Man Butchers Landlord, Blames Manga A man who brutally slew his potential landlord with a vicious hammer and machete combo attack, and then hunted down his family, hospitalizing them, has resorted to blaming manga for his crimes, specifically 銃夢 / GUNNM (Battle Angel Alita). The culprit, a homeless man known as Huang, was reported to have looked up for houses to rent on websites, contacting potential landlords. One landlord who agreed to meet him was showing him around the house, when he was savagely attacked by Huang with a hammer, then being slashed about the neck with a machete. The man died instantly. Not content with that, Huang searched the man’s private documents, and locating his address, proceeded to go to the man’s house. There he proceed to attack the man’s wife and son after tricking them into believing he was sent by her husband. Injuring himself in the process, Huang went to a hospital, ironically the same one that was treating the wife and son. Having heard the wife’s description of him, hospital staff contacted police, and he was soon arrested. During interrogation the day after the grisly deed, Huang maintained that he was influenced by a manga, said to be GUNMM. He said he was “trying to pass his misfortune onto others by killing”. Taiwanese newspaper reports were skeptical, stating that this might just be a diversionary tactic, as unlike manga inspired murders in Japan, there were no manga that is being distributed in Taiwan with such a story, including GUNNM, which whilst violent, tends to concentrate on sci-fi battles and hyper-technology. In response to this, Taiwanese manga distributor Tong Li stated that they would be checking the work to see if there is any truth to his claims. They also offered their condolence’s family of the deceased. Via United Daily News and NOWNews.
