The Lives of Eccentrics

The Lives of Eccentrics (変人偏屈列伝) is a series of short stories written by Hirohiko Araki and illustrated by him and his assistant, Hirohisa Onikubo, released between 1989 and 2003. A hardcover volume compiling all the stories was released by Shueisha in 2004, and was converted into a paperback in 2012.

The manga explores the lives of several famous eccentrics and bizarre real-life people. Each chapter features a different story and concludes within the same chapter. The only exception is Ty Cobb's Story with two chapters.

Characters

 * Tai Kabbu (タイ・カッブ): An American Major League Baseball player renowned for his great skill at the sport and his irascible character.
 * Yoshio Kou (康 芳夫): A Chinese-Japanese producer and showman who wanted to show Japan the weirdest things imaginable, such as his 1976 venture to get an alleged human-chimpanzee hybrid named Oliver to have sex with a human woman on live television.
 * , a.k.a. Typhoid Mary (腸チフスのメアリー): An Irish-American woman identified as the first asymptomatic carrier of the pathogen who spread the disease in New York in the early 20th century by working as a cook.
 * , owner of the Winchesutā Misuterī Hausu (ウィンチェスター・ミステリー・ハウス): An American woman who inherited her father-in-law's vast fortune made from manufacturing a repeating rifle used in the American Civil War. She believed the ghosts of the soldiers killed by these rifles sought to kill her, and thus continuously had her mansion built in San Jose, California, with so many confusing rooms and passageways such that the vengeful spirits that haunted her would be kept at bay.
 * The Koriyā-Kyōdai (コリヤー兄弟): Two American brothers who were known for their hoarding habits, and whose house in Harlem was a target for thieves so they set up many traps in the house to catch them.
 * Nikora Tesura (ニコラ・テスラ): An eccentric Serbian-American scientist and engineer known for his rivalry with, particularly over his own invention of the alternating current.

Chapters
While the base composition is provided by Araki, he only drew the chapters on Typhoid Mary and the Winchester Mystery House. The other chapters were drawn by Hirohisa Onikubo, with Nobuyuki Fujii assisting him on the Nikola Tesla chapter.


 * 1) History's Greatest Hitting Machine! Ty Cobb (Part 1) (史上最高！強打製造機『タイ・カッブ』（前編）): Originally published in Allman No. 10, 2001
 * 2) History's Greatest Hitting Machine! Ty Cobb (Part 2) (史上最高！強打製造機『タイ・カッブ』（後編）): Originally published in Allman No. 11, 2001
 * 3) Showman of the Century Who Launched Oliver: Yoshio Kou (オリバー君を仕掛けた世紀の興行師『康 芳夫』): Originally published in Ultra Jump March 2003 issue
 * 4) The Real Ultimate Choice: Typhoid Mary (実在した究極の選択『腸チフスのメアリー』): Originally published in Ultra Jump September 2003 issue
 * 5) The Mysterious Mansion the Widow Continued to Build: Winchester Mystery House (未亡人が増築しつづけた謎の館 『ウィンチェスター・ミステリー・ハウス』): Originally published in Ultra Jump August 2003 issue
 * 6) The Brothers Nobody Knew: Collyer Brothers (誰も知らない兄弟『コリヤー兄弟』): Originally published in Allman No.2, 2002
 * 7) The Genius Who Made Edison Cower: Nikola Tesla (エジソンを震えあがらせた大天才『ニコラ・テスラ』): Originally published in Super Jump June 1989

Trivia

 * All the stories are based on real life people. While the story of each character is respected, Araki takes liberties necessary to incorporate his narrative style.

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