He stood in the busy spots, calling out to women walking by. They would say no, they would ignore him, they would swear at him, but he still kept trying. Almost all of the women just walked away. It had nothing to do with his delivery, effort, technique or skill. They scowled at him, they looked at him warily, they avoided him, but still he kept calling out to every woman who walked by.

Three Assassins by Kōtarō Isaka | Goodreads

A manga continuation, Maoh: Juvenile Remix, was additionally serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday from June 6, 2007, [2] to June 24, 2009, [3] to which a spin-off series, Waltz, was serialized in Shogakukan's Monthly Shōnen Sunday from October 10, 2009, [4] to February 10, 2012. [5] An] engrossing thriller . . . Isaka makes what could be an over-the-top narrative work through his depiction of an everyman protagonist in way over his head. Fans ofBullet Trainwon’t be disappointed.” Suzuki is a former teacher who has infiltrated a criminal gang that was responsible for the death of his wife. The assassination of a member of that gang involves Suzuki with three rival hired assassins. The Whale talks his targets into killing themselves, but he is haunted by their ghosts. The Cicada’s speciality is his knife work and he is especially adept at killing whole families. The Pusher does just what his name implies - he pushes his targets in front of trains and cars. Any animal that lives in a high-density situation will change its behavior. They turn dark, they rush, they get aggressive. Before they know it, they’ve become swarming locusts.” Schilling, Mark (July 7, 2014). "Toma Ikuta, Tadanobu Asano To Star in Japanese Revenge Thriller " Grasshopper"". Variety . Retrieved July 7, 2014.Jūryoku Piero (2003), Children (2004), Grasshopper (2004), Shinigami no Seido (2005) and Sabaku (2006) were all nominated for the Naoki Prize.

Three Assassins–Bullet Train “prequel” a better story, but Three Assassins–Bullet Train “prequel” a better story, but

Account of the assassination from the historian Appian. Section 114 contains a list of conspirators. Having loved Bullet Train, I simply had to grab this one from the library and I certainly wasn't disappointed - Throughout the novel, Isaka offsets scenes of tense action with moments of introspection. Suzuki perseveres by thinking about words his wife used to say to him, such as “you just have to do it” as he comes to terms with his new life without her. Cicada draws on a French film he saw on TV, its scenes mirroring his own fears of being a puppet, merely under the control of someone else. The Whale often rereads passages from his favorite book, Crime and Punishment, and the ghosts of his previous victims haunt him at unexpected times, such as while riding the subway.

Plutarch. Plutarch's Lives. Translated by Bernadotte Perrin. London: W. Heinemann, New York: Macmillan, 1914–1926. Usually, however, he can convince his victims to accept their fate and go along with the suicide-scenario he's set up for them, presenting it so simply as basically the only choice his victims have that they pretty much all ultimately go along with it without too much fuss. The bizarre interactions in this lethal community are every bit as surreal as in the earlier book, but the novelty of Bullet Train is absent." - Barry Forshaw, Financial Times