HANGING BALLOONS BY JUNJI ITO: COMPLETE!

Hanging Balloons by Junji Ito is now completely posted on the Same Hat Tumblr! Many thanks again to Dave & Michael for sharing their fan translation with everyone!


Enjoy this madness, one of my favorite "short stories" by the dude! For your reading enjoyment, here are links to each of the 59 pages (thanks to ----comix):

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59

HANGING BALLOONS BY JUNJI ITO

I just got back from a quick trip to Texas to visit my mom and aunts/cousins for the holiday. I'm working on some final posts of the year, after a pitiful lack of any posts on Same Hat in December! GUHHHH. SORRY GUYS!

I do have some exciting news about a posting experiment of sorts! Thanks to the generosity of Michael & Dave, I’m serializing their skillful and impressive fan translation of HANGING BALLOONS by Junji Ito over on the Same Hat TUMBLR. I've been posting 5 pages a day, and you can start at the beginning and read them in reverse order (if you aren't already)!



Hanging Balloons is a longer standalone story that would have been part of the Museum of Terror series had it not been killed off by Dark Horse after volume three. We're up to page 34 already, and shit is about to go down that will haunt your dreams! The entire story should be complete by Monday, January 3 if my mental math is on point.

GO CHECK IT OUT! (and subscribe to the Same Hat Tumblr if you like things that are awesome).

DANCE! KREMLIN PALACE! by SHINTARO KAGO (CHAPTER 8)

Break out the vodka and tarragon pickles, my friends. Courtesy of our friends Rizzah and Anonymous K, the eighth chapter of from Dance! Kremlin Palace! by Shintaro Kago has arrived over at Wanted: Cheap Manga.



This chapter brings us closer to the end of the Dance! Kremlin Palace. We start the chapter at Soviet Land, a theme park extolling all thing communist and segue to Kago's first real attempt to tie the book back to the Japanese Communist Party. Not sure that it matters to even mention when reading a satire like this, but the folks of the Japanese Communist Party are close to my heart... I had a high ranking city council member and local communist party leader as a host dad (true story). I am down with Kago's skewering of the retarded, American-backed "Chrysanthemum & Sword" militia (best/worst name ever!) at the end of this chapter.

As Rizzah describes Chapter Eight,

Well worth the wait, we bring you chapter 8 of the endlessly unpredictable DANCE KREMLIN PALACE!!!!!! I, for one, have been starving for some good Kago insanity, and this new chapter does not dissapoint. Power Ranger clones, Cheburashka, and man-rape all gush from Kago’s overwhelmingly demented mind.

Click to download Chapter 8 from Wanted: Cheap Manga!


ENJOY!

DANCE! KREMLIN PALACE! by SHINTARO KAGO (CHAPTER 7)

Good news for you Soviet-loving manga freaks - my friend Rizzah (with illustrious cohort, Anonymous K!) has delivered another chapter from Dance! Kremlin Palace! by Shintaro Kago over at Wanted: Cheap Manga.



I enjoyed this latest chapter quite a bit. As the Soviet regime launches a 5-year plan to vitalize the nation, Kago ponders how Siberia's tundra is the source of this boom. Of course once they depend on an export, Stalin's scientists have to resort to extreme methods to keep up production of this rare but renewable resource. Killer stuff!

As Rizzah describes Chapter Seven,

This chapter is all about the freezing exports of Siberia. Freezing fish, freezing produce, freezing fear… you know, freezing. Obviously, it takes the usual Kago descent path into madness.

Click to download Chapter 7 from Wanted: Cheap Manga!


ENJOY!

THE COLLECTION by Shintaro Kago

We've been sorta overrun with Kagomania here the past week, haven't we? But I assume that nobody really minds, right? Today, we received another great gift from the manga-duo of Rizzah & Anonymous K over at Wanted: Cheap Manga - a new and utterly gruesome short scanlation of The Collection by Shintaro Kago.



This one is old style Kago, with a simple conceit and pretty realistic and grisly gore, like The Savage Mouth by Sakyo Komatsu or Chuck Palahniuk's Guts. As Rizzah explains it,

The Collection is a fucked-up story of one girl’s obsession with a dude. She collects everything he touches… EVERYTHING. Very NSFW, NSIFOYGF, and NSIFOYMAD (try to figure out those last two!).

Click here to download The Collection, then go over and leave comment on Wanted: Cheap Manga.

DANCE! KREMLIN PALACE! by SHINTARO KAGO (CHAPTER 6)

Fear not, Kago fanatics! After a long and deserved break, our buddy Rizzah over at Wanted: Cheap Manga has blessed us by posting the latest chapter of his scanlation collaboration with Anonymous K -- Dance! Kremlin Palace! by Shintaro Kago.



This chapter just may rank as my least favorite to date, but still... it's hard to complain. New Shintaro Kago in English is always a very, very good thing. This chapter takes a very specific premise as its jumping off point-- Namely, that all the stress of 1960s Cold War tension was a ploy to turn on and get off Khrushchev's masochistic, alopecia-loving mistress...

As Rizzah describes chapter six,

I’m happy to release the next chapter of our ongoing Russian soap opera, Dance Kremlin Palace. This chapter focuses on the harmful (or pleasant) side effects of stress brought on by the cold war. Poor Khrushchev… The things one man does for love.

Click to download Chapter 6 from Wanted: Cheap Manga!


ENJOY!

DANCE! KREMLIN PALACE! by SHINTARO KAGO (CHAPTER 5)

After a short but needed hiatus, our friend Rizzah over at Wanted: Cheap Manga has just posted the latest chapter of Dance! Kremlin Palace! by Shintaro Kago.



This time around it's SPREADS, SPREADS, SPREADS. This chaper focuses on grisly and fanciful visions of the fall of the USSR, and features seven amazing (but gnarly) two-page spreads to tell the tale. I don't think it's just because I often have him on the brain, but I definitely feel a heavy homage here to Suehiro Maruo's infamous Planet of the Jap, especially in the final page.

As Rizzah describes this chapter,

The newest chapter of DKP is an apocalyptic future prediction for Kago’s surreal USSR. As usual, he takes stereotypes to the extreme, causing the utter collapse of the country. Some pretty brutal images (see above), so don’t read this at work (save it ’till your mom walks in the room!).

Click to download Chapter 5 from Wanted: Cheap Manga!


ENJOY!

DANCE! KREMLIN PALACE! by SHINTARO KAGO (CHAPTER 4)

Wanted: Cheap Manga has just posted the latest chapter of Shintaro Kago's academic tome on the history of the Soviet Union(?)-- Dance! Kremlin Palace!



Cyborg warriors from every era of post-WWII Soviet rule battle for supremacy is this ridiculous chapter. Chapter 4 also includes what may be the first depiction of Boris Yeltsin in a manga, along with Khrushchev getting butt-fucked by Castro. As Rizzah describes this chapter,

Gorbachev is the main character, lovingly referred to as Gorbie. This chapter is about the concept of Glasnost, which if anyone else went through the American school system, you’re probably as ignorant as I am. Check out this Wikipedia article to get some background (not that it really matters. Kago makes Glasnost a super power).

Click to download Chapter 4 from Wanted: Cheap Manga!


ENJOY!

DANCE! KREMLIN PALACE! by SHINTARO KAGO (CHAPTER 3)

Wanted: Cheap Manga has just posted the latest chapter of Shintaro Kago's Russian bonanza, Dance! Kremlin Palace!



Featuring assassination plots and de-limbed, nude Russian girls as proletariat farming devices, this one was not quite my favorite, but still definitely worth checking out! As Rizzah describes this chapter,

Stalin is the hero in our newest installment. Not yet endowed with supernatural purging powers, Stalin shows off his bad-ass martial arts skills in protecting the values of communist farming! Totally NSFW, and maybe the most extreme chapter yet.

Click to download Chapter 3 from Wanted: Cheap Manga!


ENJOY!

DANCE! KREMLIN PALACE! by SHINTARO KAGO (CHAPTER 2)

Wanted: Cheap Manga has just posted the second chapter of their serialized scanlation of Shintaro Kago's Russian musings, Dance! Kremlin Palace!



As Rizzah describes this chapter,

The most recent chapter of DKP finds our multi-cultural Kago taking on the theme of Russian expansion. Of course, he takes it to the most logical conclusion, weird pump sex, JoJo-like stand summonings, Russian-Japanese aggression, and lots of bloated corpses. A very satisfying chapter with a little something for everyone (except for your boss. Yes, this is NSFW again. I know, right?).

Click to download Chapter 2 from Wanted: Cheap Manga!


ENJOY!

DANCE! KREMLIN PALACE! by SHINTARO KAGO (CHAPTER 1)

Over at Wanted: Cheap Manga, Rizzah has now posted the first chapter of Shintaro Kago's Dance! Kremlin Palace!, which he began serializing last week.



The theme this week is Russian roulette. It's a minor premise, but what do you think Mr. Kago does with it? HINT: Think wartime aggression, headshot tournaments and 6-breasted women.

Click to download Chapter 1 from Wanted: Cheap Manga!


ENJOY!

DANCE! KREMLIN PALACE! by SHINTARO KAGO (PROLOGUE)

It's that time again... Time for a new Shintaro Kago manga! This time out, the Kago action is being brought to you by Rizzah at Wanted: Cheap Manga (who also did last week's The Human Clock as well).


Dance! Kremlin Palace! by Shintaro Kago

This latest Shintaro Kago comic is actually a joint project by Rizzah and our good friend Anonymous K. This time those two dudes are tackling an entire book, which they plan to serialize on Wanted: Cheap Manga. Based on the scope of this scanlation, I won't be hosting any files this time, but I'm going to post a notice here each time a new chapter goes up so you guys can go check them out. I've had the pleasure of reading this prologue and first three chapters so far, and it's a very goofy and different kind of story from Kago.



Dance! Kremlin Palace! is, in my mind, another example of Kago taking a smallish kernel of an idea and probing it, rotating it around in his dirty, twisted mind and then expanding it out (conceptually and visually) as fucking far as his brain and hands can take it. In this case, the idea is Soviet Russia (and Marxism/Leninism, by extension) instead of comic strip formalism, and the results are more political and have clearer narrative themes.

That said, we are talking about Shintaro Kago here, and you'll be treated to a mix of NSFW gore, sex and nudity. It's weird and interesting to see Kago tackle a specific aesthetic and theme so strictly, and I really dug some of the jokes and imagery; however, it has to be said that some of the criticisms of communism can be a little broad and slapdash. I can't wait to hear what people think.

(I must note that This Prologue will feel very familiar for anyone that has read Kurt Vonnegut's short story Harrison Bergeron, to which it owes a funny debt.)


Click to download the Prologue from Wanted: Cheap Manga.

Thanks again to Rizzah and Anonymous K for bringing us this new work. Definitely please keep the Same Hat crew abreast of your next updates!

THE HUMAN CLOCK by Tokunan Seiichiro

It's been a while since I blogged any new scanlations I've been reading, and wanted to share The Human Clock, a radical story from the 1960s by Tokunan Seiichiro. You guys are in for a trip, both visually and narratively.



The Human Clock is one of the first projects from a new manga blog I'm really enjoying, Wanted: Cheap Manga. Over the next week or so we'll be highlighting two other fan scanlations from that site, which is run by a dude who goes by the name Rizzah. I've talked with him a few times, and the guy knows his stuff and shares a lot of the same interests as we Same Hatters do... please check out his blog!

Before diving into this manga, I recommend you read the profile of Tokunan Seiichiro that was published online as part of the online translation of Manga Zombie (This project was author-sanctioned and translated on Comipress-- the entire book is a MUST-READ for all weirdo manga fans). There they describe The Human Clock the following way:

"When I talk about 'warped manga from a warping mind,' I’m thinking about this kind of incoherent story. 'The Human Clock' is a lot simpler to explain. The hero is Yubi Chizuo again. He’s a student like before, but this time round he's a dropout. He stays in his house, which is a family shop selling watches and clocks. He gazes and gazes at the clocks. Little by little, he turns into a clock. That is the entire story. It reminds me of Kafka’s Metamorphosis."

Based on Rizzah's translator notes and commentary, I'm super curious to track down a copy of this manga and see how Tokunan's story is told in the original Japanese. It's definitely a great accomplishment to make the manga available to English readers; even if the story falters as it gets to its conclusion, it's still an utterly unique piece of work. I'm interested in learning more about Tokunan... perhaps another short story by him will make it into an eventual anthology of outsider art and/or radical manga? (Here's hoping!)

Please enjoy, and leave any comments for Rizzah here!

Click here to check out CHAPTER 1


Click here to check out CHAPTER 2


Click here to check out CHAPTER 3


Click here to check out CHAPTER 4


Click here to check out CHAPTER 5

DRUNKARD CONDO SYNDROME by Shintaro Kago

As promised, we're happy to host and present the newest Shintaro Kago scanlation from our extremely productive friend, Anonymous K.



Anonymous K informs me that this is the last strip from this book of surrealist experimentalism he'll have for us. BUT! He is working on a new swatch of comics from a different Kago book.

With regard to its ambition and story, Drunkard Condo Syndrome is a slightly different beast; It takes a small and corny concept to it's logical conclusion (and horrifically beyond), but is less concerned with the limitations of formal comic storytelling than previous comics. This time, the core conceit is a drunken salaryman coming home to the wrong apartment, in one of those massive apartment complexes straight out of Otomo's Domu.



This comic is slightly more NSFW than previous Kago strips, but nothing too beyond the pale. Well, some of it is beyond the pale, but it's Shintaro Kago we're talking about! Don't say you weren't warned.

As usual, leave feedback/scorn/praise in the comments!


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LABYRINTH by Shintaro Kago

Here's hoping everyone had a good solstice/christmas/holiday/whathaveyou. I've just gotten back from a week of visiting family, and am now working on a bunch of new posts for the long New Year's weekend (including a 2007 mega-retrospective)!

As a belated gift, here's the newest Shintaro Kago scanlation from our buddy Anonymous K. Dude's using his holiday break to crank out even more Kago comics to share with us. (I guess that makes him the ero-guro Santa?)

As with the previous Kago strips, Anonymous K did all the scanning/translation/editing on these, and we're simply sharing the wealth.



The rub this time is mazes and visual illusions and jokes, so we've kept the pages pretty large. As with before, Labyrinth is not graphic or gratuitous, but nudity/sexual imagery permeates throughout and make it NSFW.

Enjoy! and leave feedback for Anonymous K in the comments... I know he appreciates it!


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Once you're done, read this: Translator's Note

THE MEMORIES OF OTHERS by Shintaro Kago

One more for the books... Anonymous K has sent us what might be his best Shintaro Kago scanlation yet. The Memories of Others includes some of the craziest and detailed layouts (and storytelling devices) we've seen. And it has to be said, Anonymous K has some serious translation and production skills.



Like Multiplication, Abstraction and Blow-Up, TMOO is experimental and deconstructs the paneled page, but here Kago mixes in more narrative oomph and pathos than with the previous three.

Per usual, this comic is mind-bending, fucked up, and NSFW for sexual situations and some nudity.

ENJOY! (and read pages from right-to-left, as usual)


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MULTIPLICATION by Shintaro Kago

Here is the third and final comic in series we're hosting by Shintaro Kago. Like Abstraction and Blow-Up before it, Multiplication dissects, digests and smears the constraints of sequential art across the walls.



Once again, this beast was translated and lettered by our new friend, Anonymous K. And like the others in this trilogy of comics theory meets DMT freakout, it's NSFW for sexual situations and some nudity.

You just gotta see it to believe it. This is the kind of experimental shit that keeps Scott McCloud up at night!
ENJOY! (and read pages from right-to-left, as usual)


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BLOW-UP by Shintaro Kago

Sorry for the latest posting drought. I blame... the climate crisis? Actually, I'm just a lazy sod with a job that's been keeping me insanely busy. New posts soon, with a huge batch of reviews, scans from Junji Ito's newest collection (a bootleg Chinese copy, but still...) and other goodies.

Meanwhile, let me present another outstanding scanlation from the one-man Italian powerhouse, Anonymous K. We've been emailing over the past few weeks, and he's given us permission to post more of his Shintaro Kago scanlations. To note, he did all the scanning/translation/editing on these, and we're simply sharing the wealth.



Like ABSTRACTION, Kago gives us more formalist musings and sex comedy in BLOW-UP. Be warned, right under the surface is another mindfuck grenade waiting to blow up in your face. As with before, it's not singularly graphic, but nudity/sexual imagery permeates throughout and make this very NSFW.

This is another you just have to see to believe. Enjoy, and leave feedback/praise for Anonymous K in the comments!


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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!


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

Click HERE for other Shintaro Kago comics on Same Hat!