Ochiai Yuusuke

It's still that gloomy atmosphere. "Tanpeshu" is a collection of suspenseful short stories, specializing in exploiting human psychology, from the artist of "The Demon Eel" (or Unagi Oni).

Instead of removing death penalty, exile on a deserted island is established as as punishment for murder. La peine de mort n’existe plus au Japon. La peine ultime qui la remplace est l’exil sur une île coupée de tout. C’est là qu’arrive Ei Mikoshiba après s’être fait intentionnellement condamné. Son but : retrouver l’assassin de sa famille, son ancien ami, Sasaki. L’île-pénitencier se révèle un véritable enfer sur terre, une jungle sans pitié où les prisonniers, livrés à eux- mêmes, ont constitué une société d’une violence inouïe dans laquelle seuls les forts peuvent survivre. Ei semble taillé pour cet environnement hostile, mais réussira-t-il à accomplir sa vengeance ?

The main character is a married man who was in deep debt because of gambling. He had no way of turning over the situation until the boss of a shady loan company gave him a job as a debt collector because of his unusually huge body. Debt collecting was not the only work. Every now and then, he was tasked with other shady odd jobs, such as working as a driver for the prostitutes and transporting shady boxes. One particular work location, the eel farm, gave him the hardest time - not because the work was hard, but because he was scared. The empty and run down street, the groomy employees, the man with deep burn scars and the creepy little girl gave him the warning that this street was unusual. What was in the 60 kg box he transported (corpse?)? What was the little girl doing at mid night in a street like this? Why was the meat in the hot pot store so cheap? Or were all these his imagination? What about the charming young prostitutes who approached him? What about his wife?