Sanctuary

Written by Sho Fumimura and drawn by Ryoichi Ikegami, Sanctuary opens with two boys escaping Pol Pot's Cambodia and making a pact: only one of them will live in the open, the other will rule from the underworld, and together they will drag a complacent Japan into the future. One becomes a young politician, the other a yakuza boss. The book is a cold political thriller about power, conviction, and the idea that a country grown soft needs ruthless men to wake it up. Ikegami's art is glossy and theatrical, all sharp suits and stares. The politics are blunt and dated, but the ambition is real.