A Cruel God Reigns

A Cruel God Reigns
Cover of A Cruel God Reigns volume 1 as published by Shogakukan
残酷な神が支配する (Zankokuna Kami ga Shihai Suru)
Manga
Written by	Moto Hagio
Published by	Shogakukan
Demographic	Josei
Magazine	Petit Flower
Original run	March 19, 1993 – August 20, 2001
Volumes	17

A Cruel God Reigns (Japanese: 残酷な神が支配する, Hepburn: Zankokuna Kami ga Shihai Suru^?, aka. "A Cruel God Rules in Heaven") is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Moto Hagio. The manga was serialized in Shogakukan's josei manga magazine, Petit Flower. Moto Hagio was awarded the first Osamu Tezuka Culture Award Excellence prize in 1997 for A Cruel God Reigns.

The story follows the ordeals Jeremy endures at the hands of his sexually-abusive stepfather, Greg. He does not tell his emotionally unstable mother for fear of destroying her dream of a happy marriage, but tampers with the brakes in his stepfather's car, killing his stepfather and accidentally killing his mother too. The stepfather's older son Ian begins to suspect Jeremy of involvement in his father's death, and tries to get him to confess.

Hagio describes her impetus to write the story thusly: "Because of my problems with my parents, I did a lot of reading about psychology and counseling. Among those stories were a lot about stories about sexual abuse. I always had a hard time understanding why other members of the family, particularly the mother, does not step in and help. In order to search for the answer to this question, I started that story. [... ] I had the idea, but it was such a dark, heavy story, it took me 10 years to find a way to put it into manga form. When I started A Cruel God Reigns, I told the editor it would probably last two years, but it took a lot longer; it took nine years [to finish the series]." Hagio found that Julian (Ian) in particular was difficult to characterise. The name comes from Al Alvarez's 1972 book, The Savage God: A Study of Suicide.

Shogakukan published the manga's 17 tankōbon volumes between March 19, 1993 and August 20, 2001, having decided to bring the series to a close in September 2000. After completing A Cruel God Reigns, Hagio took a year's hiatus from manga. The manga was republished into 10 kanzenban volumes between October 15, 2004 and February 15, 2005.