#TBT : Alive Last Evolution

In tune with the children of the lost generation in Japan, Alive Last Evolution attacked head-on the relationship with life twenty years ago, under the brushes of beginner mangakas, Adachitoka.

Since the death of his parents, the existence of Taisuke Kanô revolves around three people. Her big sister, Yôkowho works in the high school where he studies. His best friend, Yuichi Hirose, victim of bullying, whom he defends ardently… even if, most of the time, it is he who takes the most blows. And finally son amie Megumi Ochiai, with whom he develops an ambiguous relationship sprinkled with spats. As the sky darkens strangely, Taisuke experiences a strange vision where he is floating in space. A little after, a young woman throws herself from a window to die before her eyes, a big smile on his face. This is the first victim ofa strange epidemic of global dimensions that drives humans to commit suicide…

Very quickly, Alive Last Evolution reveals the origin of this pandemic. An extra-terrestrial entity, Akuro, came to Earth having detected a form of life on this planet. It is made up ofimmortal souls wishing to end their existence. To do this, they detach themselves from Akuro and enter a human body which they push to suicide. Those resisting their influence then obtain powers, such as Taisuke and Yuichi, who will clash inexorably… Oscillating between fantasy and science fiction, Alive Last Evolution is interested in the meaning of life and its preciousness. This theme is particularly relevant for readers of the monthly version of Kôdansha’s Shônen Magazine: born in the late 1980s, they have only known one economic crisis throughout their youth. We understand better why, from the release of his premier date November 17, 2003Alive Last Evolution resonates with Japanese teenagers.

An echo all the stronger because halfway through its publication, screenwriter Tadashi Kawashima learns he is a victim of liver cancer. It was from his hospital room that he wrote the last chapters of the manga before died at the age of 42, on June 15, 2010, barely a month after the publication of the 21st and final volume. Alive Last Evolution marks, conversely, the revelation to the general public of a duo of cartoonists, Adachitokawho then achieved worldwide success with Noragami. Despite its undeniable qualities, Alive Last Evolution has, for its part, hardly made a mark outside of Japan. The title in fact accuses a cruel handicap, the absence of animated adaptation : although planned in 2008, it found itself abandoned two years later, following the disappearance of Tadashi Kawashima. Twenty years laterknowing that this title has seen both its artists emerge and its author perish gives it an additional aura in phase with its universe, as if reality had caught up with fiction…