By: Hiroki Endo

Heart wrenching and complex, Tanpenshu, Volume one, is the first of two collections of powerful, shorter works by manga master Hiroki Endo (creator of the critically acclaimed, long-running Eden manga series). The three stories in this first volume are mature explorations of humanity's constant, fumbling attempts to find hope and meaning in a confusing, violent world.

A disfigured misfit befriends a doomed yakuza outcast, a group of school kids fail to see the anger that's about to boil over from one of their own, and members of an experimental theatre troupe embark on a project that will test both their friendships and the group's grasp on reality.