Pathway to Japanese Literature
Discover Japan's stories—across time, across language.
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| Original Title | 喧嘩上手 |
|---|---|
| Author | 岸田 国士 |
| Genre | Detective & Mystery |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In the glittering world of 1930s Tokyo cinema, fading star Amagi Sarako’s vanity ignites a scandal when she discovers a grotesque manga caricature of herself in the morning paper. Convinced the drawing—a bulbous-nosed, sharp-jawed mockery labeled with her name—threatens her reputation as Japan’s “beauty queen,” she mobilizes lawyers and wealthy patrons to sue the obscure artist Mido Bibi for defamation. But Bibi, a penniless manga rebel, seizes the feud as his golden ticket: his exhibition floods with crowds gawking at the offending artwork, now displayed beside a donation box for Sarako’s absurd ¥10,000 lawsuit demand. As tabloids sensationalize their clash—Sarako slashing the painting in a diamond-ringed fury, Bibi sketching her anew on Ginza streets—the feud spirals into a media circus. Behind the theatrics, a deeper duel emerges: Sarako’s desperate grip on fading glamour versus Bibi’s anarchic art, each exploiting the other’s notoriety. But when a glittering secret surfaces in the manga’s frame, both discover their quarrel has painted them into corners neither can escape. |
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