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Fantagraphics Adds Inio Asano's Nijigahara Holograph

North American publisher Fantagraphics Books announced on Tuesday that it will release Inio Asano's manga Nijigahara Holograph. Unlike Asano's other works such as Solanin and What a wonderful world! that Viz Media has published, this story is a horror story:

Even as butterflies ominously proliferate in town, the rumor of a mysterious creature lurking in the tunnel behind the school spreads among the children. When the body of Arié Kimura's mother is found by this tunnel's entrance, next to apparently human traces, the legend seems to be confirmed. Is the end of the world coming? In order to appease the wrath of the beast, the children decide to offer it a sacrifice: The unfortunate Arié, whom they believe to be the cause of the curse, is shoved into a well that leads to the Nijigahara tunnel — an act that in turns pushes Komatsuzaki, the budding thug who has carried a torch for Arié for a while already, entirely over the edge.

But this is only the beginning of the complex, challenging, obliquely told Nijigahara Holograph, which takes place in two separate timelines and involves the suicidal Suzuki; Higure, his stalkerish would-be girlfriend; and their teacher Miss Sakaki, whose heavily bandaged face remains a mystery; and many more — brothers, sisters, parents, co-workers, teach- ers, aggressors and victims who are all inextricably linked to one another and all will eventually — ten years later — have to live with what they've done or suffered through.

Fantagraphics will release the manga in one 200-page hardcover volume translated by Matt Thorn ( A Drunken Dream and Other Stories, Wandering Son). ANN columnist Shaenon K. Garrity covered this manga last month.

Thanks to Vito Plahuta for the news tip.

Source: Comic Book Resources' Robot 6