Tuesday, June 26, 2007

ABSTRACTION by Shintaro Kago

I have usually refrained from posting/hosting other people's scanlations, mostly because I'd rather focus on MYSELF (yes, the ego knows no bounds!). Seriously though, it's fairly easy to do a little detective work and find other scanlator groups tackling various genres, with a wide variety of specialties and philosphies. (For folks that dig what we've done in the past, I'd recommend the blog Mangaijin for thoughtful scanlation recommendations and commentary.)

But, this week I've decided to start up a new category of posts (aptly tagged other people's scanlations) to highlight comics that rattled/impressed me or were just simply too strange and interesting to not pass on to you guys. The impetus for this was a 16-page comic I just found when trolling Blog Search for manga gossip, posted on one of those "DUDE, CHECK OUT HOW WEIRD JAPAN IS" forum threads. This one hails from infamous Ero-Guro manga maestro Shintago Kago. Kago's short 'Punctures' is probably his most famous (and least explicit) comic English-speakers know, and was featured in Secret Comics Japan.



I'm gonna keep this short, because ABSTRACTION is a comic you simply have to see to believe. It's distilled surrealism and fourth wall smashing, like Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch meets Animal Man, as filtered through some strange Dali-meets-Scott McCloud formal and experimental impulse. YEAH-- I WAS SCRATCHING MY HEAD TOO. BUT JEEEZ, IS IT GREAT.

Kago caveat: While this strip doesn't include the kind of mutilation/incest/sexual violence junk you might rightfully associate with his manga, this one is definitely NSFW due to some sex/nudity and gore imagery--- on par with a Lynch flick or Un Chien Andalou at worst.

OK, JUST READ THIS THING, AND THANK ME (and Anonymous K, the scanlator who worked on this) LATER!


Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16

(lower-res version hosted on someone's nifty LJ gallery here)

Click HERE for other Shintaro Kago comics on Same Hat!

30 comments:

Joseph Luster said...

Holy shit, that was wild.

Anonymous said...

very very nice.
now, how 'bout more Same Hat original scanlations!

(and the pamphlet..)

Endaso said...

That nets a big freakin 'what'. Reminds me why I love this blog so much.

Brendan said...

That was the best thing I've seen in ages

Anonymous said...

My brain hurts...

ADAM.

Rex Roca said...

This has restored my faith that the internet is indeed useful. Pure brilliance.

K. Thor Jensen said...

Holy mother of God.

Jog said...

That sure was a comic.

Anonymous said...

Pretty sure this was scanalated by the group Caterpillar

C.M.B. said...

That took me on a ride;

myrto said...

Wow, wow, WOW! That's just amazing!!! Love it!

Anonymous said...

oh man thank you for posting this.

also thank you for introducing me to Yamo House Noodles

vivian said...

holy fuck - will definitely have to read that through again.

Anonymous said...

Daaaaaaaaammn.

sh said...

excellent.

Anonymous said...

DARK HORSE has licensed GANTZ!!!!
GANTZ!!!
My favourite Manga will be published by my favourite publisher!
I'm so exited!

Anonymous said...

No, Caterpillar didn't translate this. Some dude from Italy did. It was originally posted on 4chan.

Anonymous said...

i was the one who translated it. I also did 3 more shorts: Genesis, Blow-Up and Oral Cavity Infectious Syndrome. I suggest you check all of them, expecially blow-up. if you cant find them, i'll send you links to download them.

ill iterate said...

amazing.
it's so amazing i want to be a ninja.

Anonymous said...

Its like a scene from my worst nightmare...

Anonymous said...

Hehe my brain works similar to this comic.

Anonymous said...

that was truyly amazing

Anonymous said...

This. is. awsome.

Anonymous said...

ive seen his other work, this is a bit different, im kinda disappointed because i wanted to see the story

Anonymous said...

3 things came to mind at the same time-
1.What the bloody hell was that?
2.That's it, I'll NEVER read manga and take acid.
3.That was weirdly kinda cool.

Anonymous said...

Very nice Job!

Rex Roca said...

I know how old this post is, but I was wondering if anyone knew what Kago collection this was from? I went to TacoChe recently and just grabbed most of the Kago stuff they had, but alas none of them featured his formalist stuff.

Anonymous said...

Thanks to Anonymous K for such a great job on this and thanks to you guys for hosting it on your site :D

Rafiq Raja said...

Awesome.... Gonna lookout to own this comic for sure. A different approach, than anything I have seen so far.

Thanks for sharing, dude.

ÇómícólógÝ

Anonymous said...

man kago aint infamous everyone loves him