Akutagawa’s Rashomon and Other Stories: The Manga Edition

The stories in this volume by Ryunosuke Akutagawa — the renowned “father of the Japanese short story” are captured by manga masters mkdeville and Philippe Nicloux in these four action-packed adaptations:

• Rashomon: A houseless servant pits morality against survival in a post-apocalyptic world where thievery and the desecration of the dead are necessary for survival.
• In a Grove: Conflicting statements and competing narratives call into question the notion of objective truth in a searing tale of rape and revenge.
• Otomi’s Virginity: Pride, honor and dignity are at stake when a young servant is confronted by an unexpected aggressor at her employer’s abandoned house.
• The Martyr: A pious Jesuit with a dark secret faces excommunication and death in 16th-century Japan, when Christianity was introduced and then banned by order of the Shogun.