The Human Clock is one of the first projects from a new manga blog I'm really enjoying, Wanted: Cheap Manga. Over the next week or so we'll be highlighting two other fan scanlations from that site, which is run by a dude who goes by the name Rizzah. I've talked with him a few times, and the guy knows his stuff and shares a lot of the same interests as we Same Hatters do... please check out his blog!
Before diving into this manga, I recommend you read the profile of Tokunan Seiichiro that was published online as part of the online translation of Manga Zombie (This project was author-sanctioned and translated on Comipress-- the entire book is a MUST-READ for all weirdo manga fans). There they describe The Human Clock the following way:
"When I talk about 'warped manga from a warping mind,' I’m thinking about this kind of incoherent story. 'The Human Clock' is a lot simpler to explain. The hero is Yubi Chizuo again. He’s a student like before, but this time round he's a dropout. He stays in his house, which is a family shop selling watches and clocks. He gazes and gazes at the clocks. Little by little, he turns into a clock. That is the entire story. It reminds me of Kafka’s Metamorphosis."
Based on Rizzah's translator notes and commentary, I'm super curious to track down a copy of this manga and see how Tokunan's story is told in the original Japanese. It's definitely a great accomplishment to make the manga available to English readers; even if the story falters as it gets to its conclusion, it's still an utterly unique piece of work. I'm interested in learning more about Tokunan... perhaps another short story by him will make it into an eventual anthology of outsider art and/or radical manga? (Here's hoping!)
Please enjoy, and leave any comments for Rizzah here!
Click here to check out CHAPTER 1
Click here to check out CHAPTER 2
Click here to check out CHAPTER 3
Click here to check out CHAPTER 4
Click here to check out CHAPTER 5
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