DEMENTIA 21 ...elder care, parasitic dentures, and Santa

Shintaro Kago comes from a school of manga creation that revels in the absurd and the grotesque, combining elements of body horror, erotica, and a whole bunch of genre elements into an unholy pastiche the likes of which you've probably never consumed before.

His comic series Dementia 21 follows the adventures of plucky young healthcare aid Yuki Sakai as she services one elderly patient after the next. But things never go as planned, and throughout her adventures she finds herself navigating a labyrinth of highways, mediating a war between grandparents and money-hungry grandchildren, trying to keep a demented Santa Claus from initiating a nuclear war, or trying to escape the pages of a comic book.

Dementia 21 is both bitingly satirical and defies any attempt at ascribing a message. And Kago seems as much sympathetic to the plight of Japan's elderly populace as he is weirded out by them.

This is one of the strangest comics we've reviewed so far.