is a manga by Osamu Tezuka that began serialization in 1969.
Plot
"The Crater" is a collection of self-contained short stories that follow a wide range of themes. From horror to mystery to science fiction, each story focuses on different characters in different settings. Some stories have happy endings, while others do not. Each story usually features a boy known as a variation of the first name "Ryuu" (sometimes Ryuuichi, etc.) or by the surname Okuno (and sometimes Okuchin.) The boy appears as an American, African-American, and sometimes Japanese; he can be distinguished by his swooping black hair that covers one eye. He is never the same person in each chapter, though, and is more of a character that is an actor, like that seen in Osamu Tezuka's Star System. Osamu Tezuka's caricature of himself also appears repeatedly throughout the series.
In a similar tradition as The Twilight Zone, each story has a kind of message presented to the reader via unique stories. In Episode 2, "The Octagonal Mansion", the character Ryuichi Kuma is undecided over what to do with his life until he discovers an Octagonal Mansion that allows him to start his life all over again. In Episode 8, "The Bell Rings", three people are haunted by their past sins with the tingling of bells that will not let them forget. When it ended, "The Crater" had a total of 17 Episodes.
However, finding all 17 episodes can be a challenge in that there have been at least three different editions printed. "Akita Manga Collection" consists of 2 volumes of only 7 stories each. "Kodansha Complete Works" is 3 volumes of 6 stories each, and "Akita Best Works Anthology" is 2 volumes of 21 stories total. The filler stories in "Kodansha" and "Akita Best" come from unrelated series.
Characters
Okuchin: (Appears in several Episodes) Nancy: (Appears in the 1st Episode) Ryuichi Kuma: (Appears in the 2nd Episode) Eisaku Sato: (Appears in the 3rd Episode) Yukari: (Appears in the 4th Episode) Osamu Tezuka as Himself: (Appears in the 7th, 11th, and 16th Episodes) Midori: (Appears in the 13th Episode) Kantaro: (Appears in the 14th Episode) Chikuwana: (Appears in the 16th Episode) William Frost Wily: (Appears in the 17th Episode)
Chapters
The titles given here are direct translations from the Japanese and may not reflect "official" names given elsewhere.
2 Dramas (二つのドラマ): Two apparently unrelated young men start switching places with each other when they go unconscious. Ultimately, they clash over the love of a woman desperately trying to escape her life in the slums.
8-Sided Mansion (八角形の館): A young man unable to decide what to do with his life is approached by a witch that uses a coin to seal his fate as a manga artist. When his life becomes difficult he uses his one allowed visit to a strange 8-sided building to switch to an alternate reality where he has become a successful boxer. However, after being tricked into throwing a match, he regrets his choice and is literally torn between his two choices.
The Melted Man (溶けた男): A successful Japanese chemist secretly contracted by the U.S. military to develop the ultimate bio-chemical weapon discovers a young student studying in an abandoned university classroom late at night. Finding out that the student isn't registered at the school, the chemist tries to track the boy down only to learn that he'd died a long time ago while also doing chemical weapon research for the military.
Wind Hole (風穴): The main character, whose name is never given, recounts what happened to his friend, Kazuo Sakai. The protagonist is a young man who had challenged Sakai as a race car driver. The two were friends and roommates, but at some point, Sakai buys a female mannequin, which he then names "Yuriko". He obsesses over Yuriko to the point where he keeps her in his car during races. Sakai tries to make the man see that Yuriko is breaking up their friendship, with no effect. Eventually, Sakai takes his friend and Yuriko to Mount Fuji, where they enter the cave system. Here, Sakai tries to talk sense to his friend. Instead, they end up fighting and Yuriko falls into a pit in the caves. The two men subsequently discover that they're lost and spend hours trying to get back out. The man reaches the point of collapse when Sakai finds the exit and carries his friend to a nearby clinic late at night. The next morning, the man recovers and asks to see his dear friend Sakai, who is still standing in the lobby. When a nurse goes to get him, the body collapses in a heap to reveal Yuriko, leaving the man to wonder if instead it had been Sakai that had fallen into the pit.