On first look, there seem to be no connection between the very apparent "backgammon" heading and the slender magna figure pointing to the shooting/stabbing wound on his chest. A through web research did not suggest a relation between the backgammon game and a serious of art books published by the highly appreciated Japanese magna artist Kazuya Minekura.

Backgammon 1, Backgammon 2 and Backgammon 3, feature illustrations from Minekura’s series of magna (Japan’s most characteristic comics) books, yet desolated from their narrative context, including her praised Saiyuki series, hard knock life take on a classic 1590 Chinese Novel translated as Journey to the West, as well as her Bus Gamer, Salty Dog and Wild Adapter series, less known outside Japan. Backgammon-Remix is a compilation book with high quality images from the Backgammon books.

We’ll close this scholastic post with pictures from the 2008 Japan Open, the most important backgammon tournament in Japan: