Oba Electroplating Factory - Yoshiharu Tsuge

Oba Electroplating Factory by Yoshiharu Tsuge, translated by Ryan Holmberg / ISBN 9781770466791 / 272-page hardback (including a long essay by Holmberg), 6.45 x 8.65 inches, published in 2024 by Drawn & Quarterly *** An alt-manga legend strikes out on his own, creating some of his most revealing and personal works Oba Electroplating Factory is a startlingly bleak but nonetheless captivating portrait of mid-century Japan in its most unglamorous iteration. Glimpses of the artist reflecting upon his life, his work, and his contemporaries pepper the narrative landscape: a wife teases her husband about a former fling on a trip to the hot springs, a young cartoonist is aghast at the cavalier conduct of his supposed betters, and imperfect men must grapple with the discomfort of their own honesty. Tsuge’s stories are studies in staging nature, working to evoke stillness and movement in such a way that renders his chosen setting a character all on its own. Following the breakthrough success