トーマの心臓 (Thomas no Shinzou)

Plot

The setting: A boys' boarding school in Germany, sometime in the mid-20th century. One winter day, fourteen-year-old Thomas Werner falls from a lonely pedestrian overpass to his death, immediately after mailing a single, brief letter to another boy at the school:

To Juli, one last time.

This is my love.

This is the sound of my heart.

Surely you must understand.

Thus begins Moto Hagio's The Heart of Thomas – one of the most compelling and enigmatic manga graphic novels ever created, and a pioneer in the popular boys'-romance "shounen-ai" genre. Thomas's death (was it an accident? suicide? or even murder?) immediately throws the school into turmoil, while his letter sets off a chain of emotional upheaval both for the recipient and an even-expanding circle of friends, family, and teachers, as secrets are revealed and shared. And then a new boy who looks exactly like Thomas shows up at the school...

Unabashedly romantic and emotionally complex, The Heart of Thomas features an unusual, richly imagined setting and a cast of memorable characters.