Mine has been a life of much shame.
I can't even guess myself what it must be to live the life of a human being.
Plagued by a maddening anxiety, the terrible disconnect between his own concept of happiness and the joy of the rest of the world, Yozo Oba plays the clown in his dissolute life, holding up a mask for those around him as he spirals ever downward, locked arm-in-arm with death.
Osamu Dazai's immortal -- and supposedly autobiographical -- work of Japanese literature, is perfectly adapted here into a manga by Junji Ito. The imagery wrenches open the text of the novel one line at a time to sublimate Yozo's mental landscape into something even more delicate and grotesque. This is the ultimate in art by Ito, proof that nothing can surpass the terror of the human psyche.
ContentsChain No. 1: Yozo ObaChain No. 2: ClownChain No. 3: The Human FemaleChain No. 4: Good for NothingChain No. 5: OutcastChain No. 6: TsunekoChain No. 7: ParadiseChain No. 8: Cold SweatChain No. 9: ToadChain No. 10: Chance MeetingChain No. 11: An Unexpected VisitorChain No. 12: Fleeting GloryChain No. 13: TragicomicChain No. 14: Aspects of Human BehaviorChain No. 15: The Deepest HellChain No. 16: SpellboundChain No. 17: HirokoChain No. 18: Heaven and HellChain No. 19: DoubtChain No. 20: ObsessionChain No. 21: No Longer HumanChain No. 22: Real NameChain No. 23: ComedyChain No. 24: Everything PassesNote: The digital edition (12/17/2019) for this volume was released before the print edition.
— Description from Comic Vine community (comicvine.gamespot.com).
