A melancholic portrait of Tokyo at the edge of collapse during the final days of World War II, by a celebrated Garo cartoonist. Adapted from Ango Sakaguchi’s famous historical fiction/romance writing, the graphic novel follows two people bound not by love, but by proximity to ruin. A former sex worker, she is emotionally sealed off, incapable of feeling pleasure in any familiarway. A writer, he is numb and adrift, and drawn to her detachment from the unraveling world. Together, they have made an agreement: they will stay together until the war ends-or they die. Drifting through bomb shelters, burned-out streets, and nights heavy with smoke, desire, and resignation, terror becomes a strange fascination; destruction takes on an erotic charge. There is something beautiful, almost intoxicating, about the end. Kondo’s minimalist manga style heightens the void-thin lines, empty rooms, distant gazes. Translated by award-winning David Boyd (Breasts and Eggs), this long-awaited release will be an instant classic.
