Print Review: Old Boy volumes 1-3

Review Old Boy volumes 1-3Written by WarpshadowRating very good

Old Boy is a dark mystery perfect for the adult section of the manga community who wants to remember why it’s okay to keep reading comics beyond the age of eighteen.

He was locked away for no plausible reason by an unknown group. For ten years he lived in a room where the only contact he had was the daily food deliveries and the television that was in his room. Then one day the group that kidnapped him knocked him out and dumped him in a local park. The man who had been locked up for so long that he had forgotten his own name is left to figure out how to put a life back together. Foremost in his thought is the question of who did this to him, why and how to get back at him.

For someone familiar with literary truisms like me Old Boy offers an interesting counterpoint to one of them. The case being that while initial characterization for the main character is almost nil (his name isn’t even revealed until the end of the second volume) this is a strength as opposed to a weakness. The overall tone of the manga is dark and gritty but even in the case of the main character the story is more of a strange sort of detective story rather than a simple story of vengeance, even the vengeance is plentiful when the story allows for it. If you are looking for a manga that doesn’t feel like kiddy stuff and want something that feels more like a gritty mystery movie then Old Boy is right up your alley.