is a science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 by Moto Hagio

Moto Hagio

is a manga artist born on May 12, 1949 in Ōmuta, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, though she currently lives in Saitama Prefecture. She is considered a "founding mother" of modern shōjo manga, especially shōnen-ai. She is also a member of the Year 24 Group...

. It is set in a near-future Japan, and begins with a girl, Jyujo Aoba, who has been in a coma since she was nine years old, who was discovered next to her parents' bodies, with their hearts inside her stomach. To discover why she killed her parents, a specialist enters her coma dreams and finds that Jyujo is dreaming about and simultaneously creating the future. Barbara Ikai was serialised in Shogakukan's Flowers

Flowers (magazine)

Flowers is a Japanese monthly josei manga magazine published by Shogakukan. It is issued on the 28th of every month.- Currently running manga-series:*Barbara Ikai*Fushigi Yūgi Genbu Kaiden*Iguana Girl-External links:*...

between September 2002 and August 2005 and is collected in 4 volumes. Barbara Ikai won the 2006 Nihon SF Taisho Award

Nihon SF Taisho Award

Nihon SF Taishō Award is a Japanese science fiction award. It has been compared to the Nebula Award as it is given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan or SFWJ...

, and is the first manga that has won this award. It is published in Traditional Chinese by Sharp Point Press

Sharp Point Press

Sharp Point Press is a Taiwanese publisher of manga and music. It was founded in June 1982.-History:*1982 - Company established. Mainly publishes military and models related books.*1985 - Started publishing annual Zodiac fortune telling handbook....

.

Development

Hagio "wanted to do something about meat" when she created the story for Barbara Ikai, and felt that the story "turned out kind of gross". Thorn felt that Hagio also used her interest in the right and left brain

Lateralization of brain function

A longitudinal fissure separates the human brain into two distinct cerebral hemispheres, connected by the corpus callosum. The sides resemble each other and each hemisphere's structure is generally mirrored by the other side. Yet despite the strong anatomical similarities, the functions of each...

, and the origin of language

Origin of language

The origin of language is the emergence of language in the human species. This is a highly controversial topic. Empirical evidence is so limited that many regard it as unsuitable for serious scholars. In 1866, the Linguistic Society of Paris went so far as to ban debates on the subject...

. She read Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky

Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...

's Noam Chomsky on The Generative Enterprise, A discussion with Riny Hyybregts and Henk van Riemsdijk., Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

Vilayanur Subramanian "Rama" Ramachandran, born 1951, is a neuroscientist known for his work in the fields of behavioral neurology and visual psychophysics...

's Phantoms in the Brain : Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind, and Andrew B. Newberg

Andrew B. Newberg

Andrew Newberg, M.D. is an American Neuroscientist who is the Director of Research at the Myrna Brind Center for Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Medical College, an Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies and an Associate Professor of Radiology at the University of...

's Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief.

Volume list