Sack (Manga)
Also known as 嚢 (Fukuro)
Sack 1968
The manga short story ‘Sack’ (1968) was originally published in the May 1968 “extra” issue of Manga Sunday (漫画サンデー増刊号).
What it’s about
One day, when they are caught in a sudden spring downpour, a young man suggests to Rika Ayano, a beautiful young woman he’s just met, that they ride out the storm in a nearby coffee shop. the pair strike up a conversation and promise to meet again. This chance encounter quickly leads to a deep relationship, despite the fact that Rika seems to suffer from fainting spells.
The seasons pass to winter, and soon the young man is paying a visit to Rika’s family seeking her hand in marriage. However, Mrs. Ayano shockingly announces she doesn’t know anyone named “Rika”, and that her daughter’s name is “Mari.” This, of course, confuses the young man as Rika had often spoken about her sister, Mari. To add to the confusion, Mari is identical in appearance to Rika, but with a completely different personality. When Mari mentions she’ll be going to the hospital on June 20th, the young man remembers that was the same date that had worried Rika, so he decides to investigate. He soon learns that Mari is going to the hospital to have a benign tumour removed from her abdomen.
Some shocking news
When Rika reappears on June 19th, it’s clear she has come to say her good-byes but offers little in the way of explanations – saying only she will see him at the hospital. The next day the operation is a huge success, but Rika is nowhere to be found. Afterwards, the doctor explains to the young man that Mari had suffered from something called a Teratoid Cystoma – basically the undeveloped embryo of her twin that was absorbed by her body during pregnancy. However, Mari’s was quite unusual as it seemed to have had a fully developed brain…
The young man, in tears, asks to see the cystoma and then exclaims… “Rika!”
What you should know
One of the benefits of writing a short story is that it’s a relatively safe place to try out new ideas. For Osamu Tezuka, this was an important factor given that he usually had more story ideas than he knew what to do with. So, instead of inserting an unproven concept in raw form into a longer running serial – one which had already built up a fan base with a certain amount of expectations as to where the story was going – it was much better to test it out in the relative anonymity of a short story, away from the bright lights.
A tearful goodbye
This is almost certainly the case with ‘Sack’ (1968), as even the dullest-eyed of Tezuka fans will certainly recognize the parallels between this story and the much more famous one in the popular Black Jack (1973-83) manga’s chapter, ‘Teratoid Cystoma’ – featuring the secret origin of the irascible Pinoko herself. Obviously Tezuka was enamoured with the concept, because he re-used the basic plot device a few years later to introduce one of his most popular characters.
Stars Spotted:
- None of Tezuka’s Star System players appear in this short story
What else you should know
Although ‘Sack’ (1968) is most often associated with the collected edition of Clockwork Apple as part of the Osamu Tezuka Complete Manga Works edition (MT-261) over it’s publishing history, it has also appeared under a number of anthology titles, including Under the Air.
Where you can get it
For English speakers, can be found in the DMP anthology title Clockwork Apple which was successfully funded through a Kicstarter campaign in 2015.
