Japanese literature always moves us between magnetic sensations due to the exoticism of its iron morality combined with an avant-garde that, how could it be otherwise, appears disruptive, strange with respect to those same easily imported stereotypes.
Kotaro's is more towards the avant-garde. And that the noir genre seems to have probed all social spheres to offer us its shadows, or even the last recess of the psychological, reaching unfathomable abysses for any other type of narrative, even the most strident of dirty realism.
Because, after all, it is about that noir that portrays the sordid and the unexpected within "normality" when it is blown up. The matter in Isaka's hands has something of those remote stories of revenge and pending scores that make criminals heroes. Awakening us the confusion of those who see themselves encouraging murder as Machiavellian justice.
Frivolity to a certain extent, inspiration from a dark manga made more extensive prose, notes of that same noir that, after all, invites us to a morbid look around violence and death. Isaka takes out his katana and distributes blows everywhere.
Top recommended novels by Kotaro Isaka
Bullet train
Killing does not have to be an office devoid of grace. In fact, the most cheeky humor can sweeten the matter. And the criminals who perform their trade best can be like the doctor giving you a joke about to stretch out half your liver. The movie had its one with Brad Pitt in front of cast But for the enjoyment of blood and revenge of the most trivial, the book has more substance.
Nanao, known as "the guild's unluckiest assassin", boards a bullet train from Tokyo to Morioka with a simple task: steal a suitcase and get off at the next station. Unbeknownst to him, the deadly hit man duo known as Mandarina and Limón are also looking for the same suitcase, and they aren't the only dangerous passengers on board. Satoshi, "the Prince", a young man barely fourteen years old but with the mind of a ruthless psychopath, will meet Kimura, with whom he has a score to settle.
When the five assassins discover that they are all traveling on the same train, they realize that their missions are more connected than they thought.
three assassins
The Isaka thing has, in its starts, like a classic police point. Afterwards, everything becomes convoluted until suspects and victims can be palming well above any deductive interest. It is not necessary to look for the hidden murderer on duty because almost everyone ends up dying.
But Isaka carries the excesses of violence with Japanese elegance and even reverence. And so, with that assumption of violence, the thing could transform Tarantino into a film director of romantic films...
The life of Suzuki, a young math teacher, takes an unexpected turn when his wife is murdered. From this moment, Suzuki, in search of revenge, will do everything possible to track down the culprits. What he doesn't expect is that three unusual professional assassins cross his path, the best in the trade, and each with his own agenda.
"The Whale", king of dialectic, leads his targets to suicide. "The Cicada" talks too much but his handling of knives is unmatched. The elusive Pusher kills its victims with a gentle push.
Suzuki must face each one of them if he is to find the justice he so desires.
