2021 served as a revelation for the last holdouts: thanks to confinement and the “Culture Pass”, manga sales and streaming anime viewing hours have exploded. These are today the dominant cultural works among young people. In truth, the trend has already been present for at least ten years. However, not so long ago, criticisms were rife and politicians accused manga of all evils. For the first time, precursors and current generations, cartoonists and publishers, absolute fans and rappers speak about their passion for these comics from Japan.

Thomas, a father in his fifties, returns by chance to the town where he grew up. He collapses and wakes up forty years earlier in the body of his teenage self. Thrown back into his past, Thomas will not only have to re-live his first love, but also try to understand the reasons for his father’s mysterious departure. Can you change the past by living it again?

Filmed in Japan, this program looks beyond the stereotypes to objectively examine the history of manga, how manga are drawn, and manga's influence on Japanese life as illustrated by cosplay bars, where people dress up as their favorite characters; manga kissa, 24/7 manga cafes; and Comicket, the twice-annual comics market that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors. The program also introduces viewers to a cross-section of mangaka icons: Vagabond creator Takehiko Inoue; Naoki Urasawa, author of The Pushman and Other Stories; Jiro Taniguchi; Yoshihiro Tatsumi; and Kan Takahama.