Ningen Shikkaku

Add to My List

Add to Favorites

Alternative Titles

Japanese: 人間失格

More titles

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 3

Chapters: 24

Status: Finished

Published: May 2, 2017 to Apr 20, 2018

Genre: Drama

Theme: Psychological

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Big Comic Original

Authors: Itou, Junji (Story & Art), Dazai, Osamu (Story)

Statistics

Score: 7.88¹ (scored by 8,744 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #1093²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #886

Members: 20,573

Favorites: 517

Resources

Wikipedia

7.88

Ranked #1093Popularity #886Members 20,573

MangaBig Comic OriginalItou, Junji (Story & Art), Dazai, Osamu (Story)

Add to My List

Volumes: /3

Chapters: /24

Edit
Synopsis

"Mine has been a life of much shame."

"I can't even guess myself what it must be to live the life of a human being."

Plagued by a maddening anxiety, the terrible disconnect between his own concept of happiness and the joy of the rest of the world, Yozo Oba plays the clown in his dissolute life, holding up a mask for those around him as he spirals ever downward, locked arm-in-arm with death.

Osamu Dazai's immortal—and supposedly autobiographical—work of Japanese literature, is perfectly adapted here into a manga by Junji Ito. The imagery wrenches open the text of the novel one line at a time to sublimate Yozo's mental landscape into something even more delicate and grotesque. This is the ultimate in art by Ito, proof that nothing can surpass the terror of the human psyche.

(Source: VIZ Media)

Edit
Background

Ningen Shikkaku was published in English as No Longer Human by VIZ Media as a 3-in-1 omnibus volume on December 17, 2019.

Edit
Related Manga

Adaptation:

Human Lost: Ningen Shikkaku

More characters
Characters

Ooba, Youzou

Main

Tsuneko

Supporting

Madam

Supporting

Yoshiko

Supporting

Takeichi

Supporting

Horiki

Supporting

Horiki, Masao

Supporting

Reviews

Jan 31, 2024

MasterSenpai101

Recommended

The manga's brilliance lies in its unflinching portrayal of the myriad dark facets of human life. It is a raw and visceral journey through the experiences that constitute the more somber sides of humanity. The narrative weaves together themes of despair, alienation, and the search for meaning in a manner that is as haunting as it is captivating.

What makes "No Longer Human" particularly impactful is its relatability. The struggles depicted, though extreme, mirror real-life issues faced by many. This connection to reality provides the story with a grounded and poignant quality. The characters are not just fictional beings but represent the very real emotional battles ...

Open

Gift

Nov 28, 2023

hexashadow13

Mixed Feelings

tl;dr: An adaptation of an incredible story that despite the well-regarded art style doesn’t really work all that well. Read Furuya Usamaru’s adaptation instead.

This manga is an adaptation of a novel by Dazai Osamu by Ito Junji. I have not read the novel, but there have been other manga adaptations and even a partial anime adaptation, of which I’ve read the manga adaptation by Furuya Usamaru, so I’ll basically be doing this review from the context of essentially comparing this adaptation to Furuya’s adaptation.

This manga involves a man named Oba who despite being set up for success simply isn’t able to find his place in ... the world and ends up going from tragedy to tragedy. It’s an immensely depressing story that’s even a bit scary in how it explores the human psyche to show how things can so easily go terribly wrong. But at the same time, it’s not horror, it’s a psychological drama. And that’s the core of why I think this adaptation isn’t very good. This story relies heavily on seeing the world through the eyes of the protagonist, particularly in how he sees others and how his viewpoint affects how he interacts with them. Oba is a complex character that sees the world in a very twisted way and that changes over time, but he isn’t insane. His thought process makes sense but from a broader view it’s clearly screwed up in such a way that will hurt him. Conveying Oba’s viewpoint in such a way that the reader can understand it but can also see the flaws in it is the essence of this story. This adaptation simply isn’t able to do that very well. The way Oba is basically portrayed in this is as a suffering artist type, which is a vast oversimplification. It also doesn’t feel like it fleshes out the people around Oba much at all and thus it’s really hard to see the effect they have on him. Thus, the majority of the manga just feels like it revels in his flaws and mistakes, without really putting proper effort into conveying where they came from. All it really feels like is the story of a character who is suffering, which kind of misses the point I feel.

The manga just in general felt pretty rushed with Oba just going through a steady stream of terrible events without enough build up to them. This adaptation is about as long as Furuya’s but it captures quite a few more events and differs quite a bit, especially in terms of how each end, so that’s part of why it feels rushed. But the other issue is the art. Ito Junji is well regarded for his art and though I’m not much of a fan I can acknowledge that it is quality work. However, it really doesn’t fit in here. Ito uses extreme imagery to try to show Oba’s viewpoint far too often. Oba is seeing ghosts of past mistakes, metaphorical hallucinations, and terrible nightmares far too often. These very rarely add anything to the narrative or make it easier for the reader to understand Oba. Thus, they’re basically just a distraction from what does matter and furthermore affect the tone and atmosphere such that what does matter doesn’t come through as well. I have a suspicion that this adaptation is closer to the novel, wherein Furuya’s adaptation changes things moreso in order to be a modern adaptation, and in concept I think I do like the additional content in this adaptation as well as the ending to this adaptation more so than Furuya’s, but I think the implementation is so bad that it basically just makes me wish that Furuya’s adaptation was longer and managed to capture everything this adaptation did.

Open

Gift

Apr 28, 2022

Swoss

Not Recommended

Funny

If there is anything that you take away from this review, let it be this: never EVER buy Junji Ito hardback manga, let alone his utterly disappointing adaptation of Osamu Dazai's phenomenal 'No Longer Human.'

Unless you enjoy looking at sex scenes every 20 pages or so, there is no reason to actually buy the damn thing. The art is by far one of Ito's least impressive, the story just uses shock value for the sake of drama, the characters are ridiculously boring and you'll soon forget who is who. Instead, read it online. Try to pirate it because that's the only way you'll get ...

Open

Gift

More stacks

Interest Stacks

Manga with English Hardcover Editions

by GoodbyeNosta1gia

46 Entries · 2 Restacks

Manga published in Serbian Part 1

by JanVlovski

48 Entries · 16 Restacks

Manga Based on Classic Literature

by Kaito_17_

11 Entries · 12 Restacks

More recommendations
Recommendations

View All

More news
Recent News

North American Anime & Manga Releases for December

Here are the North American anime & manga releases for December Week 1: December 3 - 9 Anime Releases K-On! (incl. K-On!!, Keikaku!, Live House!, Movie, Ura-On!,...read more

Dec 2, 2019 3:58 PM by Sakana-san | Discuss (2 comments)

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

Poll: Ningen Shikkaku Chapter 9 Discussion GurschachX - Nov 4, 2023	1 replies	by tectacles »» Jan 17, 5:48 AM
Poll: Ningen Shikkaku Chapter 5 Discussion GurschachX - Oct 17, 2023	1 replies	by tectacles »» Jan 16, 6:25 AM
Poll: Ningen Shikkaku Chapter 3 Discussion GurschachX - Oct 15, 2023	1 replies	by tectacles »» Jan 16, 6:08 AM
Poll: Ningen Shikkaku Chapter 2 Discussion Zuclyn - Mar 3, 2023	1 replies	by tectacles »» Jan 16, 5:11 AM
Poll: Ningen Shikkaku Chapter 1 Discussion Leosmileyface - Dec 19, 2019	2 replies	by tectacles »» Jan 16, 5:02 AM

Ningen Shikkaku
No Longer Human
Edit

What would you like to edit?

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Resources

Edit
Synopsis

Edit
Background

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Edit
Related Manga

More characters
Characters

Reviews

Interest Stacks

More recommendations
Recommendations

More news
Recent News

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Ningen ShikkakuNo Longer Human Edit What would you like to edit? SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Resources

EditSynopsis

EditBackground

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

EditRelated Manga

More charactersCharacters

Reviews

Interest Stacks

More recommendations Recommendations

More newsRecent News

More discussionsRecent Forum Discussion

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Ningen Shikkaku
No Longer Human
Edit

What would you like to edit?

Edit
Synopsis

Edit
Background

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Edit
Related Manga

More characters
Characters

More recommendations
Recommendations

More news
Recent News

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion