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Poison City Volume 1

Poison City Volume 1

MangaThriller
Pages
242
Published
2014
Language
French

Synopsis

In a near-future Tokyo swept by self-appointed "decency" movements in the run-up to the Olympic Games, ordinary works of fiction — novels, films, games, manga — are increasingly branded harmful and pulled from shelves. Into this tightening climate, Mikio Hibino, a 32-year-old manga author, launches Dark Walker, an unflinchingly realistic horror series. The opening volume of Tetsuya Tsutsui's Poison City (Yūgai Toshi) follows Hibino as the first pressures of the censorship machine begin to close around his work.

A semi-autobiographical thriller about freedom of expression, drawn from Tsutsui's own experience after his manga Manhole was officially designated a "harmful book" in Nagasaki Prefecture.

Prose complexity
7/10

Vibe

TenseThought-ProvokingDarkReflective

Genres

Manga Thriller Dystopian Graphic Novels Drama Social Sci-Fi

About the author

T
Tetsuya Tsutsui

Tetsuya Tsutsui (筒井哲也, born November 17, 1974) is a Japanese manga artist known for tense, socially charged thrillers. He debuted in 2002 with Duds Hunt, then serialized Manhole and Reset in Square Enix's Young Gangan. His breakthrough was Prophecy (Yokokuhan), run in Shueisha's Jump X from 2011 to 2013, which follows a police cybercrime unit hunting a masked man who posts videos foretelling his crimes; it was adapted into both a live-action film and a television drama in 2015. After discove...

Characters

Mikio HibinoProtagonist

A 32-year-old manga author whose ultra-realistic horror series Dark Walker draws the attention of a spreading anti-obscenity campaign.

All characters in Poison City Volume 1

Frequently asked questions

  • What does the title Yūgai Toshi mean, and is the story based on real events?

    Yūgai Toshi translates as "Harmful City." The story is semi-autobiographical: Tetsuya Tsutsui wrote it after his own manga Manhole was officially designated a "harmful book" by Nagasaki Prefecture. It went on to win the ACBD's Prix Asie in 2015 and an Excellence Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2017.

  • Is Poison City based on a true story?

    The narrative is directly inspired by the author's personal experience when his previous work, Manhole, was labeled as harmful to minors by the Nagasaki Prefecture government. This real-world censorship battle served as the primary catalyst for the themes explored in this series.

  • Does this book contain another story within it?

    The plot features a story within a story, as the protagonist is a manga artist attempting to publish his own horror series titled Dark Walker. The chapters of this fictional work are interspersed throughout the main narrative to illustrate the conflict between creative expression and government oversight.