From Vertical Inc.! Long considered as one of Osamu Tezuka's most political narratives, Ayako is also considered to be one of his most challenging. The Tenge clan was once a powerful family of landowners living in a rural community in northern Japan. The war and American occupation have begun to erode the fabric that binds them all together. The political, economic and social change begins to tear at the Tenge siblings, and they turn their collective rage on the newest member of the Tenge family, the youngest sister Ayako.