Old Boy is a Japanese manga series written by Garon Tsuchiya and illustrated by Nobuaki Minegishi. The narrative follows the protagonist Shinichi Gotō, a man who, after a decade of incarceration in a private prison, is suddenly freed. After his release, Gotō must find his captors and discover the reason for his confinement. Old Boy was serialized in the Futabasha magazine Weekly Manga Action from 1996 to 1998, with a total of 79 chapters among eight collected volumes released during that time. The series was picked up for North American localization by Dark Horse Comics and released between 2006 and 2007. The manga was also adapted into an award-winning South Korean film, directed by Park Chan-wook in 2003. In 2013, Spike Lee directed an American remake of the 2003 Park Chan-wook film.
Plot
Twenty-five-year-old Shinichi Gotō was kidnapped one fateful night and locked up in a private jail for unknown reasons. After ten years of solitary confinement in a maximum security cell, with only a television for company, he is suddenly released. The story follows his mission to hunt down the identities of his captors and uncover the reason behind his imprisonment.
Old Boy was serialized in the Futabasha magazine Weekly Manga Action from 1996 to 1998. A total of 79 chapters among eight tankōbon were released in Japan from May 28, 1997 to October 28, 1998. Between June 19 and July 17, 2007, Futabasha re-released the entire series in five, larger volumes. In 2005, Dark Horse Comics bought the rights to make an English translation of the book for its customers worldwide. All eight volumes were released from July 5, 2006 to October 10, 2007.
Volumes
Films
In 2003, it was adapted into the award-winning Korean filmOldboy by South Korean director Park Chan-wook. The film was a huge international success and went on to win various awards including the Grand Prix of the Jury at the 57th Cannes Film Festivalawards ceremony. In 2006, an Indian version titled Zinda and directed by Sanjay Gupta received flak for its unofficial, unauthorized remake. A subsequent American film adaptation was directed by Spike Lee in 2013.
Reception
In 2007, the Old Boy manga won an Eisner Award in the category of "Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Japan." Eduardo Chavez of Mania.com noted that "titles like Old Boy... take their time to create a wonderful of paranoia and drama". Anime News Network's Carlo Santos praised the artwork, which "fits the tone of the series well" and the pacing of the story, but mentioned poorly developed characters.
