When it came time to head home everything had already become a living hell says one character in Hideshi Hinos Panorama of Hell as he continues Hmph What goes around always comes around... Its all one big neverending cycle of war Its hell... This life is nothing but a living hell This one quote truly caught me off guard. In the last few years weve been seeing so many horrors that are beyond comprehension. Wars genocides massacres. And its all still going. As the horrors of reality seem to go far beyond imagination how can a fictional work still be terrifying? How are we supposed to be disturbed by fictional works when the reality is much more disturbing? Thats why Hinos Panorama of Hell caught me so off guard. This horror manga is not a work of fiction. Rather it is a direct reflection on the time we are currently living in. While this manga was written over 40 years ago it captures the same horrors we are seeing today and in a world of never again where the horrors of World War and genocide are occurring once again this work is more relevant than ever. This manga tells the story of an artist who is painting his masterpiece panorama of hell and starts a conversation with the reader telling the reader about his life his family and the town he lives in. Its as grotesque as it can get people are being beheaded to the sound of fireworks their beheaded corpses come to life searching for their heads which have been thrown into a bottomless river of blood. This is just a small glimpse of the world where Panorama of Hell takes place. And still this world isnt imaginary. Its the same world we are living in. The bottomless river of blood is just outside of our own homes. The beheaded corpses are roaming outside as you read this looking for their heads to no avail. This work was not made for shock value but rather as a reflection as a window to the reality outside that we have been ignoring. Being based on Hinos own experiences growing up in postwar Japan its no surprise this work captures the horrors of the world in such an authentic and genuine way. Its impossible to ignore the parallels between Hino and the main character and trying to understand where they end. In that sense it reminds me of Yoshiharu Tsuges semi autobiographical works about postwar Japan and this work acts as a spiritual successor to the legacy of gekiga. That quote is more relevant than ever. Yes Its hell... This life is nothing but a living hell It truly is nothing but a living hell. Thats why this manga is like nothing else. Its more real than reality itself. With his simple yet extremely detailed penwork Hino captures hell and shows us that its none other than the world we are currently living in. Its edgy its grotesque its disturbing but more than anything its painfully real.