A Cruel God Reigns

A Cruel God Reigns

Cover of A Cruel God Reigns volume 1 as published by Shogakukan
残酷な神が支配する
(Zankokuna Kami ga Shihai Suru)
Manga
Written by Moto Hagio
Published by Shogakukan
Demographic Josei
Magazine Petit Flower
Original run March 19, 1993 – August 20, 2001
Volumes 17

A Cruel God Reigns (Japanese: 残酷な神が支配する Hepburn: Zankokuna Kami ga Shihai Suru, aka. "A Cruel God Rules in Heaven") is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Moto Hagio. The manga was serialized in Shogakukan's josei manga magazine, Petit Flower.[1][2] Moto Hagio was awarded the first Osamu Tezuka Culture Award Excellence prize in 1997 for A Cruel God Reigns.[3]

Plot

The story follows the ordeals Jeremy endures at the hands of his sexually-abusive stepfather, Greg. He does not tell his emotionally unstable mother for fear of destroying her dream of a happy marriage,[4][5] but tampers with the brakes in his stepfather's car, killing his stepfather and accidentally killing his mother too.[6] The stepfather's older son Ian begins to suspect Jeremy of involvement in his father's death, and tries to get him to confess.[7]

Development

Hagio describes her impetus to write the story thusly: "Because of my problems with my parents, I did a lot of reading about psychology and counseling. Among those stories were a lot about stories about sexual abuse. I always had a hard time understanding why other members of the family, particularly the mother, does not step in and help. In order to search for the answer to this question, I started that story. [... ] I had the idea, but it was such a dark, heavy story, it took me 10 years to find a way to put it into manga form. When I started A Cruel God Reigns, I told the editor it would probably last two years, but it took a lot longer; it took nine years [to finish the series]."[8] Hagio found that Julian (Ian) in particular was difficult to characterise.[3] The name comes from Al Alvarez's 1972 book, The Savage God: A Study of Suicide.[3]

Characters

Publication

Shogakukan published the manga's 17 tankōbon volumes between March 19, 1993 and August 20, 2001,[1][2] having decided to bring the series to a close in September 2000.[9] After completing A Cruel God Reigns, Hagio took a year's hiatus from manga.[3] The manga was republished into 10 kanzenban volumes between October 15, 2004 and February 15, 2005.[10][11]

No.Release date ISBN
1 19 March 1993[12]ISBN 4-09-172171-0
2 31 August 1993[12]ISBN 4-09-172172-9
3 19 February 1994[12]ISBN 4-09-172173-7
4 20 October 1994[12]ISBN 4-09-172174-5
5 20 April 1995[12]ISBN 4-09-172175-3
6 20 October 1995[12]ISBN 4-09-172176-1
7 20 April 1996[12]ISBN 4-09-172177-X
8 19 October 1996[12]ISBN 4-09-172178-8
9 20 May 1997[12]ISBN 4-09-172179-6
10 20 September 1997[12]ISBN 4-09-172180-X
11 20 March 1998[12]ISBN 4-09-172241-5
12 20 October 1998[12]ISBN 4-09-172242-3
13 20 April 1999[12]ISBN 4-09-172243-1
14 20 November 1999[12]ISBN 4-09-172244-X
15 20 May 2000[12]ISBN 4-09-172245-8
16 20 January 2001[12]ISBN 4-09-172246-6
17 20 August 2001[12]ISBN 4-09-172247-4

References

  1. 1 2 プチフラワーコミックス - 残酷な神が支配する / 1 [Petit Flower Comics - A Cruel God Reigns 1] (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
  2. 1 2 プチフラワーコミックス - 残酷な神が支配する / 17 [Petit Flower Comics - A Cruel God Reigns 17] (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Thorn, Matt. "The Moto Hagio Interview". The Comics Journal. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
  4. ↑ J. McLelland, Mark (October 12, 2000). Male Homosexuality in Modern Japan. Routledge. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-7007-1300-4.
  5. ↑ Duffield, Patricia (November 2002). "Moto Hagio article". Animerica Extra 5 (12): 1.
  6. ↑ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/convention/2010/moto-hagio-focus-panel
  7. ↑ Aoki, Deb. "Moto Hagio Interview". About.com: Manga. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
  8. ↑ Aoki, Deb. "Moto Hagio Interview". About.com: Manga. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
  9. ↑ http://flowers.shogakukan.co.jp/interviwe/interviwe_04.html
  10. ↑ 小学館文庫 - 残酷な神が支配する / 1 [Shogakukan book - A Cruel God Reigns 1] (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
  11. ↑ 小学館文庫 - 残酷な神が支配する / 10 [Shogakukan book - A Cruel God Reigns 10] (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 小学館：コミック (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved 2009-07-21.

External links

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