Domu: A Child's Dream (2nd Ed.)

by Katsuhiro Otomo

Book Overview

Old Cho, a disturbed old man with psychic powers, takes control of an apartment complex and causes the tenants to kill themselves or others, but is finally challenged by Etsuko, a young girl with her... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1569716110
• ISBN13: 9781569716113
• Release Date: August 2001
• Publisher: Dark Horse Manga
• Length: 117 Pages
• Weight: 0.93 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.4" x 9.1"
• Age Range: 16 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 11 and higher

Customer Reviews

A Sci-Fi/Horror Thriller That Would Make A Killer Movie!

I started reading Dark Horse's Akira reprints a few months back, and having enjoyed the first volume, figured I'd take a chance (I generally don't like Manga very much...) and order Domu, seeing as how it was also created by Katsuhiro Otomo.... Well, I managed to get all of 20 pages in before I was totally spellbound. Domu tells the story of an apartment block in Japan that has been plagued by suicides and disappearances. A senile old man, with tremendous psychic powers, has been using the buildings inhabitants as his own personal playthings. (One particularly chilling moment has the oldy about to drop an infant to his death, and thinking "Just like a ripe tomato...") His plans are disrupted, however, by a new arrival: A young girl with the same psychic gift. And soon, the apartment block is turned into their own personal battlefield, as the little girl seeks to ensure no one else falls victim to his depredations. Otomo's story and art compliment each other perfectly- I had to read the book twice in one sitting: Once to actually READ it, another to savor the magnificent hyper-detailed artwork. The plot is like something out of a Stephen King story, and a GREAT Stephen King story at that. This would make an amazing movie. But could the movie possibly be any more heart-pounding than the book...? Naaah!

After (or before or during) Akira, read this

The name "Otomo" is generally associated with either the epic comic Akira or the movie based on the comic. But before he dazzled everyone in the entire world with that masterpiece he did this small (for him, about three hundred pages . . .) comic that manages to nearly equal Akira on several levels. The length gives it a certain tightness and intensity even when the story isn't moving that fast (which is rare) and you hardly notice that as you're reading pages are flying past. The story reads like a sort of prelude to Akira, involving people with psychic powers, especially kids. What makes it different is the setting . . . the story takes place in a large apartment complex that is almost a character in itself, its massive blocky bulk looming over everyone and everything, the spreads of the entire apartment are some of the best comic art I've ever seen. In this rather condensed space an old man with psychic powers is terrorizing everyone for the sheer heck of it . . . he's not so much evil as a senile old man with no sense of right or wrong, he acts purely on demented whim and with his powers he can do just about anything. Until one day a small girl who also happens to have psychic abilities shows up and soon the sparks are flying as the two of them wind up dueling, with the entire apartment as a battleground (you'll never see an elevator the same way again) while the cops try to figure out just what is happening before the entire place explodes. The art is spectacular and easily up to Akira's standards, especially when stuff starts to blow up (which it does often) and Otomo's view of dreary apartment life adds that all important social commentary at the same time. Few comics are as visually and intelluctually gripping as this one and if you have only a passing interest in Akira, or even science fiction in general (it won an international SF award, the Grand Prix) you would do well to pick this up.

Awesome; still one of the scariest novels I've ever read.

Horrific, gripping and suspenseful tale about a gargantuan apartment block plagued by a series of motiveless suicides and murders. The cause? An old man, whiling away his former years by using his psychic abilities to puppeteer the tenants for his own sick amusement. When a little girl with equally powerful psychic abilities begins to interfere with his horrific manipualtions, it marks the beginning of an escalating , life-and-death tug of war struggle between the two, culminating in a spectacular finale, with the tenants as helpless participants. The story's almost Hitchcockian style and the more outlandish aspects are grounded in believable, very human characters (you'll be rooting for the young girl all the way) and the creepily nondescript and unfeeling atmosphere setting of the concrete apartment complex. I love Otomo's incredible artwork, but this is far more than just eye candy; this is a terrifying supernatural thriller set in a recognisably real world, with a foe so amoral and twisted that the outcome of the story is unsure. The underlying themes of the of the two protagonists'potency-one with youth and courage, the other with wiles and wisdom-and the modern setting lend this thriller depth and context, too. Highly, highly recommended.

Great!

Domu is fantastic! Of all the Katsuhiro Otomo books, Domu is my personal favorite. The sheer beauty of the artwork and the genius of the storyline live up to Mr. Otomo's expectations. I loved every bit of it, from beginning to end. I especially loved the disputes. They were as good as the fights in AKIRA, which totally blew me away. I recommend this book only to the unsensitive type, though. It's fairly violent.

Otomo's best work!

Among Katsuhiro Otomo's works, I love Domu best. When I first read this comics, I lived in a Danchi (groups of high-storied apartment), just the same as the background of this comic. Domu well conveys the lonelines and strangeness of a huge Danchi. In a huge Danchi, strange serial murders happen. A primary school girl and her friends find out that the murderer is an old man with psychic power who murders people to get trivials.... The psychic war between the old man with child's dream and children. Domu got Japan SF awards, first as a comic.