What do you think?
Rate this book
アシュラ（上） (幻冬舎文庫 (し-20-2))
餓死寸前の少年は、平然と人を殺し生きるためだけに人肉を食い続けた……。アシュラの凄惨な行動を通して、鬼才ジョージ秋山が問いかける根源的生。漫画史上空前の衝撃的話題作、待望の復刊!!
384 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 31, 2006
1 person want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 22, 2021
The first volume of George Akiyama's (1943-2020) Asura (1970-1971) horrifically depicts the cruel origins of the young title character, Asura, who is born in Medieval Japan during a time of drought and mass starvation. His pregnant mother survives for months on the flesh of corpses she finds in her wandering, and against all odds, Asura is eventually born and manages to survive on his own from early childhood, living like a wild beast. The manga explores the social and economic plight of farmers and workers, as well as the outcasts from society, during this time, and the introduction of the beggar monk, who finds Asura and determines to make a human out of him, suggests that the story will be about how even people who have had the vilest lives can find redemption through awakening to the truth of existence, though the road may seem impossibly long.
Akiyama's art is a Mizuki-esque blend of somewhat-detailed environments inhabited by cartoonishly-exaggerated characters, and like Mizuki, the story gleefully blends humor and horror, although Asura leans much more heavily into the outright horrific than Kitaro's more kid-friendly tales. Body parts are severed and eaten, people are suddenly, viciously killed, others starve to death over many pages. One particularly gruesome scene shows a man unwrapping his half-severed arm to find that it's full of writhing maggots. There is humor scattered throughout, but it's often the darkest of humor, typically involving violence.
Asura reads a little like a mythic tale or a legend about a demon child who has to learn how to become human, a Buddhist parable of sorts. This volume only consists of the first half of the story, so I do not know if the theme of redemption, like that so elegantly told by Osamu Tezuka in his masterful Phoenix: Karma, will play out entirely as expected or if it will be subverted somehow before the end. But either way, I am looking forward to seeing how Asura's story will play out.
4.5
Akiyama's art is a Mizuki-esque blend of somewhat-detailed environments inhabited by cartoonishly-exaggerated characters, and like Mizuki, the story gleefully blends humor and horror, although Asura leans much more heavily into the outright horrific than Kitaro's more kid-friendly tales. Body parts are severed and eaten, people are suddenly, viciously killed, others starve to death over many pages. One particularly gruesome scene shows a man unwrapping his half-severed arm to find that it's full of writhing maggots. There is humor scattered throughout, but it's often the darkest of humor, typically involving violence.
Asura reads a little like a mythic tale or a legend about a demon child who has to learn how to become human, a Buddhist parable of sorts. This volume only consists of the first half of the story, so I do not know if the theme of redemption, like that so elegantly told by Osamu Tezuka in his masterful Phoenix: Karma, will play out entirely as expected or if it will be subverted somehow before the end. But either way, I am looking forward to seeing how Asura's story will play out.
4.5
October 30, 2025
খুবই ডার্ক!!!!!
পেটে খিদা থাকলে ভিতরের দানব জেগে ওঠে। শরীর নিস্তেজ হতে থাকলে মানুষ্যত্বও লোপ পায়।
পেটে খিদা থাকলে ভিতরের দানব জেগে ওঠে। শরীর নিস্তেজ হতে থাকলে মানুষ্যত্বও লোপ পায়।
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews