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The Crater
Life and death, twists and turns, Tezuka Osamu combines classic heart with the depth and mystery of The Twilight Zone in this beautiful, startling collection.
The Crater is a series of horrorinspired, self-containing short stories that show the depravity of mankind in a way only the “the god of manga” can. Tales range from the world of nymphs and interdimensional adventures, to deadly spiders on planes and depictions of apocalyptic futures. While some stories loosely connect, each story is its own carefully laid experience. Tezuka will chill readers with dark visages of the world counterpointed with his amazing art style that has influenced fans for decades.
The Crater is a series of horrorinspired, self-containing short stories that show the depravity of mankind in a way only the “the god of manga” can. Tales range from the world of nymphs and interdimensional adventures, to deadly spiders on planes and depictions of apocalyptic futures. While some stories loosely connect, each story is its own carefully laid experience. Tezuka will chill readers with dark visages of the world counterpointed with his amazing art style that has influenced fans for decades.
576 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
9 people are currently reading
172 people want to read
About the author
Osamu Tezuka
2,143 books1,292 followersDr. Osamu Tezuka (手塚治虫) was a Japanese manga artist, animator, producer and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. He is often credited as the "Father of Anime", and is often considered the Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney, who served as a major inspiration during his formative years. His prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such titles as "the father of manga" and "the God of Manga."
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
May 12, 2024
“Some might call this original sin.”
These stories were fine; really a mixed bag of decent to bad. I first read Tezuka’s The Book of Human Insects, which I really enjoyed, and I’m a bit disappointed in this collection of short works from him.
I’m also sad to say the e-book I checked out from the library had such bad blur on the words in every panel that just got worse as time went on. I ended up unable to finish this collection in its entirety due to the eye strain of trying to read past a certain point.
I am, however, confident in my rating based on the collection up to that point, which I was about 75% through.
++++++++++++++++++
INDIVIDUAL REVIEWS
++++++++++++++++++
The Bell Rings - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
An ominous ringing bell calls forth trauma for a group of unsuspecting spa visitors.
The poor kitty.
+++
The Man Who Melted - ⭐️⭐️
A professor finds a ghostly studious student in his classroom late at night and makes a shocking discovery in his latest research with liquifying implications.
+++
The Snowman - ⭐️⭐️
”They do say winter mountains call forth spirits…”
Two rival skiers show up for a contest and are chased by a malevolent spirit on the snowy mountain.
We love to see a rival with a conscience.
+++
The Purple Bems - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A visit from an alien race to a remote village doesn’t end as one might expect…
+++
Sacrifice - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Happiness has nothing to do with time. Some people suffer for decades just to seize one moment of happiness.”
A woman about to be sacrificed pleads with God to grant her ten years of life to experience love and family. Her wish is granted… or is it?
This one was saaaaad, bro.
+++
The Two-Headed Snake - ⭐️
Well, erm, that was racially charged. To say the least.
+++
Okuchin’s Strange Experience - ⭐️⭐️
And that one was a little sexist hahaha
+++
Good Fortune - ⭐️⭐️
An interesting concept but not my favorite in terms of execution.
+++
Bag Containing the Future - ⭐️⭐️
“Past, future, your opinion is worthless.”
Why would you change your future when you can steal someone else’s?
+++
Two Dramas - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I can’t see the stars on the other side…
Honestly did not see that twist coming.
+++
The Mask of Tomoe - no rating
Unfinished
These stories were fine; really a mixed bag of decent to bad. I first read Tezuka’s The Book of Human Insects, which I really enjoyed, and I’m a bit disappointed in this collection of short works from him.
I’m also sad to say the e-book I checked out from the library had such bad blur on the words in every panel that just got worse as time went on. I ended up unable to finish this collection in its entirety due to the eye strain of trying to read past a certain point.
I am, however, confident in my rating based on the collection up to that point, which I was about 75% through.
++++++++++++++++++
INDIVIDUAL REVIEWS
++++++++++++++++++
The Bell Rings - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
An ominous ringing bell calls forth trauma for a group of unsuspecting spa visitors.
The poor kitty.
+++
The Man Who Melted - ⭐️⭐️
A professor finds a ghostly studious student in his classroom late at night and makes a shocking discovery in his latest research with liquifying implications.
+++
The Snowman - ⭐️⭐️
”They do say winter mountains call forth spirits…”
Two rival skiers show up for a contest and are chased by a malevolent spirit on the snowy mountain.
We love to see a rival with a conscience.
+++
The Purple Bems - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A visit from an alien race to a remote village doesn’t end as one might expect…
+++
Sacrifice - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Happiness has nothing to do with time. Some people suffer for decades just to seize one moment of happiness.”
A woman about to be sacrificed pleads with God to grant her ten years of life to experience love and family. Her wish is granted… or is it?
This one was saaaaad, bro.
+++
The Two-Headed Snake - ⭐️
Well, erm, that was racially charged. To say the least.
+++
Okuchin’s Strange Experience - ⭐️⭐️
And that one was a little sexist hahaha
+++
Good Fortune - ⭐️⭐️
An interesting concept but not my favorite in terms of execution.
+++
Bag Containing the Future - ⭐️⭐️
“Past, future, your opinion is worthless.”
Why would you change your future when you can steal someone else’s?
+++
Two Dramas - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I can’t see the stars on the other side…
Honestly did not see that twist coming.
+++
The Mask of Tomoe - no rating
Unfinished
September 4, 2023
Tezuka is a mastermind and I worship his genius
July 22, 2022
Another thick collection of old Tezuka stories. Lots of wild stuff here but as with most of these decade-spanning collections, they can be up-and-down at times. Still some fantastic work here and you can never go wrong with some Tezuka weirdness.
August 22, 2021
Cuốn này của Tezuka quá Dark. Trời ơi, manga god hẳn phải có rất nhiều ẩn ý thâm sâu gửi gắm vào những câu chuyện này. Must read.
January 11, 2018
Hình như đọc lần hai rưỡi.
January 8, 2023
In the late 1960s, Osamu Tezuka’s career was facing a crisis. He was still popular, with publishers quite willing to buy more of the kid-friendly material he’d become famous for. But he wasn’t a trend-setter anymore. The new generation of manga creators was into gekiga, more serious and “mature” works reflecting the grittiness of the world around them. As part of exploring new directions in his work, Tezuka was able to persuade the manga magazine Champion to publish a biweekly anthology of weird tales under the title “The Crater.”
Japanese cover; the American one is more subdued.
Like The Twilight Zone, the stories don’t have any direct connection to each other, and vary in tone and subgenre. A boy named “Okuchin” appears in several of the 17 chapters, but they are not in continuity with each other. The name was just a placeholder, but Tezuka decided to have an actual crater in the final story for thematic reasons. In the American reprint, the stories are arranged in a different order than publication.
The opening story, “The Bell Rings,” opens with one proto-human killing another to steal his food. But then something makes him pause and cover the face of his victim before eating. The narrator suggests it is this sense of guilt, the “original sin”, which was the dividing point between the development of humans and other animals.
The story proper begins at a hot springs decorated with tropical plants the owner has imported because they do well in the warm and humid conditions around the springs. Three customers hear the ringing of a bell, which triggers their feelings of guilt. A motorcyclist involved in a hit and run, a veteran who killed an unarmed civilian during the war, and a widow who’d failed to rescue her sick husband during a typhoon. Each death had involved the ringing of a bell. The owner investigates and finds no bells, nor the sound of a bell.
We then switch focus to the owner, who has also imported a python. He enjoys watching it crush and swallow its live prey, getting off on the display. But he hates his wife’s cat. The cat has a bell on its collar. This goes exactly the way you think it will.
The final page twist tells us, but not the characters, what is really going on with the bell ringing. The story has some inspiration from Edgar Allen Poe but is a good variation on the theme.
The final story, “The Man on the Crater” starts in the near future. Astronaut William Frost Wiley is part of the Apollo 19 mission exploring Earth’s moon. He’s exploring the crater Alphonsus, known for sometimes emitting a spume of dust, when there’s an accident that breaks his communicator and traps him where the search that follows cannot find him. The ship leaves without him, and eventually Wiley’s oxygen runs out and he dies.
And then, inexplicably, he regains consciousness for a while. After this happens a couple of times, he realizes that the gas Alphonsus periodically ejects has life-giving properties. He’s sort of immortal now! He figures out how to extricate himself from the crater, but has nowhere to go until one of his conscious periods coincides with a new rocket arriving from Earth.
The men of 2104 initially mistake Wiley for some sort of moon mummy, but even after he establishes that he’s human, have no interest in the implications of his story. They’re there to mine uranium for the atomic war raging on Earth, and that’s it. Wiley returns to the fumarole and watches as he becomes the last human alive.
This one reminds me a lot of Ray Bradbury, especially The Martian Chronicles.
In between are stories involving ghosts, aliens, time travel, and especially fate. Osamu Tezuka himself makes guest appearances as a character, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis has a cameo in one story.
The story that might be most difficult for modern readers is “The Two-Headed Snake”, which takes place in a near future Chicago where the black population has exploded so that they’re at nearly equal numbers with the white people. Mr. Cicero runs a prosperous pharmacy as a front, but is actually the head of the Two-Headed Snake gang, an organized crime mob that doubles as a hate group.
Mr. Cicero grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood where he was bullied and developed a rabid hatred of all black people. He’s a firm believer in replacement conspiracies and thinks his son is being taught (the equivalent of) critical race theory in school. His nemesis is Inspector Bunky of the Chicago Police Department, a black man who strongly suspects Mr. Cicero’s double life but can’t prove it.
Mr. Cicero’s young son Artie learns the horrible truth about his father’s activities and runs away. Distraught, Mr. Cicero uses all his underworld contacts to search for the boy with no results. There is a small chance that turning to the police might help, but is racist hatred stronger than a father’s love?
This one doesn’t have a happy ending, really. What makes it difficult for modern American readers is that at the time, Tezuka was still using American minstrel shows as a basis for how black characters should be drawn. He didn’t mean any insult by it, and was very much anti-racist, but eesh. As an editorial note explains, Tezuka’s art has not been changed to meet modern standards of taste because it would be dishonest.
Bonus story “The Jumbo”, written in 1974, shows him working on getting a better grasp on depictions of black people after finally meeting some and getting feedback. On a jumbo jet flight from Johannesburg to Singapore, a large spider has somehow gotten loose in the cabin. According to the entomologist on board, its bite is deadly. It’s not quite as exciting as Snakes on a Plane, but is entertaining with many good bits.
Content notes: Abuse and death of animals, Various forms of physical abuse, torture, attempted rape, male and female nudity, sexism, racism, death of children, bullying, ableism, some horribly deformed corpses. Older teens should be able to handle this.
There’s a forward by manga scholar Frederick L. Schodt, and an afterword by historian Ada Palmer.
Recommended primary to Tezuka collectors, but fans of The Twilight Zone or similar series should also enjoy this.
Japanese cover; the American one is more subdued.
Like The Twilight Zone, the stories don’t have any direct connection to each other, and vary in tone and subgenre. A boy named “Okuchin” appears in several of the 17 chapters, but they are not in continuity with each other. The name was just a placeholder, but Tezuka decided to have an actual crater in the final story for thematic reasons. In the American reprint, the stories are arranged in a different order than publication.
The opening story, “The Bell Rings,” opens with one proto-human killing another to steal his food. But then something makes him pause and cover the face of his victim before eating. The narrator suggests it is this sense of guilt, the “original sin”, which was the dividing point between the development of humans and other animals.
The story proper begins at a hot springs decorated with tropical plants the owner has imported because they do well in the warm and humid conditions around the springs. Three customers hear the ringing of a bell, which triggers their feelings of guilt. A motorcyclist involved in a hit and run, a veteran who killed an unarmed civilian during the war, and a widow who’d failed to rescue her sick husband during a typhoon. Each death had involved the ringing of a bell. The owner investigates and finds no bells, nor the sound of a bell.
We then switch focus to the owner, who has also imported a python. He enjoys watching it crush and swallow its live prey, getting off on the display. But he hates his wife’s cat. The cat has a bell on its collar. This goes exactly the way you think it will.
The final page twist tells us, but not the characters, what is really going on with the bell ringing. The story has some inspiration from Edgar Allen Poe but is a good variation on the theme.
The final story, “The Man on the Crater” starts in the near future. Astronaut William Frost Wiley is part of the Apollo 19 mission exploring Earth’s moon. He’s exploring the crater Alphonsus, known for sometimes emitting a spume of dust, when there’s an accident that breaks his communicator and traps him where the search that follows cannot find him. The ship leaves without him, and eventually Wiley’s oxygen runs out and he dies.
And then, inexplicably, he regains consciousness for a while. After this happens a couple of times, he realizes that the gas Alphonsus periodically ejects has life-giving properties. He’s sort of immortal now! He figures out how to extricate himself from the crater, but has nowhere to go until one of his conscious periods coincides with a new rocket arriving from Earth.
The men of 2104 initially mistake Wiley for some sort of moon mummy, but even after he establishes that he’s human, have no interest in the implications of his story. They’re there to mine uranium for the atomic war raging on Earth, and that’s it. Wiley returns to the fumarole and watches as he becomes the last human alive.
This one reminds me a lot of Ray Bradbury, especially The Martian Chronicles.
In between are stories involving ghosts, aliens, time travel, and especially fate. Osamu Tezuka himself makes guest appearances as a character, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis has a cameo in one story.
The story that might be most difficult for modern readers is “The Two-Headed Snake”, which takes place in a near future Chicago where the black population has exploded so that they’re at nearly equal numbers with the white people. Mr. Cicero runs a prosperous pharmacy as a front, but is actually the head of the Two-Headed Snake gang, an organized crime mob that doubles as a hate group.
Mr. Cicero grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood where he was bullied and developed a rabid hatred of all black people. He’s a firm believer in replacement conspiracies and thinks his son is being taught (the equivalent of) critical race theory in school. His nemesis is Inspector Bunky of the Chicago Police Department, a black man who strongly suspects Mr. Cicero’s double life but can’t prove it.
Mr. Cicero’s young son Artie learns the horrible truth about his father’s activities and runs away. Distraught, Mr. Cicero uses all his underworld contacts to search for the boy with no results. There is a small chance that turning to the police might help, but is racist hatred stronger than a father’s love?
This one doesn’t have a happy ending, really. What makes it difficult for modern American readers is that at the time, Tezuka was still using American minstrel shows as a basis for how black characters should be drawn. He didn’t mean any insult by it, and was very much anti-racist, but eesh. As an editorial note explains, Tezuka’s art has not been changed to meet modern standards of taste because it would be dishonest.
Bonus story “The Jumbo”, written in 1974, shows him working on getting a better grasp on depictions of black people after finally meeting some and getting feedback. On a jumbo jet flight from Johannesburg to Singapore, a large spider has somehow gotten loose in the cabin. According to the entomologist on board, its bite is deadly. It’s not quite as exciting as Snakes on a Plane, but is entertaining with many good bits.
Content notes: Abuse and death of animals, Various forms of physical abuse, torture, attempted rape, male and female nudity, sexism, racism, death of children, bullying, ableism, some horribly deformed corpses. Older teens should be able to handle this.
There’s a forward by manga scholar Frederick L. Schodt, and an afterword by historian Ada Palmer.
Recommended primary to Tezuka collectors, but fans of The Twilight Zone or similar series should also enjoy this.
September 25, 2022
The Crater is a short story collection with a wide array of genres. This was not what I expected as the back side of the book said it was a horror collection but some of these stories are eerie but nowhere near horror. The stories vary in quality, some are good while others are just okay. There were not any stories that I found bad but there are very forgettable stories. Even though this is the case I still really enjoyed seeing Tezuka's more seinen content. If you enjoy Tezuka's works this will be enjoyable.
May 11, 2023
Tezuka, te quiero mucho, pero como te quiero y te conozco tengo que ser un poco duro contigo a veces. Este precioso (y gordo) tomo lleva dentro una colección de historias con puntos de partida interesantes... y ya está. Los que hemos leído mucho Tezuka sabemos que a veces cuenta historias de aquella manera, pero sabe llevarlas y resolverlas con mucho encanto y consiguiendo puro entretenimiento (Astroboy es un ejemplo perfecto de esto), pero en Cráter su forma de contar las historias es un puro despropósito. Se puede "pasar" la poca sensibilidad con ciertos temas por el hecho de que fueron escritos hace muchos muchos años, pero que todo sean inicios de historias con lecturas profundas que de repente terminan de la forma más absurda en cuestión de una página, llega a cansar, y se ve que Osamu no tenía ni pajolera idea de cómo terminarlas. No ha sido la mejor experiencia pero seguiré siempre a la caza de todo lo que pueda coger salido de las manos del maestro.
February 4, 2024
Una collezione di racconti brevi di Tezuka. Come spesso accade con l’autore nel caso di storie auto-conclusive, si tratta di una sorta di favole morali che toccano vari aspetti del fantastico e del sociale, a volte con elementi comici e grotteschi. Troviamo una predilezione verso i temi cardine di Tezuka come il razzismo, le discriminazioni, il militarismo e il potere, e nella seconda metà del volume troviamo anche l’autore stesso come comparsa dei suoi racconti. La qualità é altalenante, ma mai scarsa, e se a volte la sospensione dell incredulità viene messa alla prova (ma bisogna tenere in mente l’epoca e il pubblico di riferimento) la fantasia dell’autore nell’immaginare scenari e situazioni é ineguagliabile.
September 18, 2021
Bước đầu chập chững vào thế giới rộng lớn của Tezuka tiên sinh.
Hầu hết những truyện ngắn ở đây đều mang một ý tưởng rất thú vị, chẳng hạn như một căn nhà giúp bạn quay về quá khứ, làm lại cuộc ��ời, hay là sự ám ảnh khi ta làm chuyện xấu...
Cách Tezuka vẽ rất đơn giản(style giống Doraemon, không nhiều chi tiết), điểm đặc sắc nằm ở nội dung, rất sáng tạo và không hề sáo rỗng. Ông có những truyện vẽ theo dạng thời cuộc, những truyện mang một vài bài học hay ho, những truyện kì dị.
Cuốn này chốt lại là hay.
Hầu hết những truyện ngắn ở đây đều mang một ý tưởng rất thú vị, chẳng hạn như một căn nhà giúp bạn quay về quá khứ, làm lại cuộc ��ời, hay là sự ám ảnh khi ta làm chuyện xấu...
Cách Tezuka vẽ rất đơn giản(style giống Doraemon, không nhiều chi tiết), điểm đặc sắc nằm ở nội dung, rất sáng tạo và không hề sáo rỗng. Ông có những truyện vẽ theo dạng thời cuộc, những truyện mang một vài bài học hay ho, những truyện kì dị.
Cuốn này chốt lại là hay.
June 8, 2023
As with any Tezuka short story collection (or maybe any Tezuka book period), it's a rollercaoster of highs and lows. Some stories are just ok (the usual morality tales), some stories are too weird to ever forget (everyone has a bag on their ass that represents their future, and two young men try to steal the future of Jackie O), and some are more harmful than helpful (an anti-racism story where Tezuka draws the black people like racist caricatures, unfortunately common in his books). Overall, it's worth a read and I believe it's nearly impossible for post-1960 Tezuka to be boring.
November 28, 2020
Interesante colección de historias cortas de Osamu Tezuka, de diversos géneros: ciencia ficción, intriga, terror...; que comparten como hilo conductor al personaje de Okuchin como personaje principal o secundario.
Tezuka tenia un "Star System" de personajes que utilizaba en diferentes obras, y aquí vemos como un mismo personaje puede interpretar muchos "papeles" diferentes. No me suelen gustar los libros de relatos cortos, pero me lo he pasado bien leyéndolo.
Tezuka tenia un "Star System" de personajes que utilizaba en diferentes obras, y aquí vemos como un mismo personaje puede interpretar muchos "papeles" diferentes. No me suelen gustar los libros de relatos cortos, pero me lo he pasado bien leyéndolo.
July 1, 2020
Menudos relatos, menuda maravilla de la ciencia ficcion y del terror. Uno de los mejores manga que he leído. Si te gustan las paradojas temporales, sci-fi de Philip K Dick y libros como ‘El hombre ilustrado’ DEBES LEER este manga.
Maravilla
Con el final de alguna de las historias me he quedado a cuadros la verdad!
Maravilla
Con el final de alguna de las historias me he quedado a cuadros la verdad!
January 29, 2021
Me han fascinado estos relatos, una maravillosa antología,que sin duda entretiene y de una calidad extraordinaria. Te guste o no la novela gráfica ,estos relatos ,son de una calidad indiscutible y merece la pena , pasearse por ellos
March 9, 2023
This is such a good collection of stories. Some bizarre, some quite fascinating, and others haunting. The deceptive simplicity of the character designs made the sense of scale and framing captivating and gorgeous to look at. Really glad I took a chance on this.
March 31, 2022
Picked it up on a whim, wasn't what I thought, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.
January 5, 2023
hits and misses, hard to ignore the problematic themes (even for the 70s)
favorite was the three invaders
favorite was the three invaders
October 1, 2023
Some of it is dated, all of it is cozy, and The Crater itself is absolutely astoundingly cool.
November 27, 2023
"Man on the Crater" was my favorite. Absolutely amazing short story.
May 19, 2024
This book contains several stories, they are nice to read, I enjoying seeing Tezuka itself as a character in the book
May 6, 2025
Fantastic!
December 24, 2024
Pretty good.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews