by Kory Cerjak
Title: MW
Author: Osamu Tezuka
Publisher: Vertical
Once again, we’re back with the God of Manga, this time with his 1976 manga published in Big Comic by Shogakukan and it’s called MW. Also, does anyone else think Garai looks like Duke Togo of Golgo 13 fame?
MW is about a 20-something banker named Michio Yuki and a Catholic priest named Garai. Garai has committed two grave sins—shielding a murderer and having a sexual relationship with a man—and he’s conflicted over his responsibilities as a priest and his own moral compass. Garai first became a priest to come to grips with the slaughter he witnessed on a small island near Okinawa. The slaughter was caused by a chemical weapon, named MW, which was designed to kill massive numbers of people in the Vietnam War. And the event was also witnessed by Yuki, who was partially affected by MW, making him unable to feel emotion.
The main conflict, of course, is Garai’s own. He’s a partner to Yuki’s crimes of murder and blackmail because Yuki comes to confess his sins to Garai after every time. This is a beautiful conflict where Garai, in a forbidden and often unwilling relationship with Yuki, Continue reading Contrasts studied in Tezuka’s “MW”