A Cruel God Reigns
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is a Japanese
manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
series written and illustrated by
Moto Hagio is a Japanese manga artist. Regarded for her contributions to ''shōjo'' manga ( manga aimed at young and adolescent women), Hagio is considered the most significant artist in the demographic and among the most influential manga artists of a ...
. It was originally serialized in the
manga magazine Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is used ...
''
Petit Flower was a Japanese '' shōjo'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan. Founded in 1980, the magazine ceased publication in March 2002, when it was replaced by the magazine ''Flowers''. History Shogakukan began publishing ''Petit Flower'' as a regula ...
'' from 1992 to 2001, and published as seventeen ''
tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...
'' volumes (collected editions) by
Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...
. The series follows Jeremy Butler, a teenage boy who murders his physically and sexually abusive stepfather. In 1997, ''A Cruel God Reigns'' was recognized with the inaugural
Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Named after Osamu Tezuka, the is a yearly manga prize awarded to manga artists or their works that follow the Osamu Tezuka manga approach founded and sponsored by Asahi Shimbun. The prize has been awarded since 1997, in Tokyo, Japan. Current ...
Award for Excellence.


Plot

Fifteen-year-old Jeremy Butler moves from
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
to
Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...
with his mother Sandra after she marries Greg Roland, a widowed British aristocrat. While Greg maintains an idyllic relationship with Sandra, he regularly subjects Jeremy to physical, psychological, and sexual abuse. Fearful that his emotionally fragile mother may re-attempt suicide if the truth is exposed, Jeremy initially bears the abuse in silence. As the abuse intensifies, Jeremy conspires to kill Greg by tampering with the brakes in his stepfather's car, though the resulting accident kills both Greg and Sandra. Ian Roland, Jeremy's adult stepbrother from Greg's previous marriage, suspects that Jeremy is responsible for his father's death. When he attempts to convince Jeremy to confess to his actions, Jeremy flees to Boston and begins injecting
heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...
to suppress the memory of his trauma, supporting his drug use through prostitution. Some time later, Ian discovers the truth of Greg's abuse of Jeremy; horrified by his father's actions and his own ignorance of them, he becomes Jeremy's caretaker to make amends for his father's abuse. As Ian and Jeremy grow closer, Ian finds himself disturbed by the growing sexual attraction he feels towards his stepbrother, and begins to fear that he may ultimately subject Jeremy to the same abuse that his father once did.


Primary characters

; :A fifteen year old boy from
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
who is physically and sexually abused by his stepfather Greg. After his plan to murder Greg results in the deaths of both his stepfather and his mother Sandra, he descends into drug use and prostitution. He later enters a
drug rehabilitation Drug rehabilitation is the process of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and street drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, heroin or amphetamines. The general inte ...
facility, and is cared for by his stepbrother Ian. ; :A wealthy English aristocrat and businessman who marries Jeremy's mother Sandra. His outwardly chivalrous personality conceals his true cruel and sadistic nature, and his abuse of both Jeremy and his sister-in-law Natasha. He is killed after Jeremy tampers with the brakes in his car. ; :Greg's eldest son from his previous marriage. He is handsome and free-spirited, but also somewhat insensitive and self-regarding. He suspects Jeremy of murdering his father; ; :Jeremy's widowed mother and Greg's second wife. The daughter of a formerly wealthy family who now lives in genteel poverty, Sandra is emotionally fragile and deeply dependent on her son. She is unintentionally killed by Jeremy in the same car accident that kills Greg. ; :Greg's second son, and Ian's brother. ; :The sister of Greg's deceased first wife Lilya, and Ian and Matt's maternal aunt. ; :Ian's girlfriend. An
organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...
, she has a troubled family background and has a habit of integrating herself into the lives of traumatized people. She leaves Ian after he begins to develop romantic feelings for Jeremy, though she tries (and fails) to get back together with him several times.


Development and release

In 1980, Hagio's frequent editor became the editor-in-chief of ''
Petit Flower was a Japanese '' shōjo'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan. Founded in 1980, the magazine ceased publication in March 2002, when it was replaced by the magazine ''Flowers''. History Shogakukan began publishing ''Petit Flower'' as a regula ...
'', a new manga magazine published by
Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...
aimed at an audience of adult women. Yamamoto granted Hagio full artistic and editorial freedom over the manga she published in ''Petit Flower'', allowing her to create series with more mature themes and subject material relative to her previous works. Notable titles published by Hagio in ''Petit Flower'' prior to ''A Cruel God Reigns'' include her 1980 crime thriller ''Mesh'', which focuses on
parricide Parricide refers to the deliberate killing of one’s own father and mother, spouse (husband or wife), children, and/or close relative. However, the term is sometimes used more generally to refer to the intentional killing of a near relative. It ...
in the drug trade, and her 1985
post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
series ''
Marginal Marginal may refer to: * ''Marginal'' (album), the third album of the Belgian rock band Dead Man Ray, released in 2001 * ''Marginal'' (manga) * '' El Marginal'', Argentine TV series * Marginal seat or marginal constituency or marginal, in polit ...
''. ''A Cruel God Reigns'' was serialized in ''Petit Flower'' from 1992 to 2001. The series is Hagio's longest, composing over 3,000 pages in total, though she originally planned it to be serialized over the course of just four years. Hagio drew inspiration for the series from a book she read about
child abuse Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical, sexual, and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to a ...
in the 1970s, and how people who are abused as children carry the trauma of that abuse as they age. The title of the series is a reference to
Al Alvarez Alfred Alvarez (5 August 1929 – 23 September 2019) was an English poet, novelist, essayist and critic who published under the name A. Alvarez and Al Alvarez. Background Alfred Alvarez was born in London, to an Ashkenazic Jewish mother and a ...
's 1971 study ''The Savage God: A Study of Suicide'', whose title is in turn is a reference to a diary entry written by
W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...
criticizing
modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
; Hagio was unaware of the title's connection to Yeats while she was writing the series. Following the conclusion of ''A Cruel God Reigns'' in 2001, Hagio took a year-long hiatus from creating manga before launching her subsequent series ''
Otherworld Barbara is a science fiction manga by Moto Hagio. It is set in a near-future Japan, and begins with a girl, Jyujo Aoba, who has been in a coma since she was nine years old, who was discovered next to her parents' bodies, with their hearts inside her sto ...
'' in 2002.


List of volumes

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...
published ''A Cruel God Reigns'' as 17 ''
tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...
'' volumes between March 19, 1993, and August 20, 2001. It later republished the series as 10 '' kanzenban'' volumes between October 15, 2004, and February 15, 2005.


Reception and analysis

Translator and cultural anthropologist
Rachel Thorn Rachel Thorn (formerly Matt Thorn; born May 12, 1965) is a cultural anthropologist and an associate professor in the Department of Manga Production at Kyoto Seika University's Faculty of Manga in Japan. She is best known in North America for he ...
praised ''A Cruel God Reigns'' as an "amazing contribution to
graphic literature In comics studies, sequential art is a term proposed by comics artist Will Eisner Will Eisner, '' Comics and Sequential Art'', Poorhouse Press, 1990 (1st ed.: 1985), p. 5. to describe art forms that use images deployed in a specific order for the ...
", calling it "beautifully executed, yet brutal in its frankness and often painful to read". She describes the series as an "adult version" of Hagio's 1974 manga series ''
The Heart of Thomas is a 1974 Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Moto Hagio. Originally serialized in '' Shūkan Shōjo Comic'', a weekly manga magazine publishing ''shōjo'' manga (manga aimed at young and adolescent women), the series follows ...
'', noting numerous similarities in plot and thematic material; Hagio has concurred with this assessment, noting that she had to "consciously strive for a different image" when creating ''A Cruel God Reigns'' to differentiate it from ''The Heart of Thomas''. Sociologist and cultural historian Mark McLelland cites ''A Cruel God Reigns'' alongside
Marimo Ragawa is a Japanese manga artist. She began submitting manga to comic magazines when she was only 12 years old, in the sixth grade of elementary school. She continued to send her manga to the same magazine for four years, but failed to receive a pos ...
's '' New York New York'' as an example of a manga in which depictions of male-male sexual violence mirror that of sexual violence committed by men against women, where the female reader is "clearly supposed to identify" with the abused male character though the manner in which they are "placed in a subordinate (read, feminine) position." The title of the series inspired the title of the song "
A Cruel Angel's Thesis , also known as "A Cruel Angel's Thesis", is a J-pop song performed by Japanese singer Yoko Takahashi. Toshiyuki Ōmori and Hidetoshi Satō composed the song, while Neko Oikawa wrote the lyrics. It was written for the opening theme of the anime t ...
", the theme of the anime television series ''
Neon Genesis Evangelion , also known simply as ''Evangelion'' or ''Eva'', is a Japanese mecha anime television series produced by Gainax and animated by Tatsunoko, directed by Hideaki Anno and broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 1995 to March 1996. ''Evangelion' ...
''.


Notes


References


Bibliography

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruel God Reigns 1993 manga Josei manga Moto Hagio Shogakukan manga Yaoi anime and manga Child sexual abuse in fiction Winner of Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize (Award for Excellence)