A young boy finds himself lost in a public park, which is actually a labyrinth of tall hedgerows with no apparent exit. He knows he must get out, but the other denizens of the park will not give him accurate information. At the head of a bridge he finds a masked soldier; exit is prohibited, the soldier says, in advance of tomorrow’s battle. The boy should go rest in the communal living quarters not far off. The only resident of those quarters is a young girl, who confides in the boy that she has placed bombs in every corner of the maze. The next morning, she is gone, and he is wakened by an explosion. He hears screams, witness panicked crowds. Stripped naked, he tries his best to crawl to safety.
This manga is literally and precisely the nightmare many of us have had about being lost in a crowded maze while wearing no pants. It is a black-and-white tale of subconscious horror. Disorientation is intensified a hundred times by vulnerability, and helplessness in the face of a dangerous unknown. Done with a Chinese calligraphy brush and ink, it is a piece worth keeping as art.
