I've been hesitant as to whether to even make this post or not. See, Shintaro Kago is a manga artist who has done some really fascinating work in the world of manga - he toys with comic conventions in such a bizarre and abstract way that you can't help but be interested. The content however... is pretty extreme. From rape, to mutilation, to stuff you can't even really figure out but you know is messed up, none of his work is really "safe" to read.
I finally decided to post however, because I think there's some real value in it. It's difficult to describe exactly what it is that Kago does, but he gives a sort of characterization to the physical structure of the comic itself. Panels are not simply panels anymore, and standard perspective is not a given. In fact, the structure of the narrative seems to have more personality than the characters within. Often they are disposable, nondescript, and emotionless - serving, more often than not, to simply move action along.
A good litmus test as to whether you might look further into Kago might be the Memories of Others. With only 1-2 rapes, 2 suicides, and 1 murder (I think I counted properly), Memories is probably the tamest of the bunch (at least of the ones I read) and gives you a good idea of how Kago experiments with the medium.
A fairly comprehensive cross-section of Kago's work (be sure to scroll to the bottom for the earliest posts) can be found at the blog SAME HAT! SAME HAT! and a brief interview can be found at Vice Magazine (also NSFW). And if that isn't enough, I also found a metafilter post with more info on Kago and his work than I will ever need to know.
Again, click through only if you can stomach some pretty graphic stuff.
Also, don't forget to read right-to-left, as it is manga... [via]