“Nanbanjin” is a graphic novel published by Dupuis, the result of a collaboration between French illustrator Cyril Pedrosa and Japanese mangaka Taiyō Matsumoto.
The title, meaning “The Southern Barbarian,” was a pejorative nickname given by the Japanese to the first Westerners who arrived in the 16th century.
This unique book of nearly 500 pages is designed as a “tête-bêche” volume: it offers two different readings depending on the direction in which it is read. On one side, readers discover the Western version illustrated by Pedrosa; on the other, a manga reading by Matsumoto.