Photo of hand holding the manga. Cover art features the title and the creator credits in both English and Japanese. "Crying Freeman. Kazuo Kioke / Ryoichi Ikegami."
The majority of the cover is taken up with a full color painting of a bust of a classically beautiful young man. He is shirtless and staring directly at the reader. His black hair is tousled and blends with the darkness behind him. In his mouth, he bites on the blade of a dagger, holding it with his teeth like a pirate. His perfect lips rest against the metal, his expression stoic and fierce. His Triad gang tattoo of a giant dragon across his chest peeks into frame, demonstrating his powerful connections in the criminal underworld. Yet his eyes weep silent tears down his face... the unmistakable sign of his pain.
(Yes. The manga is exactly that over the top.)
There's a "Explicit Content. Parental Advisory. Explicit Content." sticker on the front of the book.
![Photo of a full page interior of the manga. It's the same young man as from the cover, but in black and white.
In this image, we see his entire body. He stands proudly with rippling muscles. The only thing hiding the most intimate parts of his giant dragon tattoo are a pair of tighty-whitey underwear.
The artist's intent is to wow us with this most perfect specimen. He is about to have sex with the woman he loves for the very first time. After that, he will be compelled by his brainwashing to kill her. The darkness of the night surrounds him, but though the future is terrible, he will take strength from the few fleeting joyful moments he has left with her.
[SPOILER:: He is too kick-ass and awesome-sauce to be forced to kill his new girlfriend/wife, so she doesn't die. They do get laid, but he does have to fight people naked afterwards. He's too cool for pants.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:kbjhizbkrgmbxmqin7befmrt/bafkreigo53kuvkemu3jkokioe4thgyexq2i5vy3cg6jiznybeht3ipasmy)
Photo of a full page interior of the manga. It's the same young man as from the cover, but in black and white.
In this image, we see his entire body. He stands proudly with rippling muscles. The only thing hiding the most intimate parts of his giant dragon tattoo are a pair of tighty-whitey underwear.
The artist's intent is to wow us with this most perfect specimen. He is about to have sex with the woman he loves for the very first time. After that, he will be compelled by his brainwashing to kill her. The darkness of the night surrounds him, but though the future is terrible, he will take strength from the few fleeting joyful moments he has left with her.
[SPOILER:: He is too kick-ass and awesome-sauce to be forced to kill his new girlfriend/wife, so she doesn't die. They do get laid, but he does have to fight people naked afterwards. He's too cool for pants.]
ULTRA CHEESY! The perfect artist man is brainwashed by the Triads to perform super-human assassinations on command! He kicks butt, he takes names, and he *weeps* with his whole, pure soul every time he kills because he just wants to be free! Also, he gets naked a lot.
#books #manga #CryingFreeman
