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池袋ウエストゲートパーク [Ikebukuro West Gate Park] #1
IWGP: Ikebukuro West Gate Park 1
In Ikebukuro, einem der In-Viertel Tokios, treibt ein Serienmörder sein Unwesen. Seine Opfer sind junge Frauen, seine Methode ist brutal, sein Revier der »West Gate Park« - ein beliebter Treffpunkt der Szene. Auch Makoto und seine Clique verbringen hier ihre Freizeit, flirten mit hübschen Mädchen und messen ihre Kräfte mit anderen Gangs. Das Vertrauen in die Polizei ist begrenzt und so beschließen sie, die Suche nach dem Mörder selbst in die Hand zu nehmen...
210 pages, Paperback
First published September 29, 2004
36 people want to read
About the author
Ira Ishida
151 books31 followersIra Ishida (石田衣良) is a Japanese novelist, actor, and TV commentator.
After graduating from Seikei University, he worked for a number of different advertising production companies and as a freelance copywriter. In 1997, he published his first novel, Ikebukuro West Gate Park, which won the 36th All Yomimono New Mystery Writer's Prize. In 2003, he won the Naoki Prize for 4-Teen.
His novels describe the culture of young people in Japan, particularly young women and otaku without a college education. Many of his works have been adapted for manga and television. As an actor, he made his first appearance in a leading role in the 2006 film Love My Life.
Ishida's pen name, Ishida Ira, was derived by splitting his real family name Ishidaira.
After graduating from Seikei University, he worked for a number of different advertising production companies and as a freelance copywriter. In 1997, he published his first novel, Ikebukuro West Gate Park, which won the 36th All Yomimono New Mystery Writer's Prize. In 2003, he won the Naoki Prize for 4-Teen.
His novels describe the culture of young people in Japan, particularly young women and otaku without a college education. Many of his works have been adapted for manga and television. As an actor, he made his first appearance in a leading role in the 2006 film Love My Life.
Ishida's pen name, Ishida Ira, was derived by splitting his real family name Ishidaira.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 12, 2020
There's a great deal of sex (and even more naked/boob shots) in this one, and implications of child sexual abuse by a parent. The tone shifts rapidly, from very lighthearted in the first half to very dark and gory in the second.
My main takeaway from this is mostly that I know *that* I watched the TV show this is loosely based on, and I know *that* I read these volumes when I bought them, but I really remember nothing about either version except a couple of catchphrases. The back half, especially, is just the kind of edgy I was extremely into a decade ago and change. Despite my lack of memory about it, and despite a few things that made my nose wrinkle, it's still bringing up that nostalgia feeling for me, which is fun. But, it's still a story of its time period and not something I'd necessarily recommend, based on this volume alone, to someone not already familiar with it.
My main takeaway from this is mostly that I know *that* I watched the TV show this is loosely based on, and I know *that* I read these volumes when I bought them, but I really remember nothing about either version except a couple of catchphrases. The back half, especially, is just the kind of edgy I was extremely into a decade ago and change. Despite my lack of memory about it, and despite a few things that made my nose wrinkle, it's still bringing up that nostalgia feeling for me, which is fun. But, it's still a story of its time period and not something I'd necessarily recommend, based on this volume alone, to someone not already familiar with it.
October 1, 2023
I watched the Jdrama of this first and fell in love! I had to practically sell my soul to try and find a copy of the manga since I'm pretty sure it's out of print... at least here in Canada. But the manga was really good. I loved all the characters and the mystery surrounding the murders is interesting.
May 16, 2016
Cast your time machines to about a decade ago, during the US anime/manga explosion (sadly followed by an implosion a bit later). It was during this time that I was in an anime club at college and started buying tons of manga since I got a huge discount at the retail chain I worked at. I got become hooked on the anime Great Teacher Onizuka and started buying the books and other merch from the now defunct company Tokyopop. I haven't really bought much since due to space limitations and the general taste in this product shifting away from what I actually enjoy (not a fan of the Moe genre), but every once in a while I get a wild hair to try a new series, and here we are. I got this book from a sale that Akadot Retail was having, and figured that a book for $2.00 was too good to pass up. I may get more if this experiment goes well, and truthfully I never purchased much from Digital Manga Publishing.
Apparently Ikebukuro West Gate Park is based on a popular 2000 TV series in Japan, I have not seen this series so I cannot comment, but I see that according to Wikipedia the book and show are somewhat different to eachother. It’s funny that I mentioned GTO up there, because this book reminds me a lot of the general tone of GTO. Yeah Fujisawa’s Onizuka stuff is generally written much better, but this book has a balance between gags and drama that I enjoy quite a bit, although the balance is a bit off at the beginning. I would say the first quarter of the book is a bit too light-hearted considering that this is a mystery novel about a potential serial killer and a street gang trying to stop him.
The story follows a guy named Makoto that seems to have all sorts of connections to street gangs and other illicit activities despite seemingly not being a part of said activity. He runs a shop with his mother and has some sort of oddly close Batman/Commisioner Gordon relationship with the local police that has yet to be fuklly explained. He and a few friends meet a couple of girls at a New Year’s Eve party (the overhyped 1999-2000 millennium celebration in particular) and hits it off with a girl named Rika. Ikebukuro is plagued with reports of a serial “strangler” that seems to be attacking girls that go on dates with older guys for money, and this has everyone scared. Some bad stuff happens and it’s all up to Makoto to stop it (to not go into spoiler-land too much).
Not much else to say about volume one, other than I will be seeking out the second book and that this is definitely a mature book so make sure you are okay with that if you give this a shot.
Apparently Ikebukuro West Gate Park is based on a popular 2000 TV series in Japan, I have not seen this series so I cannot comment, but I see that according to Wikipedia the book and show are somewhat different to eachother. It’s funny that I mentioned GTO up there, because this book reminds me a lot of the general tone of GTO. Yeah Fujisawa’s Onizuka stuff is generally written much better, but this book has a balance between gags and drama that I enjoy quite a bit, although the balance is a bit off at the beginning. I would say the first quarter of the book is a bit too light-hearted considering that this is a mystery novel about a potential serial killer and a street gang trying to stop him.
The story follows a guy named Makoto that seems to have all sorts of connections to street gangs and other illicit activities despite seemingly not being a part of said activity. He runs a shop with his mother and has some sort of oddly close Batman/Commisioner Gordon relationship with the local police that has yet to be fuklly explained. He and a few friends meet a couple of girls at a New Year’s Eve party (the overhyped 1999-2000 millennium celebration in particular) and hits it off with a girl named Rika. Ikebukuro is plagued with reports of a serial “strangler” that seems to be attacking girls that go on dates with older guys for money, and this has everyone scared. Some bad stuff happens and it’s all up to Makoto to stop it (to not go into spoiler-land too much).
Not much else to say about volume one, other than I will be seeking out the second book and that this is definitely a mature book so make sure you are okay with that if you give this a shot.
Want to read
March 18, 2019Synopsis: this manga story focuses on 21 year-old Makoto whose new girl friend is found strangled. He recruits The G-Boys to catch the murderer.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews