What do you think?
Rate this book
Flash Point
Torch Manga-Award winning post-QAnon manga about the brutal fallout of the 2022 assassination of former prime minister of Japan Abe Shinzo, viral posts and social media lynching, conspiracy theories, and how these all come to intersect on a totally normal jobless guy and a high schooler.
248 pages, Paperback
Published October 31, 2024
31 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 23, 2025
PT Aqui acompanhamos Mashiro, uma jovem que, em vez de ir à escola, prefere passar os dias em casa do cunhado a jogar videojogos ou a gravar vídeos parvos para o Instagram — vídeos esses que acabam por ter bastante sucesso e lhe trazem alguma notoriedade.
Confesso que, tendo em conta a sinopse e o potencial das teorias da conspiração presentes no enredo, esperava uma narrativa mais densa e desenvolvida.
Na prática, esta é uma obra bastante simples do ponto de vista narrativo. Apresenta um humor algo parvo, por vezes até ingénuo, muito característico do Japão e que pode soar algo estranho ao público ocidental.
Ainda assim, é uma leitura leve e agradável, mantendo-nos sempre com a sensação de que algo mais radical está prestes a acontecer — o que nunca se concretiza. No fundo, trata-se de uma comédia japonesa sobre uma rapariga popular nas redes sociais que, sem querer, se vê envolvida no assassinato de um ex-primeiro-ministro.
--
EN This story follows Mashiro, a young girl who, instead of going to school, prefers to spend her days at her brother-in-law’s house playing video games or recording silly Instagram videos — which end up becoming quite successful and bring her some notoriety.
I must admit, based on the synopsis and the potential for conspiracy theories in the plot, I was expecting a deeper and more developed narrative.
In reality, the story is quite simple in terms of plot. It features a kind of silly, at times even naive humour — very typical of Japanese comedy — which might come across as odd to Western readers.
Even so, it’s a light and enjoyable read, keeping us in constant anticipation that something more extreme is about to happen — but it never really does. At its core, it’s a Japanese comedy about a girl who becomes popular on social media and ends up unintentionally involved in the assassination of a former prime minister.
Confesso que, tendo em conta a sinopse e o potencial das teorias da conspiração presentes no enredo, esperava uma narrativa mais densa e desenvolvida.
Na prática, esta é uma obra bastante simples do ponto de vista narrativo. Apresenta um humor algo parvo, por vezes até ingénuo, muito característico do Japão e que pode soar algo estranho ao público ocidental.
Ainda assim, é uma leitura leve e agradável, mantendo-nos sempre com a sensação de que algo mais radical está prestes a acontecer — o que nunca se concretiza. No fundo, trata-se de uma comédia japonesa sobre uma rapariga popular nas redes sociais que, sem querer, se vê envolvida no assassinato de um ex-primeiro-ministro.
--
EN This story follows Mashiro, a young girl who, instead of going to school, prefers to spend her days at her brother-in-law’s house playing video games or recording silly Instagram videos — which end up becoming quite successful and bring her some notoriety.
I must admit, based on the synopsis and the potential for conspiracy theories in the plot, I was expecting a deeper and more developed narrative.
In reality, the story is quite simple in terms of plot. It features a kind of silly, at times even naive humour — very typical of Japanese comedy — which might come across as odd to Western readers.
Even so, it’s a light and enjoyable read, keeping us in constant anticipation that something more extreme is about to happen — but it never really does. At its core, it’s a Japanese comedy about a girl who becomes popular on social media and ends up unintentionally involved in the assassination of a former prime minister.
Read
January 11, 2025Really enjoyed reading this manga. Was expecting a more overt almost preachy analysis of social media and its affect on reality but was happy to find a fun yet subdued story focused on the strangeness of it all. That is the heart of Flash Point: its mundane absurdity.
The main family is thrusted into a meaningless conspiracy that they don't truly grasp the scope. The stark contrast between the reality of the family (school, finding work, love, and of course back pain) against the false reality of the political movements (the Flash Point) is amazing especially when the two butt heads. The (relatively) normal lives of the family must go on while society around them is coalescing around a false flag. The two sides of this are not Left vs. Right as it so often is depicted, but it is reality vs. fiction. As serious as misinformation and social unrest is, I am happy a story can discuss these issues without stoking the fire.
It all comes together through its characters and moments. The main family is all great. At the end, I loved when . It is amazing imagery and truly fun.
As an American reader, I am sure many of the details are lost on me. In another way though I loved seeing the way Japanese culture is touched upon in a way I have not seen. And its funny how much of it aligns with American culture.
Excited to see what Imai Arata works on next, but is the interview is anything to go by that sadly may be a while.
The main family is thrusted into a meaningless conspiracy that they don't truly grasp the scope. The stark contrast between the reality of the family (school, finding work, love, and of course back pain) against the false reality of the political movements (the Flash Point) is amazing especially when the two butt heads. The (relatively) normal lives of the family must go on while society around them is coalescing around a false flag. The two sides of this are not Left vs. Right as it so often is depicted, but it is reality vs. fiction. As serious as misinformation and social unrest is, I am happy a story can discuss these issues without stoking the fire.
It all comes together through its characters and moments. The main family is all great. At the end, I loved when . It is amazing imagery and truly fun.
As an American reader, I am sure many of the details are lost on me. In another way though I loved seeing the way Japanese culture is touched upon in a way I have not seen. And its funny how much of it aligns with American culture.
Excited to see what Imai Arata works on next, but is the interview is anything to go by that sadly may be a while.
October 10, 2025
Quando uma jovem adolescente decide passar o verão a baldar-se às aulas e passar os dias em casa do marido da irmã, que está desempregado, mal esperariam mergulhar num universo de conspirações. Diga-se que esta não é uma história de amores proibidos, a jovem e o homem passam os dias a jogar videojogos e a gravar vídeos patetas para as redes sociais. Chegam a ter sorte, com uma coreografia da rapariga que viraliza. Sem fins comerciais, vão recriando a coreografia em vários locais, até mesmo próximo de um comício onde está o ex-primeiro ministro japonês Shinzo Abe. Nesse momento, tornam-se em testemunhas do assassinato deste político.
É aqui que a história se torna bizarra, e interessante. Começam a surgir publicações em redes sociais que apontam para uma relação entre os gestos da coreografia da jovem e o assassinato, que depressa explodem nas mais bizarras teorias da conspiração. Os utilizadores de redes sociais vêem de tudo nos vídeos da jovem, começam a persegui-la, chegam a raptá-la para fazer uma grande manifestação no dia do funeral do político, congregando os mais estranhos grupos e canalizando através da jovem todos os temas de protesto da sociedade japonesa, com teorias bizarras à mistura. Tudo termina de forma rocambolesca e surreal, com um marcante grande balão que representa o rosto do político a salvar a jovem do topo da Dieta japonesa (é spoiler, eu sei, mas tão surreal que merece referência).
Sabemos que da Sendai só nos chegam propostas de mangá interessantes, fora da caixa, incomuns e inesperados. Este mantém a regra. O que parece ser uma pequena história de dramas familiares e adolescência depressa se transforma numa parábola sarcástica sobre redes sociais, paranóia, neuroses sociais e o alastrar de posições extremadas a partir de conteúdos descontextualizados. Ou seja, uma metáfora dura que se aplica bem ao momento cultural e social em que vivemos.
É aqui que a história se torna bizarra, e interessante. Começam a surgir publicações em redes sociais que apontam para uma relação entre os gestos da coreografia da jovem e o assassinato, que depressa explodem nas mais bizarras teorias da conspiração. Os utilizadores de redes sociais vêem de tudo nos vídeos da jovem, começam a persegui-la, chegam a raptá-la para fazer uma grande manifestação no dia do funeral do político, congregando os mais estranhos grupos e canalizando através da jovem todos os temas de protesto da sociedade japonesa, com teorias bizarras à mistura. Tudo termina de forma rocambolesca e surreal, com um marcante grande balão que representa o rosto do político a salvar a jovem do topo da Dieta japonesa (é spoiler, eu sei, mas tão surreal que merece referência).
Sabemos que da Sendai só nos chegam propostas de mangá interessantes, fora da caixa, incomuns e inesperados. Este mantém a regra. O que parece ser uma pequena história de dramas familiares e adolescência depressa se transforma numa parábola sarcástica sobre redes sociais, paranóia, neuroses sociais e o alastrar de posições extremadas a partir de conteúdos descontextualizados. Ou seja, uma metáfora dura que se aplica bem ao momento cultural e social em que vivemos.
January 1, 2025
I bought this as part of a Kickstarter 3-book pack, mainly for the author's well regarded "F" (which I haven't read yet). So, I read "Flash Point" cold and was surprised by the plausible absurdity of its dry satire. It’s a smart book whose events are uncomfortably close to current world stupidity. I look forward to reading F, as well as anything else by Imai Arata
As a bonus, there's a really great interview with the artist. He seems like an insightful and thoughtful guy.
As a bonus, there's a really great interview with the artist. He seems like an insightful and thoughtful guy.
January 26, 2025
Charming comic about the weird disconnect that comes from existing in a world where you know theres a bunch of bad stuff happening around the world, some of it involving you directly and some of it not currently doing so but likely to do so in the future, but also you're just trying to live your life and get a hot dog from the corner store, or whatever. Don't know if it's quite as potent as Arata's previous work F, but still effective and reads as more "mature" somehow.
January 14, 2025
I love Imai Arata's work, but this one just didn't hit for me. I get the themes that it was going for, but some of the silliness of the story made it difficult to feel the gravity of the alternate universe he created here. Not a bad read! Just not as much substance as I was hoping for, especially after loving 'F' so much.
January 4, 2025
I read this directly after reading F by the same author. Satirical and interesting story set around assassination of Prime Minister. It was tough to read to its accurate depiction of internet fame, social media hysteria and insane conspiracy theories.
February 8, 2025
Feels more like an Important Cultural Artifact than a super engaging work of fiction, but it's interesting to read Japanese comics with overt political meaning, especially if you read a lot of American comics which are typically full to bursting with it
August 31, 2025
Very funny manga that purports to be a docu-comic, but as the author says in the end interview, it's all made up. It's in no rush to get to the premise of the story, because it's all fun mood, without any real threats until the end.
"I also suffer from backpain"
"I also suffer from backpain"
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews