A manga adaptation by Junji Itou of the novel by the same name written by Dazai. I have some conflicting emotions regarding this one. While I love Itou's style and tales his stories are plot driven. The characters are very much a vehicle for the story same as what you'd get from an episode of the Twilight Zone. No Longer Human however is a character study, 99% of it is an internalized struggle that just escalates as the character just gets worse and worse. The way it's portrayed in the manga is great at first but as the story progress and becomes more nuanced the "hand ofthe author" can clearly be seen judging the MC on his actions with a modern lens.

I went into this one cold, all I heard was it's about a guy that just kept taking Ls his whole life and... nope, that's not what I saw. Wither it's the adaptation or my own view point what I read was a story of a coward that ran away from responsibilities in his youth, saw that it worked itself out, has been running since and just waited things out thinking "oh it'll work itself out".

The story is very complex with a lot going on so it's not that clear cut but the bottom line is, he's a coward that takes no responsibilities for his actions AND inactions. Those were the best parts of the manga and the "horror" monster parts that Itou loves to draw... seemed like unneeded fluff to the tale. They were the weakest element if I'm being honest.

Overall though I'm glad I read this, I would not have known about this novel otherwise and I do think the subtle touches here and there like Yozo kissing a girl just to distract her while he stole something from the shop, him looking at doors and not having the courage to even knock & ask for help so imagining them as the doors to hell, added a visual element to the tale. Even the fact that the women were so interchangeable that they blended in when he was having "an episode" told you something as both the tale and art work made each one memorable in her own way. I would highly recommend this manga BUT make sure you're mentally ready for it.