Seesaw Monster

Isaka’s exceptional latest (after Hotel Lucky Seven) combines the author’s flair for violent comic farce with an unsettling look at the near future. In 1980s Japan, salaryman Naoto’s mother has moved in with him and his wife, Miyako, unleashing a torrent of bickering and belittlement between the two women. The constant skirmishes reveal some deep similarities between the women, including that both have backgrounds as secret agents. When Naoto gets embroiled in some shady business involving the yakuza, Miyako and her mother-in-law team up and knock some heads. The action then skips ahead several decades, depicting a mid-21st century where electronic hypersurveillance makes written communications and hand-delivered messages potent currency. When courier Mito is given an unexpected assignment, he’s pulled into a scientist’s effort to destroy his creation: an omnipotent AI called Velkasery. After the government tries to stop them, the pair flee to the mountains, where an elderly Miyako offers them refuge. Isaka’s talent for kinetic, hilarious carnage (“Male hormones are the worst,” Miyako thinks after kicking an opponent in the crotch) is on full display, and it’s fortified with philosophical depth and surprisingly potent ruminations on the nature of fate. This ranks among the author’s best. (July)