

2. 3000 Leagues Searching For Mother

3. Lazaro Franco's Fourth Hour

4. The Fallen Samurai And The Sea

5. Loopa

6. Kenbo's Diary

7. Sponge Generation

8. By Plane

9. Horizon

10. Landed

An astronaut sent on a space mission promises his wife and child that he will come back to them. <<less