Kasutoro Shiki

Kasutoro Shiki is a curated anthology of short works by Kago Shintaro, blending surrealism, dark humor, and radical experiments in comic storytelling. The collection spans wildly diverse premises, from the grotesque to the metaphysical. In one tale, a woman named Yoriko investigates her boyfriend’s infidelity after discovering a bizarre syndrome where women’s mouths physically warp into the shapes of their partners’ anatomy. Other stories explore equally unhinged concepts: an incompetent sumo wrestler relies on a forbidden pair of pants to humiliate his rivals until a challenger emerges; a girl becomes dangerously obsessed with the hidden reverse sides of streets, cars, and animals; and someone steps on something so repulsive they refuse to ever look at it again. Beyond its visceral shock value, the anthology serves as a profound exploration of the manga medium itself. Several stories dismantle the fourth wall entirely, featuring self-aware panels that multiply out of loneliness to build infinite narratives, or action sequences that unfold literally outside the borders in the white space of the page. Kago reimagines the biblical Book of Genesis through his signature lens of delirious irony, offers a surreal homage to author Ryunosuke Akutagawa, and visualizes human memories as floating comic strips trailing behind their owners. Rounding out the collection are absurdist vignettes—including a world where wearing urinary calculi becomes high fashion—resulting in a masterfully unsettling journey through the limitless possibilities of non-linear comics.