Maybe you don't know, but Japan is the one of the country which has had capital punishment. And many Japanese feels a little bit uneasy, but think that it is necessary to remain this type of punishment(www.moj.go.jp/content/000023824.pdf). However, most ordinary citizens know nothing about Japanese capital punishment. One of the main reasons for that is a policy of MOJ. MOJ remains to keep silence on how they enforce various punishments, including death penalty, as possible as they can. This is called 'Gyokei Mikkou Syugi', in Japanese（http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%A1%8C%E5%88%91%E5%AF%86%E8%A1%8C%E4%B8%BB%E7%BE%A9）.So, capital punishment is one of the area of secret in Japan.
Goda Mamora's this work is a challenge to reveal and explore to this secret area, through the eye of a young prison guard who happens to be assigned to a death-row in Osaka. This young man, Naoki Oikawa got shocked on its real life of convicts, deep sorrow, suffering, agony of victims and their families, and severe face of Japanse cirminal institutions. From the beginning to the end of this seven-volume manga, he keeps questioning, gets confused, suffers from many contradiction, cries about distress of death-row convicts... and dicover a slight hope.
Fiction sometimes has a great power. Goda Mamora's work should make you re-realize that.
