Ode to Kirihito by Osamu Tezuka
I don't usually read translated manga, but when it's a HUGE tome like this one or a series like
Buddha and I can pick it up at the Santee library for free, it makes for some nice bedside reading. This story was a foray into the medical horror genre, a popular vehicle in Japanese entertainment, but certainly not my normal faire. I liked it... it was bizarre and disturbing, but I liked it. For a story penned in the 70's, it felt modern enough that I could get into it. The plot? Oh boy...
So there's this endemic "disease" called Monmow's disease, that has broken out in a small Japanese village. The disease contorts the victim's skeletal structure in a manner compared to rickets... the advanced stages of which leaves the person resembling a dog. That's right. A dog. Or ferret. Or fox, for preference. The victim contracts an insatiable craving for raw meat, followed by a complete shutdown of the body (death).
I must warn you, there are scenes of violence and even rape, which are oddly glossed over by Osamu (or possibly the US editor?) and left me perplexed.
That's manga for you, though. Happy endings and righteous conclusions are never guaranteed. ^_^
