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Shintaro Kago

Shintaro Kago (駕籠真太郎, Kago Shintarō, born 1969) is a Japanese guro manga artist. He debuted in 1988 on the magazine COMIC BOX.

Style

Shintaro Kago's style has been called "fashionable paranoia," although he has stated the term stems from Western media and he doesn't use it himself. He has been published in several adult manga magazines, gaining him considerable popularity. Many of his manga have strongly satirical overtones (heavily influenced by Monty Python), often parodying Japanese and Russian politics. Separately, he deals extensively with grotesque subjects such as extreme sex, rape, scatology and body modification (to the extent of forniphilia).

He has also written non-guro sci-fi manga, most notably Super-Conductive Brains Parataxis (超伝脳パラタクシス) for Weekly Young Jump. Many of his shorts are experimental and bizarre. He frequently breaks the fourth wall, and he likes to play with the page layout in extreme ways, mostly for comedic effect.

When asked about his influences, he's mentioned Shigeru Mizuki, Fujiko Fujio, Masamune Shiro, and Katsuhiro Otomo.

When not working in manga, he sculpts gag figurines of the same themes.

In popular culture

On April 4, 2006, an exhibition of his works, Unsanitary Condition Exhibition (不衛生博覧会) was opened. The same month he held the opening of his movie convention: Shit Film Festival (うんこ映画祭).

From September 3–15, 2007, the Vanilla Gallery in Tokyo held another exhibition of his works, Unsanitary Festival in the Cool of the Night (納涼不衛生まつり). In 2013, Kago Shintaro was invited for a new exhibition outside of Japan titled Unsanitary Hong Kong Exhibition at CIA (Culture Industries Association).

His work has been seen as album material for the 2014 Flying Lotus release You're Dead!, released via Warp. He designed the album's cover artwork and provided illustrations for each of the album's songs, which are featured on the inner sleeves of the vinyl album. In addition, Kago designed the album cover for Offset's Bent Benevolence.

On June 17 2022, Kago announced the development of his first anime, Abstraction, produced by DRP. The animated film will be based on tales from the Bible. To fund the work, Kago held a digital exhibition, Desiccation, for the purpose of selling NFT's of his work. It was followed by another exhibition, Eve of Revolution, showing behind-the-scenes content.

List of works

A Lot of Sweets Jammed in the Head of a Girl (女の子の頭の中はお菓子がいっぱい詰まっています)
- A collection of 96 Pretty Girl watercolor pieces set in Kago's absurdist playland featuring all your favorite scenes depicting over-the-top scenes of depravity, surreal dreamscapes, cannibalism, decapitation and, of course, dark comedy.
Anamorphosis: Hell Beast (アナモルフォシスの冥獣) (seven chapters over one volume) (occurs after the events of Fraction)
- Anamorphosis revolves around a group of people invited to a contest wherein they have to stay in a supposedly haunted set for 48 hours after an evil murderous spirit is summoned to produce a recreation of the murder scene.
- Includes nine bonus stories: Behind, Bishoujo Tantei Tengai Sagiri, Changes, Hikikomori, Previous Life, Rainy Girl, Salesman, Small Present, and Weightlessness
Dementia 21 (ディメンシャ 21) (34 chapters over two volumes)
- Yukie Sakai is a sprightly young home health aide eager to help her elderly clients. But what seems like a straightforward job quickly turns into a series of increasingly surreal and bizarre adventures that put Yukie’s wits to the test!
Fraction (フラクション) (eight chapters over one volume)
- A serial killer known as The Slicing Devil is butchering young women, interspaced by a Kago self-insert explaining comic narrative manipulation.
- Includes a bonus Interview With Shintaro Kago & Ryuichi Kasumi, and four bonus stories: Back From the Front, Collapse, Tremors, and Voracious Itches
Harem End (ハーレムエンド) (eight chapters over one volume)
- Itou Seita was supposed to be an ordinary college student, but suddenly he found himself in an anime-like situation when five girls – alien, little sister, childhood friend, tsundere, and fiancé – showed up in his apartment and decided to start living with him. Is this your typical harem or is there something else going on behind the scenes? A formerly popular but now disgraced and unemployed seiyuu and idol Hirahara Aya gets a generous proposal to voice the lead part, magical girl Killemall, in a mysterious animation company production. But is that company harboring certain secrets? Finally, how do these two stories connect together to lead to a perfect harem ending?
- Includes bonus stories: Pretty Girl Detective Tengai Sagiri (Class Reunion of Death, Murder Train of Terror, and Sacrifice of Terror), Eraser, and Godly Ramen
Panna Cotta (駕籠真太郎) (sequel to A Lot of Sweets Jammed in the Head of a Girl)
- Another collection of 96 Pretty Girl watercolor pieces set in Kago's absurdist playland featuring all your favorite scenes depicting mischievous murder, amusing amputations and of course, heads exploding with candy goodness.
Paranoia Street (パラノイアストリート) (29 chapters over three volumes)
- Paranoia Street‘s story follows the fantastically absurd exploits of a wannabe detective and his female assistant who roam the Japanese countryside looking for work. Each chapter has them arriving at a new town plagued by some bizarre problem.
The Princess of The Never-Ending Castle (無限の城のプリンセス) (11 chapters over one volume)
- The Princess of The Never-Ending Castle takes place in an alternate timeline during the Japanese War for Unification. In true history, warlord Oda Nobunaga was betrayed and assassinated by his closest general, Akechi Mitsuhide. This story explores what would have happened if Nobunaga had defeated Mitsuhide and continued his rule.
Shine! Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere (輝け!大東亜共栄圏) (11 chapters over one volume)
- This early work from Kago is an alternative history of World War 2, in which the fighting nations discover a way to turn women into giant-sized biomechanical weapons (tanks, submarines, etc.) and use them as the primary method of warfare.
Super-Conductive Brains Parataxis (超伝脳パラタクシス) (eight chapters over one volume)
- This manga presents different stories settled in a future world in which biomechanoids of any kind are created for every purpose. All the stories, through different angles and in a somewhat bizarre fashion, explore the same theme: are they mere machines or do they dream of electric sheep?
Tract (five chapters over one volume)
- A surreal and loose story of a world overwhelmed by a destructive strings and wires motif, told without any text.
Ultra Power Mongol Invasion (超動力蒙古大襲来) (12 chapters over one volume)
- For a long time, giants have existed in this world. They were used as tools and played an important role during turning points in history. The key to the secret lies in Mongolia. Discover Kago's peculiar vision of world history!
Aiko, the 16 Year Old Girl (アイコ十六歳)
Atrocious Comedy in Front of the Station (喜劇駅前虐殺)
Black Theater: Grandma Smells Like a Corpse (ブラックシアターおばあちゃんが死体くさいよ)
Correct Perverted Sexual Desires (正しい変態性欲)
Delusions That Jump Out at You: Kago Shintaro's Factorization
Doodlebug vs Girl in Pieces (アリ地獄VSバラバラ少女)
Eccentric People Magazine (奇人画報)
Health Plan (健康の設計)
Industrial Revolution and World War
Manga of Hole, Character, Blood, Etc. Appearances (穴、文字、血液などが現れる漫画)
Notebook of Murder and Killing (殺殺草紙・大江戸奇騒天外)
The Book of Killing and Killing - Thirteen Horrible Sufferings in Great Edo (殺殺草紙・大江戸無残十三苦) (2004, one-shot)
Six Consciousnesses Thought Changing Ataraxia (六識転想アタラクシア)
Sudden Delusion (飛び出す妄想)
Superhuman (人間以上)
Wandering Cartoon Eccentricities in Front of the Station (駅前浪漫奇行)
Specials and Uncollected One-Shots
- The Big Funeral
- Communication
- The Desperate Sadness of a Cross-Section
- Disc
- Drunkard Condo Syndrome
- Erotic Game
- Everything's Peaceful
- Funeral Views
- Ghosts
- Giant Girl Explosion
- Harakiri Girls
- How to Suicide
- An Inquiry Concerning A Mechanistic Worldview of the Pituitary Gland
- Iwa and Izaemon
- Many Times of Joy and Sorrow
- Moshi – Daily Life of the Schoolgirl Zombies
- My Beloved Lady
- The Pleasure of a Slippery Cross-Section
- Pretty Girl Picture Book
- Punctures
- Safety Hit
- Springs
- Supergirl Begins
- White Spectacle