YOSHIRO TATSUMI ...3 books that just got odder, yet more poignant?

We continue our journey to post WW2 Japan, with the more obscure, but equally important manga master - Yoshiro Tatsumi (credited as being the creator of the darker, more realistic "Gekiga" movement in manga). We read THREE short story collections that reflect Tatsumi's delightfully (?) tortured ethos of the time: "The Push Man" (1969), "Abandon The Old In Tokyo" (1970 - also a great name for a band), and "Good-Bye" (1971-1972).

Tatsumi’s depiction of Tokyo largely takes place amid the garbage-strewn alleys of 1960s Tokyo, where silent, sexual repressed men try and often fail to reconcile their unquenchable lust for women or companionship with basic human dignity. It’s an economic boomtime for Japan, as the company is in the midst of an insane Renaissance following its post-war devastation. But it’s very much a Renaissance of haves and have-nots, and Tatsumi’s stories tend to follow the men who are very much have-nots, and know it.