Norajin (野良人), Manga Book by Yusaku Hanakuma

Norajin (野良人, subtitled as FREE COCKMEN) written and drawn by mangaka Yusaku Hanakuma is a gag manga published by avant-garde manga publisher Seirindo of Garo magazine fame. Like all of Hanakuma's work, Norajin falls under the heta-uma genre(ヘタウマ, lit: “Bad but good”), taking all of its hallmark traits including: intentionally crudely drawn art, taboo content and gross out humor.

Published in 1995. the book was designed by fellow heta-uma artist and Garo magazine contributor “Terry Johnson” (Teruhiko Yumura, 湯村 輝彦) and his design studio Flamingo Studio Inc.  The book's dust jacket focuses on catching attention via large images, bold text and a plethora of genitalia themed transliterations.  The author's name Yusaku becomes “U-Saku” (You Suck) and the esteemed publisher Seirindo is pushed to the corner, turned into a cock ring visual gag saying "Say Ring Do" while two men pleasure each other. Although the cover still retains its phallic humor, it additionally pulls heavily from the hip hop and indie music scenes of its era, referencing the west coast/east coast rivalry, arists such as The Notorious B.I.G, and several slang terms. Johnson uses grainy images, high contrast and and excessive textual information to replicate small production band fliers that could have been found plastering the walls of venues within the scene.

ISBN 4792602599