| Old Boy | |
Cover to Vol. 1 |
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| オールドボーイ―ルーズ戦記 (Old Boy: Loose Military History) |
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|---|---|
| Genre | Crime fiction |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Garon Tsuchiya |
| Illustrated by | Nobuaki Minegishi |
| Published by | Futabasha |
| English publisher | Dark Horse Comics |
| Demographic | Seinen |
| Magazine | Weekly Manga Action |
| Original run | 1996 – 1998 |
| Volumes | 8 |
| Related works | |
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Old Boy (オールド・ボーイ Ōrudo Bōi) is a manga series written by Garon Tsuchiya and illustrated by Nobuaki Minegishi. The narrative follows the protagonist Shinichi Gotō, a man who, after a decade of incarceration in a private prison, is suddenly freed. After his release, Gotō must find his captors and discover the reason for his confinement.
Old Boy was serialized in the Futabasha magazine Weekly Manga Action from 1996 to 1998 with a total of 79 chapters among eight collected volumes released during that time. The series was picked up for North American localization by Dark Horse Comics and released between 2006 and 2007. The manga was also adapted into an award-winning South Korean film in 2003. In 2011, it was announced that Spike Lee will direct a new film based on Old Boy.
Contents |
Twenty-five-year-old Shinichi Gotō was kidnapped one fateful night and locked up in a private jail for unknown reasons. After ten years of solitary confinement, with only a television set for company, he is suddenly released. The story follows his quest to hunt down the identities of his captors and uncover the reason behind his imprisonment.
The main character of the story who was kidnapped and locked up for 10 years. Oh Dae-su in the movie Oldboy is loosely based on him.
He is main villain of the story, he wants revenge on Goto.
A writer and former teacher of Goto and Kankinuma.
A lady who became Goto's girlfriend. She calls him Mister.
Old Boy was serialized in the Futabasha magazine Weekly Manga Action from 1996 to 1998. A total of 79 chapters among eight tankōbon (collected volumes) were released in Japan from May 28, 1997 to October 28, 1998.[1][2] Between June 19 and July 17, 2007, Futabasha re-released the entire series in five, larger volumes.[3] In 2005, Dark Horse Comics bought the rights to make an English translation of the book for its customers worldwide.[4] All eight volumes were released from July 5, 2006 to October 10, 2007.[5][6]
| No. | Japanese | English | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Release date | ISBN | Release date | ISBN | |
| 1 | May 28, 1997[1] | ISBN 4-575-82240-X | July 5, 2006[5] | ISBN 1-59307-568-5 |
| 2 | December 12, 1997[7] | ISBN 4-575-82274-4 | October 4, 2006[8] | ISBN 1-59307-569-3 |
| 3 | March 24, 1998[9] | ISBN 4-575-82320-1 | December 4, 2006[10] | ISBN 1-59307-570-7 |
| 4 | May 24, 1998[11] | ISBN 4-575-82332-5 | February 7, 2007[12] | ISBN 1-59307-703-3 |
| 5 | July 27, 1998[13] | ISBN 4-575-82353-8 | April 4, 2007[14] | ISBN 1-59307-714-9 |
| 6 | August 28, 1998[15] | ISBN 4-575-82362-7 | June 6, 2007[16] | ISBN 1-59307-720-3 |
| 7 | September 28, 1998[17] | ISBN 4-575-82369-4 | August 1, 2007[18] | ISBN 1-59307-721-1 |
| 8 | October 28, 1998[2] | ISBN 4-575-82378-3 | October 10, 2007[6] | ISBN 1-59307-722-X |
In 2003, it was adapted into the award winning Korean film Oldboy by South Korean director Park Chan-wook. The film was a huge international success and went on to win various awards including the Grand Prix of the Jury at the 57th Cannes Film Festival awards ceremony.[19]
A new adaptation is being planned, which will be directed by Spike Lee.[20]
In 2007, The Old Boy manga won an Eisner Award in the category of "Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Japan."[21] Eduardo Chavez of Mania.com noted that "titles like Old Boy... take their time to create a wonderful of paranoia and drama".[22] Anime News Network's Carlo Santos praised the artwork, which "fits the tone of the series well" and the pacing of the story, but mentioned poorly developed characters.[23]