The Music of Marie

A group of thirteen boys join the children's crusades of 1212. Violence ensues.

The story centers around Haruto Higashiyama, a high-school teacher, whose dearest wish is to be killed by a high-school girl.

Chronicles the events leading up to the development and eventual downfall of the Hikari Club.

The Music of Marie is a fantasy epic of truly magnificent scale with gorgeous illustrations. In just two volumes, the author manages to create an incredibly rich and fascinating world that is full of wonders and enchanting beauties—a world in which men are watched over by the mechanical goddess, Marie, who, at times, appears in the sky. Her music brings hapiness and harmony to those who hear it. The main story centers around Kai, a young man who develops a deep affection for Marie and his quest for enlightenment.

February 23rd, 20XX. Looking for a job in the famous TV station at Odaiba, college senior Jin Mishima attended the recruitment orientation. Not far away from the station, Nanako Okano, a gothic lolita trying to attend a concert, found out that her friends tricked her about the concert ticket because of jealousy. The two bumped into each other and "reunited" – they were junior high classmates – moments before an earthquake of Richter Scale 8.1 turned the island (the entire city, in fact) into ruins.

Palepoli goes beyond the framework of standard four-panel manga and views its structure in new ways. Actually, Furuya knew nothing of conventional manga styles and methods when he started Palepoli. As a result, he created something that bore little similarity to other manga. Furuya notes that he selects his subject matter and methods with clear and precise intentions. I find it extremely rare for a manga artist to be this deliberate. A portion of Palepoli was featured in Secret Comics Japan(published by Viz).

"Garden" is a collection of Furuya Usamaru's “indie” shorts that were published in Comic Cue, Manga Erotics and GARO respectively. The title is obviously a reference to Hieronymus Bosch’s famous triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights, with the first story being a homage to said painting. The other stories range from absurd comedies to fantasy to horror. It’s a very eclectic mixture, but make no mistake: artistically, Garden might just be Furuya’s most accomplished work after The Music of Marie.

An anthology of all-new underground comics from Japan produced in the '80s and '90s by the latest generation of taboo-breaking manga artists! Selected by the former editor of Garo, Japan's standard-bearer of underground comics since 1964, this collection introduces new artists who have not been discussed in the previous literature on the field (such as Manga! Manga!, Dreamland Japan, and Comix Underground Japan). From the surreally beautiful to the graphically gruesome, this book will be of interest to all fans of cutting-edge art and comics. * The Life of Momongo, Story by Norimiza Ameya, Art by Junko Mizuno * Gedatsu Man, By Hironori Kikuchi * Swing Shell, By Yuko Tsuno * Jr., By Yoshitomo Yoshimoto * Heartless Bitch and Painful Love, By Kiriko Nananan * Punctures, By Shintaro Kago * Mutant Hanako, By Makoto Aida * Editor Woman, By Benkyo Tamaoki * Palepoli, By Usamaru Furuya

Jisatsu Circle is a manga based on a movie of the same title, written and directed by Sion Sono. At first, the manga was intended to follow the same story, but Sion Sono asked Usamaru Furuya to adapt his own story to it, which resulted in a plot much easier to understand. The story begins with the same opening scene, where 54 girls commit suicide by jumping in front of a moving train. However, one girl survives (Saya Kota) and opens another Suicide Club, with other victims. Her best friend, Kyoko, fears for Saya's future and begins to search for the strange secrets surrounding the Suicide Club to try and save Saya and the other girls from committing such a tragedy again.

Short Cuts is a manga series by Usamaru Furuya, released in two volumes and originally published in Young Sunday magazine. Each volume contains approximately one hundred 'cuts', short comics which typically span only one or two pages. The primary theme of Short Cuts is Japanese kogal and youth culture, which is tackled with a heavy use of visual jokes, black humor and sex comedy.