Ayako is a horrifying slog through the depths of human misery. Every moment of this series is designated to specifically be as emotionally distressing and uncomfortable as possible. It tells a story of corrupt, incestous (literally, sometimes) family ties and post-WW2 governmental corruption, with left-wing feminist themes, but the main point of the story is just being as consistently horrifying as possible. The text-loggedness of this book is heavy, having near-novel amounts of text to the point of taking me an hour and a half to get through, and I am a very fast reader, being able to get through a typical 250 page tankobon in about20 minutes or so. Like most Tezuka works, it feels like it's compressing itself heavily, though that was characteristic of all manga at this time and I'm not sure I'd want to read much more. The ending is probably most fitting, but after all the horrific nonsense throughout, I wish that I had access to the original magazine ending included in the out-of print limited edition. Unfortunately, I can't find any scans of it.

If you want to read a series that will leave a pit in your stomach and make you hate a bunch of assholes, Ayako is for you!