The Walking Man, or Aruku Hito in Japanese, is a series of short stories by Jiro Taniguchi centering around a man who enjoys walking around suburban Japan. There is little dialogue and no real plot to speak of; the manga focuses specifically on the man's experiences as he takes his walks, such as taking off his socks and shoes to climb a tree, or drenching himself under a faucet to cool off.
While Taniguchi is perhaps better known for the hard-boiled, dramatic Gekiga stories from the earlier part of his career, The Walking Man is more representative of his later output in that its primary focus is on the minor details of everyday life.
This show provides examples of:
- Iyashikei: The Walking Man is about a man doing something he enjoys, and maintains a very relaxed, relaxing atmosphere.
- Male Frontal Nudity: The main character strips down in two separate chapters and is fully visibly nude: once to swim, and another time while bathing.
- No Name Given: While the main character presumably does have a name, it never appears in the manga as it isn't terribly relevant to the story.
- Salaryman: The main character seems to be one given the way he dresses, though his profession is never disclosed.
- Scenery Porn: Taniguchi's backgrounds are almost obsessively detailed, yet they still fit perfectly with his relatively simply drawn people.
- Slice of Life: One of the more extreme examples of this genre, as this manga is entirely fixated upon the current moment in time, not an overarching narrative.
