A seinen manga by Osamu Tezuka (Translation: Motoko Tamamuro & Jonathan Clements)
Spoilers! Spoilers!
EPISODE 1: The Woman in the Box (Count Alucard/Dracula entrusts his mysterious niece, I.L/Aiel (pronounced "I’ll"), a vampire and actress who can change her physical appearance by slipping into her coffin, to a dispirited film director, Daisaku/Masterpiece Imari.)
EPISODE 2: Moths (Can I.L cure Shihoko's husband from his freaky moth obsession?)
EPISODE 3: The Messenger (I.L helps a cancer stricken woman find contentment one final time. Hyotantsugi (Gourdski) appears.)
EPISODE 4: President Flareluno/Fralerno’s Treasure (Just before his execution, I.L will make Micronesia's former president believe that his Japanese wife Mayako never betrayed him. We get a The Reptile (1966) homage. Cornell Woolrich gets mentioned. Masami Fukushima, Shoji Otomo, Sakyo Komatsu, Hiroshi Manabe, Junnosuke Kishida, Taro Okamoto and Shigeru Mizuki appear.)
EPISODE 5: The Monster in Brocken aka Brocken Spectre (In Belgrade? Velikov's betrayal backfires. With I.L's help, Lunka (the head of the National Puppet Film Studio and the leader of the underground resistance) will be present to protest at the political demonstration.)
EPISODE 6: Ransom (I.L tries to locate the kidnapped son (Tamotsu) of Professor Nagaguchi and to help the kidnapper (Ikuko, Tamotsu’s sister) at the same time. Osamu Tezuka, a Cheshire Cat and HamEgg appear.)
EPISODE 7: The Story of Hippie Yoshiko (In Shinjuku City, Yoshiko Blumen has flowery tattoos all over her body. Who will make Kikuchi, the hippie's tattooist, pay for her crime of murder?)
EPISODE 8: Mannequin (Hilton Osaka, I.L falls in love with Mr. Nagatake who is trying to terminate his old flame, Susan Olympus, the United States Secretary of State. Hyotantsugi (Gourdski) and Duke Red appear. Anton Chekhov gets quoted.)
EPISODE 9: The Law of Glory (Miss Tominaga, the infertile President of Yamato Flour Mills, asks I.L to be her double. Miss Tominaga's cousin Kazama desperately wants an heir. I.L will summon a formidable demon to assist her. Rudolph Valentino and James Dean get mentioned.)
EPISODE 10: The Seal/Sealing wax (An ancient poison has been rediscovered sealed inside a shell. I.L will metamorphose into Nurse Koyama to find out who is euthanizing the lab animals at the hospital.)
EPISODE 11: The Man Who Came From The South (U.S. soldier, Sgt. Bob Henreid (An homage to Beheiren, The Citizen's League for Peace in Vietnam?), a deserter and a wanted war criminal (My Lai massacre, March 1968), wants I.L to impersonate the five women he murdered in South Vietnam. Douglas MacArthur appears... or does he?)
EPISODE 12: Rasputin (Disguised as Eriko Ai, can I.L find the reason why filmmaker, Deshihara's starlet mistress, Sobame Gomoku committed suicide?)
EPISODE 13: Eye (For the first time in his life Akira Seyama can see. Akira, while still blind, fell in love with Miyuki Kuwata. Afraid of being rejected because of her looks, Miyuki asks I.L to meet Akira on her behalf. Will Akira be fooled by this subterfuge? Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Goshikinuma Ponds and Mr. Magoo/Magu appear.)
EPISODE 14: Hyenas (The director finally professes his love for his assistant. Embezzlers who are siphoning off money from a railway construction project in Southeast Asia have assassinated Daisaku's ex-wife, Kayoko and Persoff Fandon's girlfriend, Marea! Will Imari Daisaku, I.L and Persoff be able to expose these criminals? Inspired by The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)? ButaNagi (the chrysalis of a butterfly) appears.)
What I did like:
Finally, after more than 54 years of waiting, it is "The Story of I.L" from 1969-70, the complete series, all 14 self-contained chapters in one beautiful shrink wrapped Softcover volume, translated into English for the very first time!
The lettering by Bensidi Ayoub is exceptional!
An intro by Tezuka Productions/Kodansha.
A postscript by Osamu Tezuka.
The God of Manga tackles sensitive topics fearlessly.
No Walt Disney inspired characters appear.
Daisaku will return once in Osamu Tezuka's Planet of the Apes homage: Tomorrow The Birds/Rise of the Birdmen (Chapter 8: Spokesman) and three times in Black Jack (Chapters 89: Granny, 122: Third Time’s The Charm and 201: Helping Each Other).
Daisaku also appears in the Black Jack OVA - Granny (Tezuka Productions/November 3, 2000/10 minutes).
Dracula will also return in Black Jack (Chapter 77: Dedicated to Dracula).
In Italy, I.L is know as The Girl with a Thousand Faces (La ragazza dai mille volti).
What I did not like:
I.L is incorrectly marketed as a Mannequin, she's actually a Vampiress.
The frontispieces and the extras from the Original version of I.L from 2019 are missing.
No uncensored cover gallery or illustrations at the end of the book.
The pages that could be in colour only appear in black and white.
The Vietnamese woman should be expressing herself in French.
I give it a 9.5/10. It's not an illusion! It's I.L in English, for realz. Fans of Osamu Tezuka's fantastic Barbara manga from 1973-74 will enjoy these dreamlike, unsettling, tragic, batty, yet very touching mature fantasy tales. Highly recommended! Bravo, StoneBot Manga/Titan Manga, now I want to see stuff from Tetsuya Saruwatari, Go Nagai and Tetsuo Hara!
