Old Boy

Shinichi Gotō wakes up in a cramped hotel room after ten years of unexplained imprisonment, with no memory of his captors or the crime that put him there. This is the starting point for Old Boy, a dark psychological thriller written by Garon Tsuchiya and illustrated by Nobuaki Minegishi. The series ran in Futabasha's Weekly Manga Action from 1996 to 1998, spanning 79 chapters collected into eight volumes. Gotō's journey becomes a violent quest for answers as he hunts down those who held him hostage, only to uncover a twisted revenge plot that defies conventional morality. Dark Horse Comics brought the story to North America between 2006 and 2007, introducing Western readers to its grim atmosphere and shocking twists. While the manga stands on its own merits, it gained global fame through Park Chan-wook's 2003 film adaptation, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes. Spike Lee later directed an American remake of that movie in 2013, further cementing the narrative's reach across different media formats.[edit]