Youko and Akira Satou, or so they say.
"The Fable" is a manga written and illustrated by Minami Katsuhisa, which was serialized in Weekly Young Magazine from 2014 to 2019 and compiled into 22 volumes. It was followed by a sequel, The Fable: The Second Contact.
It has a live-action movie series and an anime version, which aired on April 6, 2024 worldwide.
Talented assassin "The Fable" and his getaway driver are ordered by their boss to lay low and let the heat die on their latest kills. Given the pseudonyms Akira and Youko Satou, the two "siblings" must spend a year in Osaka and obey their order not to kill for the duration. Akira is completely unused to civilian life, and he juggles his newfound peace with getting wrapped up in the local underworld who is eager to see if "The Fable" lives up to the rumors.
This manga contains examples of:
- The Ace: Make no mistake, Satou has absolutely earned his reputation as part of "The Fable". He is all but untouchable and if he has you marked for death then your trip across the River Styx is guaranteed.
- Ancestral Weapon: The Maguro yakuza group head has a German Luger that the founder looted during World War 2 (from an American soldier who looted it from a German soldier) and passed down to each new boss.
- Arms Dealer: Matsu is an arms dealer in Osaka with a damaged eye. He is only in the business because he is being blackmailed by Yamaoka group.
- Bears Are Bad News: Satou and Kuro confront one of these during their survival trip. Satou decides that since the bear is bold enough to steal Kuro's backpack it doesn't fear humans, and the two start a plan to wound it so it won't attack others.
- Boom, Headshot!: Kojima does this to one of his debtors shortly after getting out of prison. He is also killed this way by Wakagashira.
- Exact Words: The three rules of "The Fable" organization. 1. Never let your guard down. 2. Do as the boss says. 3. Be respectful. The new recruit is asked to hand over his loaded gun for inspection and is shot for complying because he violated rule 1.
- Finding the Bug: Happens a few times. Satou and Youkoand the rest of Fable have trained to communicate solely through mouth movements to thwart listening devices.
- Give Him a Normal Life: The Boss's real motivation for getting Satou to lay low. Upon realizing just how detached from humanity Satou was becoming as a result of his profession, the Boss put him into a position where he could develop emotional attachments and a concrete sense of self.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Youko has nothing to do all day and so spends most of it drinking or trying to get others to drink.
- Heel–Face Turn: Azami is under secret orders to capture Yamaoka before he causes too much chaos. He teams up with Yuuko and Satou after they reveal themselves.
- I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham: Kuro is very squeamish when Akira asks him to eat snakes and bugs when on their mountain trip. He winds up liking both, saying that they taste like shrimp.
- Joggers Find Death: One of the corpses left behind by the unnamed Rumor boss is put in a thinking pose on a park bench. A jogger passes him several times and goes to investigate when the corpse hasn't moved in over an hour.
- Kill the Lights: The members of Rumor shoot out all the lights in the public park to reduce visibility and better ambush the Fable members.
- Knight of Cerebus: The Slice of Life aspect of the manga slowly but surely fades once Yamaoka decides to start making moves and bodies start piling up.
- Le Parkour: One of Satou's greatest skills is his ability to climb extremely quickly. He can climb up to false ceilings to ambush an enemy from an unusual angle, or jump down
- Never Gets Drunk: Youko, though boy does she try. Her favorite pastime is challenging men to drinking contests and laughing at them trying to function after.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Satou warns that he doesn't know how to hold back when doing an "Assassin Duel". Kuro tries it anyway and winds up unconscious and in so much pain he can't move, and it happened so quickly he can't remember the details.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: All members of The Fable organization use codenames, which change for each new job.
- Photographic Memory: Youko has a fantastic memory, able to memorize a geographic map in under a minute. This is why she was targeted for abduction by the Fable group at a young age.
- Plain Palate: One of Satou's few weaknesses is that he can't eat hot or spicy food and will demand whoever serves him cool it first.
- Punk in the Trunk: Kojima gets captured by Satou and stuffed in the trunk of the Hakasoka car.
- Rape as Drama: A few examples.
- Misaki gets threatened into working as a callgirl by Kojima and is forced to give a thug a blowjob before she is rescued.
- Yamaoka mentions that part of Youko's training as an assassin included getting raped until she was desensitized and indifferent to any kind of sex.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The Boss of the whole organization. It's pretty clear that while he can be ruthless (as someone of his station needs to be) he is quite fair to the men that serve under him, and ultimately wants what's best for Satou. At the end of Part 1 he happily lets Satou leave the life as he wishes, even remarking that having him "lay low" for a year was nothing more than ploy to see if Satou would be able to change when forced to be normal.
- Reduced to Ratburgers: Akira has grown used to eating bugs, snakes, moles, and anything else he can catch when surviving in the wilderness. He also eats parts of normal food that others waste, like edamame skin and fish heads.
- Shipper on Deck: Satou and Misaki's boss at Octopass starts putting on the full court press to get the two together when it becomes increasingly obvious that Misaki has fallen in love with him. Youko also joins in and has her own approval for these two to get together. Both were overjoyed when it finally happened.
- Soap Opera: Satou is addicted to Sunday Affair, starring his favorite comedian Jackal who plays a divorced husband that's constantly trying to have affairs.
- Soap Within a Show: Sunday Affair.
- The Sociopath: Satou is an interesting take on the trope. He has programs he enjoys, mainly anything with The Jackal, can care for a pet and is loyal to a fault but he is all but detached from emotion and the entire world around him. However it comes off more like childlike naivete rather than anything actively malicious. He's been an assassin for a long time so he hasn't been afforded the opportunity to understand how to function within society. Over the course of the manga he does start developing mild emotions, and cares about the people around him beyond organizational loyalty. As we find out, him starting to develop these emotions and sense of self was the entire point of Part 1 of the Manga, as the Boss wanted him to gain a chance at a normal life if he was willing to put in the work and effort to change.
- Springtime for Hitler: During the Christmas party, President challenges Satou to an arm-wrestling contest, intending to lose so Misaki will think Satou is cool. Satou is also trying to lose to keep his cover as a wimpy guy. It ends with the two trying to covertly pull the other person's hand into a winning position. Satou "Loses" the contest.
- Stalker with a Crush: Kainuma is obsessed with Misaki, escalating from bugging her apartment to planning a rape and then attempted murder.
- Technical Pacifist: Enforced by the Boss. While living as a civilian, Satou is absolutely forbidden from killing anyone. Satou ends up having to take care of the threats coming his way by using non-lethal bullets and other incapacitation techniques.
- Yakuza: The Fable and Yoko are assisted by the Maguro-gumi to settle in Osaka City by providing an apartment and fake national/driver's licenses.
