“Monkey Man,” Takuji Ichikawa’s second release from Red Circle Minis, opens with a scene at once familiar and jarring as a new student at a Japanese high school witnesses an act of bullying.
It’s a surreal introduction to Ichikawa’s world: On page one, the 17-year-old narrator, Yuri, watches the would-be victim, Tengo, bolt out of the school gates, roll uninjured across the windshield of a passing car, and wave in apology as he escapes his tormentors.
Monkey Man, by Takuji IchikawaTranslated by Lisa and Daniel Lilley92 pagesRED CIRCLE MINIS