Serialized between 1996 and 2000, Boat Life stars novelist Tsuda Kenta, a lightly veiled stand-in for the artist, Tsuge Tadao, himself, as he pursues a life of reprieve and reverie on a small, makeshift house boat on a river outside of Tokyo. Based loosely on the artists own daily life, this charming story follows the hapless protagonist on a series of magical absurdist quests, featuring a panoply of personable characters, including a drunkard fisherman, a pervy monk, a talking corpse, a senile hermit, and a half-supportive, half-doubtful wife and adult son. Most of the scenes take place on the Tonegawa River in Chiba, a favorite fishing spot of Tsuges. Others occur at the artists home or at Joker, a jeans and apparel shop the Tsuges opened in 1977.

While fans of Trash Market and Slum Wolfwill enjoy this late-career elaboration of aprs-guerre themes Tsuge has been exploring since his debut in the legendary alt-manga magazine Ga