Daihakken

This manga deals with the working environment of Japan in 1970 which you should know has only gotten increasingly worse to today. It's slice of life, but a darker look, short character studies on the working class people, and whether the writer intended to or not, a critique of capitalism. Examining how capitalism isolates individuals, which leads to alienation from society and creates anti-social behavior in people. If you wanted to watch a live action version of this I'd suggest watching Mr. Robot as they both hit the same points through different executions.

The ideas aren't new, but in 1970 Japan as the economy was rebuilding and increasing , you had fewer people warning about the drastic affects. Japan still holds a terrible work culture and the same alienation found in this manga can be observed in the modern day Japanese working class.

Horrifically relatable exploration of societal system with deadpan humor attached to it. Will probably be more impactful for mature readers, especially those who found themselves at the bottom of class structure.

Sense of alienation is present from the start till the end, either caused by characters' own limitations or those imposed by the system itself. They are never exploited for the sake of shock factor but eerily humanized. Our hero is you and me, and any person you see out on the street. His appearance is identical in every chapter. Not because of artists' laziness, but because he's supposed to symbolize the mass and offer sense of resemblance and connection for the reader.

No one draws streets and cities like Tatsumi. There is a certain dichotomy at play between characters and environment. Whereas the first are drawn bleak, the latter radiates with details. The way it claustrophobically towers above characters and diminishes their individuality creates a certain dread. Idiosyncratic art style remains questionable for today's standards, but the universal way in which the subject is tackled eliminates any reason to call it anachronistic.

Gritty with little hope on the horizon; not a work that sticks to optimistic and vapid promises such as "it will be better". Consider it a perverse window into the lives of ordinary people depicted by an author who's well aware how asinine that sounds. Who knows, maybe you'll see your own reflection in the windowpane.