Jiro Taniguchi ("The Walking Man", "The Ice Wanderer") marries his talent to a solid script by Natsuo Sekikawa to present the reader with a fresco of Japanese society towards the end of the Meiji period (late 19th century)  when the country was beginning to open up to the West. What in the hands of another author could have simply been an illustrated textbook becomes a narrative of great artistic and historic significance. The hero of the story is writer Soseki Natsume, who suffers from neurosis as a consequence of cultural shock, conceives of what will be his new book, "Botchan", as a response to the challenges of his time. Other famous characters of the that time appears along with him in a portrayal of the political, social and cultural lfe of what was arguably the most important period in the history of Japan. First volume of an ongoing series.