Plastic Girl / プラスチックガール

by Usamaru Furuya, 古屋兎丸

"My eyes were covered by Daddy so I wouldn't know the way. My mouth was gagged and my ears were plugged by Mommy so I would hear and speak no evil. Daddy forbade me from smiling so I wouldn't have dreams and hopes. Mommy spawned me... so I would bear all her sins."

Genres: Manga, Comics, Horror, Surreal, Japanese Literature, Seinen, Japan

Paperback

First published April 1, 1999

About the author

Usamaru Furuya (古屋兎丸) is a Japanese manga creator from Tokyo. His production covers a variety of art styles and genres, such as horror, humour, slice-of-life, erotica, sci-fi, always with a personal surrealistic touch. Society oppression and the human condition are common themes in his body of work.
Furuya showed an interest in comics making since elementary school. He graduated from Tama Art University, where he had studied sculpture and oil painting.
His manga career started in the alternative magazine 'Garo', in which he published a series of one-page comics called Palepoli (1994-1995). He then worked on Short Cuts (1996-1999), a gag manga serialised in the mainstream magazine 'Weekly Young Sunday'. Other short stories from the same period were collected in the books Garden (2000) and Plastic Girl (2000).
Over the years Furuya has created work for a number of manga magazines, underground and mainstream. Among his series available in one or more Western languages are: the dystopian The Music of Marie (2000-2001); the surreal horror Lychee Light Club (2005-2006), loosely based on a play by Norimizu Ameya; the post-apocalyptic 51 Ways to Save Her (2006-2007); Genkaku Picasso (2008-2010); No Longer Human (2009-2011), adaptation of a novel by Osamu Dazai; Amane Gymnasium (2017-2020).

Reviews

[G_occasionally_reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

WTF. What the actual damn. Ah?
Great illustrations. Not for the faint of heart.

🫢 horror
🫢 mental illnesses (I think?)
🫢 child abuse (I think?)
🫢 absurd/surreal

[Nayanika · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story is haunting, the art is beautiful and gory. Here is a mangaka who knows exactly what he is doing. I love how Furuya never follows trends but has developed his own art style as well as story concepts. There can't be another of this kind.
The story is about a girl on the cusp of puberty and the entire manga takes place in her mind. It's an amalgamation of all her thoughts, fears, ideas and expectations. But what really gets it going is Furuya's artwork. He used wood, cloth, glass but not paper. Very few words are spoken but everything carries its own weight. Each panel forces the reader to contemplate its meaning and I doubt there is a single interpretation of the story. Each chapter spans only two pages and this gives the story a disjointed feel but it all deals with the same protagonist - a girl regretting the monster she's become, or trying to hold on to her childhood or even contemplating her loneliness and the way her parents treat her. Furuya leaves it to the reader's imagination.
This is no doubt something out of the ordinary and captivating in its own way.

[Gavin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very sick depiction of puberty, the wrongness inside. The abuse and self-harm depicted is just allegory for the nuclear emotions of teens. The script is childish.

Book would be intolerable if it wasn’t for Furuya’s insane amount of invention; every two pages, the style of: the inking, the panelling, the paper behind them, the character models all change completely, from Silent Hill water damage to gacha-capsule pink, to stained-glass purity, to fresco, to rough canvas, to actual skin. hand it to him.

[Kuroja · Rating 2 out of 5]

L’ennesima conferma che Furuya non fa per me.
Disturbante dall’inizio alla fine, anche se forse meno di altre sue opere.
Reputo comunque interessante notare l’originalità di alcune tavole e osservarne dettagli e colori anche grazie al grande formato della versione italiana edita da Cononino

[Billie Tyrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Japanese Dave McKean.

[BRAMBILLA SIMONE · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Scomparirò quando chiuderai questo libro".

[RoseBlight · Rating 3 out of 5]

4.5 Stars for the art here, feels like something you'd see as an art installation. Incredibly experimental for a manga, the mixed media approach fits the narrative perfectly.

As poignant of a story this attempts to be though, at the end of the day it is still a deeply female perspective of childhood and trauma written and drawn by a man. I can't help but shake the feeling of a sexual glare upon many images here, the intention is unclear and uncomfortable. I'm glad I read it nonetheless but your mileage may certainly vary.

[Halina Hetman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The video review is posted on my Youtube channel (Purasuchikku gāru starts at 03:27).

[Mariam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating, disturbing and gory tale of girl's puberty. The art is fantastic.

[Luna Garden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es de las cosas más raras que he leído. Ni que decir que es bastante profundo a pesar del gore y el nihilismo.

[Fernanda Ortega]

de grande quiero ser un árbol

[Jerôme · Rating 3 out of 5]

corto, profundo y surrealista. Leído con respeto.

[Julia ☂︎]

:O

[Michael Sorbello · Rating 2 out of 5]

A disturbingly abstract depiction of a girl entering into puberty, showcasing the confusion, agony and rage that comes with growing through such a cruel phase in life. The art is stunning and dark, yet the writing and story is borderline uninterpretable. It felt a little pretentious and not as deep as it was trying to be. Amazing and original art, too barebones storytelling.

[Chiara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ho apprezzato tanto la parte artistica e poetica dell'opera, ma non ho percepito una trama, un vero e proprio filo rosso tra queste pagine (a parte il rapporto con i genitori). Mi sono sentita un po' disorientata e sento di essermi portata via poco da quest'opera.

[Eleonora Luna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un infinità di tecniche di disegno differenti ti accompagnano nel viaggio di questa bambina. Ogni pagina è da interpretare, questa è la sua bellezza ma anche il suo difetto, perché lascia dei dubbi incolmabili.

[Autumnbabe · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 STARS

[Talita Cruz · Rating 3 out of 5]

No entendí nada pero el arte dm weno jaja. me dió entre miedo y pena.

[Florencia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Me gustó mucho el arte pero para ser sincera no entendí mucho que era lo que pretendia.

[Somnium · Rating 4 out of 5]

Furuja me kupio ovom mangom! Mislim da ću pročitati sve što uspem da pribavim od ovog čoveka. Na malo strana prikazuje traumu, borbu, mrak, bes, sramotu i nelagodu koje se javljaju prilikom ulaska u pubertet. Da budem preciznija, prikazuje prinudni prelazak (jer nije da nas priroda išta pita) jednog ženskog bića iz devojčice u mladu adolescentkinju. Kako, koliko i s kakvim emocijama možemo ispratiti razvoj sopstvenog tela, polnu zrelost i sve fiziološke promene koje se unutar tog tela dešavaju?! Na momente mučno i potresno, sa dosta simbolike. Ovaj Furuja je ili slušao vrlo intimna priznanja i ispovesti ženskih osoba iz prve ruke ili je dobrano načitan o pomenutoj temi.

Crtež, mada ovo nije samo crtež, ovo su i kolaži (od drveta, tkanine, kanapa...), je fenomenalan i skoro na svakoj stranici se možete zadržati koji minut, i svakoj se možete vratiti i opet videti nešto što je promaklo, jer promaklo je sigurno.

[Z · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is so eerie and the art is so beautiful… y’all know how I am when it comes to media that portrays the horrors of girlhood…
The perfect Halloween read 🙏

[ale is reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

magnifico delirio puberale depressivo

[Thomas Rigoni · Rating 4 out of 5]

the art in this book is incredible and mistical the story is a little criptic and hard to understand but you can fill the gaps with your imagination.

[sumson yih · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a discovery! i'm literally shocked how good this is. so short, so creative, so unusual, so surreal, so disturbing. amazing crafting, wonderful mndfck

[Gaba · Rating 3 out of 5]

😳