Heart wrenching and complex, Tanpenshu, Volume one, is the first of two collections of powerful, shorter works by manga master Hiroki Endo (creator of the critically acclaimed, long-running Eden manga series). The three stories in this first volume are mature explorations of humanity's constant, fumbling attempts to find hope and meaning in a confusing, violent world.

A disfigured misfit befriends a doomed yakuza outcast, a group of school kids fail to see the anger that's about to boil over from one of their own, and members of an experimental theatre troupe embark on a project that will test both their friendships and the group's grasp on reality.

• By the creator of Eden, which AnimeOnDvd.com writer Jarred Pine deems, "one of the more riveting and gut-wrenching volumes of manga that I have not only read all year, but quite possibly ever."

• Each volume comes shrink-wrapped and carries an 18+ content advisory.