I never really got into 4-panel gag manga before. Oftentimes I'd simply chuckle at it and wonder if I really spent my money well. Too often I feel like the joke that went on the strip just wasn't that special, or the four panels used just didn't allow for anything special.

Well, that all changed when I read Tokyo Flow Chart by Eiji Miruno over on the SigIKKI website. I died reading this stuff. It's not so much the characters themselves or anything related to the narrative -- instead, it's the storytelling mode. As the name implies, this 4-panel manga is actually a flow chart. Sure, there's a straight narrative that you can follow, but a number of alternative stories branch off from most every panel.

The art style matches the crude nature of the jokes, but I must admit, I felt like a couple of characters out of Kingyo Used Books reading this gag manga. It made my whole day better. While I'm here talking about the humor, I have to give major credit to the translator and editor who worked on this title: there's a lot of American pop culture worked in to make the jokes work, and there were times when I was simply floored. Top-notch work.

At the moment, only two chapters are online, and this title hasn't been scheduled for publishing yet, so it's all the more vital to go check it out. Tokyo Flow Chart is a hilarious perversion of the 4-panel genre that, if it hits you right, will have you rolling on the floor in laughter. I was, and now I've got to clean up the mess I made.