Ode to Kirihito, Part 1

きりひと讃歌 [Kirihito Sanka] #1-2

by Osamu Tezuka

Kirihito Osanai is a young doctor who's just been introduced to the Monmow disease, which transforms humans into dog-like beasts and kills them within a month of the metamorphosis. While studying the pathology of the disease Kirihito himself becomes an unknowing guinea pig for his hospital's research into it. Under the auspices of research, Kirihito is sent to a remote village in the mountains, where he contracts the Monmow disease himself, and through a series of misfortunes, becomes estranged from his beautiful fiancee, Izumi Yoshinaga (the daughter of his hospital's Director and Chief Physician), and his close friend and rival, Urabe. 

As the disease begins to transform Kirihito's body physically, the sudden metamorphisis impacts his character.  Kirihito soon begins to doubt the medical world and after much resistence breaks down to accept his new role as a monster and spiritual figure in the quaint rural village he now lives in.  Whether he is able to come to terms with his new life, however, it is certain that society will see him very differently.  Quickly it becomes certain that Kirihito's life will be continuous strife dictated by the hospital that once employed him and is now looking to attain international acclaim by revealing the secrets (albiet incorrect) of Monmow's Disease.

It quickly becomes the secret mission of Urabe and Yoshinaga to find Kirihito and uncover the conspiracy and mystery behind this medical phenomenon, though Urabe seems to have motives of his own as pertains to the beautiful fiancee. Urabe, however, that is able to link the Monmow disease directly to water that runs from the mountain village where Kirihito is trapped, and the two doctors will independently discover the truth about Monmow.

"Ode to Kirihito is moving, tender and engrossing. Also very, very odd." --Neil Gaiman, author of The Sandman and Anansi Boys

“Tezuka turns his comic book mastery to evil in this terrifying examination of moral decay. Fans of Japanese horror both new and old should not miss this shocking single volume that will completely change Tezuka’s American reputation as the Japanese Walt Disney. Brutal, depraved and savage, Kirihito will leave you panting like a beaten dog-man!” —Andrew D. Arnold, Time comics critic

Genres: Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Fiction, Japanese Literature, Seinen

480 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Dr. 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."

Reviews

[Pablo Mallorquí · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una de las obras más famosas de Tezuka que, además, cuenta con una trama de ciencia ficción que se aproxima a los temas tratados por Wells en La isla del Doctor Moreau. La trama ha envejecido muy bien y trata cuestiones sociales potentes y el dibujo, obviamente, es el de la época. Me ha gustado el retrato de personajes y sus conflictos pero creo que se va demasiado por las ramas y le sobran varias páginas.

[Poonam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can completely comprehend why even Japanese adults read manga - with plot line such as 'Ode to Kirihito'; it is addictive. It is a pity that I do not have Part 2 at hand yet.

The story of 'Ode to Kirihito' begins with a mysterious medical puzzle - a disease called 'Mow Mow', in which man devolves into a dog before dying. Japanese doc Dr. Osmai Kirihito goes down to the dilapidated, ancient village where this disease exists. Only he is unaware how dark events lay is journey, how he would be a victim himself of conspiracy and fate.

His journey has, in fact, just begun.

Books traverses through fascinating different worlds, dark twists and a amazing repertoire of characters. There is an ambitious doctor who would leave no stone upturned to prove himself right or his greed; a best friends whose motives often carry shades of grey, a nymphomaniac, a helpless nun caught in scary quagmire, a ruthless, weird, freak-show owner and several other cogs that show up in the story sometime. The book also has references to racism and also how, in some places, Japanese were regarded as part of fair, Caucasian race.

A very fast-read story, mostly because there are too many surprise turns and you constantly want to know where Dr. Kirihito's story will end.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Medical thriller, from mangaka Tezuka's "darker" period, meaning the themes are richer, but more painful. Great characters, intricate plot, but a warning: there are a few disturbing sexual assault scenes that to me were confusingly included. Why? Is it because this is a medical horror story? A contemplation of the evil of the century? I may need to reread it as question the depictions of women in it.

[Dave Van Rompaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

The name pageturner is invented for these things. A kind of supernatural medical thriller that can only make sense as a mangamaster like Osama Tezuka writes it

[Pablo Rodríguez Pérez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es una fumada de porro gordo, pero me está interesando bastante. He tardado un poco en conectar con la historia, porque tanto el estilo artístico de Tezuka como, en general, su forma de narrar, me hace un poco difícil empatizar con los personajes o al menos entender sus motivaciones. A partir de la segunda mitad me ha gustado bastante más. Eso sí, la trama se me hace un poco dirigida, aunque entiendo que es más rasgo estilístico (un poco siguiendo el rollo absurdo de todo el cómic) que solución perezosa. Merece la pena, a ver que tal el segundo volumen.

[Hv2go · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nog geen boek tegengekomen van Osamu Tezuka dat ik niet met plezier gelezen heb. Beiden delen gelezen. Goede editie. Wel vreemd dat men de Japanse standaard (van achteren naar voren lezen) losgelaten heeft. Goede print.
Verhaal is goed. Ik heb nog geen Engelstalige biografie van Osamu Tezuka kunnen vinden, maar heb wel altijd het gevoel dat hij zijn tijd 'vooruit' was. Hier een protest tegen de hiërarchie binnen de Japanse samenleving en de gevolgen daarvan ? (Starheid, angst om een superieur tegen je in het harnas te krijgen?). Goed bedacht verhaal, weer allerlei verschillende karakters/mensen waarbij hij het goede maar ook het slechtste in de mens laat zien. De innerlijke strijd van de hoofdfiguren, de keuzes die zij moeten maken. 800+ pagina's met een goed verhaal en de gebruikelijke uitstekende tekeningen/artwork van Tezuka. Ken je zijn werk van Astroboy of Princess Knight? Lees dan ook eens zijn serieuzere werk, Kirihito is een goed startpunt.
Waarschuwing: dit is geen kinderverhaal, maar voor een volwassen publiek met niet altijd prettige (vrouw onvriendelijke) scenes. Dit betekent niet dat Tezuka een vrouwenhater was, maar het is onderdeel van het verhaal.

[Hanneke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story, beautiful landscape panels, and really interesting how characters' emotions are expressed. Set in the 60s or 70s. Portrayal of women and sexuality is a puzzle and even offputting for this 21st century reader, but considering the time the book was written these scenes in the book seem more like questions. Is it an attempt to explore unprovoked violence against women? Is it about delving into the simultaneous desire and disgust people who are othered may call up (Kirihito is sexually assaulted several times as well)?

[Olivia Lewis · Rating 1 out of 5]

A disturbing book. I think the genuine misogyny of the book-- women are portrayed largely as crazed seducers or victims of rape, the gratuitous rape and bestiality scenes, and one of the doctors' portrayal as a sympathetic, antihero-type character with occasional bursts of insanity in which he rapes women who seem a little upset but still talk to him afterwards were what really did it in for me. Blegh. I felt sick in the mind and spirit after reading this book

[Carola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great story, very disturbing and dark. But could've been equally great, and disturbing and dark without all the misogyny and rape. Why, why do authors do this. It literally did not add a single thing to the story.

Not entirely sure about the style. It grew on me, I guess.

[Shevek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mayoritariamente considerada una obra menor del dios del manga, Oda a Kirihito narra el viaje de marginación y rechazo que experimenta el doctor Osanai. Tezuka imprime un sentido del ritmo al más puro estilo del Conde de Montecristo a esta travesía, rodeando al protagonista de un puñado de secundarios bien perfilados que sostienen la trama en no pocos instantes. Sin embargo, aunque el contexto implica temas profundos como la despoblación, el racismo, el poder o el rigor científico, su desarrollo resulta algo superficial y caduco. Como es habitual, el dibujo se caracteriza por el trazo simple y caricaturesco, por momentos cuasicómico, del célebre mangaka.

[Esther · Rating 5 out of 5]

Starting strong- the plot is really I retesting and unique!!

[Gideon]

Een eigenaardig verhaal en licht bevreemdend. Wel boeiend.

[Dario Malic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moram priznati da nemam baš iskustva s mangama (do ove čitao sam tek dva naslova Jira Taniguchija) pa mi je teško procijeniti do koje mjere je, za dojam koji je Oda Kirihitu ostavila, zaslužan sam format odnosno značajke mangi, a do koje mjere je zasluga Tezukina, no dojam je u svakom slučaju neočekivano izvrstan. Nevjerojatno je koliki broj tema Tezuka ovdje dotiče, od religije i znanosti preko liječničkog (ne)morala i odgovornosti, pa sve do složenih ljubavnih i prijateljskih odnosa, da ne govorimo o odnosu prema drugačijima, a to su samo neke. Kažem "dotiče" ali on zapravo govori o svim tim temama strašno puno ili nas barem upućuje na promišljanje o istima. Možda je još i fascinantnije što se svo to bavljenje ozbiljnim temama odvija u jednom gotovo frenetičnom ritmu te izuzetno napetoj atmosferi, pa strip na kraju gotovo da možemo okarakterizirati kao akcijski. Iako se pojavljuje nekoliko u potpunosti pozitivnih odnosno negativnih likova, većina ih nosi u sebi i jedne i druge osobine, kako to kod ljudi obično i biva. S njima se lako poistovjetiti, te samim time i vezati za njih, što dodatno izražava emocionalnu komponentu stripa i čini da se s njima smijemo i plačemo i strepimo nad njihovim sudbinama. A one su, još jednom kao u stvarnom svijetu, razne i ne uvijek poštene niti onakve kakve bi htjeli da budu. Sve navedeno, usprkos njegovoj pomalo fantastičnoj priči, čini ovo djelo izrazito ljudskim i stvarnim te donosi iskustvo kakvo se samo poželjeti može. Oda Kirihitu strip je koji se ne smije propustiti.

[Wolfe Tone · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute masterpiece by the master of manga Osamu Tezuka.

The main character is turned into an animal by a mysterious disease, or at least he looks like one. Yet he is more human than most people he meets. He is shunned, persecuted, abused as a freakshow and betrayed by his friends. His life is made into even more of a hell when the woman he loves, the only one that excepts him as he is, is killed. Kirihito's best friend is so plagued by his own psychosis that he commits suicide to prevent himself from raping more women then he already has.

Yet there is not just darkness, there is also light. He finds a friend in another outcast, a crazed sex-adicted young girl. There is also a nun that is turned into an animal as well and who dedicates her life to the suffering of other victims, even though there is no cure, she does not give up.

Osamu Tezuka's motto was: 'All life is sacred'. It shows. In a beautiful way.

[Miss Ryoko · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kind of have mixed feelings about the start of this short series. While I really dislike the artwork, and the storyline certainly wasn't as interesting as I thought it was going to be, there is a great realism happening here that I don't see often in manga. The director and his thirst for glory and his willingness to throw anyone under the bus or quite literally get rid of them is quite telling for the time period on human selfishness and their desire to always win. There is quite a bit of intrigue in this manga, but at the same time, I can't wait for it to end. Perhaps its the daunting length of it leading towards my negative feelings... well that and the awful artwork. So while I don't like the manga, I also don't dislike it. I'm really in the middle on this.

We'll see how the story pans out in the second and final volume

[Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

as part of a political scheme, a hospital director connives to have his young assistant (osani) transformed by a mysterious disease into a scary dog-man. Osani is then treated pretty terribly by everyone, allowing him to explore various christian themes & the nature of humanity and charity.

The art and the funky elements (the human tempura?) keep things moving along. Some things I just didn't get: why is the japanese medical association such a big deal? why is there so much raping going on? and why does rape have so few repercussions?

But all-told I enjoyed it.

[Faris Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of the first mangas I physically bought (as opposed to reading online), and I loved it! The medical facts and realistic rational storyline really puts things in perspective that can relate to the adult as well as young reader, so this applies to all ages. My brother described reading this like "watching a movie". The story is straight to the point, doesn't drag on, and stays interesting through to the end.

[Mohd Rizal · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love this book and i love tezuka...his storytelling and his art are second to none.

[Jim Talbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

First volume of this medical thriller is really great.

[Djuna · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 sterren voor het verhaal, 3 voor de tekenstijl.

[Quentin Zero · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is absolutely wonderful. Great visual experiment, sometimes Tezuka can work on show not tell but overall really nice! Can't wait to read pt 2

[Louis · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best graphic novels I have ever read.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primera edición en castellano, dividida en tres tomos. Ediciónes Otaku Manga Clásicos, "formato de lujo". Pack completo.