March 26, 2019 ▸ People, True Crime

Episode 376: Issei Sagawa: “Sane But Evil”

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On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk a little true crime and discuss the murderous cannibal from Japan—Issei Sagawa. In short, Sagawa shot a woman, defiled her corpse, ate everything from her arms to her anus, and got of scott free, even becoming a celebrity in Japan for his trouble!

Issei Sagawa was born to a wealthy corporate family, but he was premature to the point of it being life threatening. He never fully grew as a result, and ended up being only 4 foot 10 inches and a bit deformed and weak. Indeed, he even equated himself to a short, weak, ugly monkey. We’re not here to disagree. According to his own accounts, from as early as first grade, he saw the human body and wanted to eat it. From bestiality to wanting to eat his classmate’s thighs, he was a disturbed and disturbing child.

As he grew up, he turned out to be fairly smart, getting admitted to some of the world’s most prestigious colleges. While at one such college at the age of 23, he fell for a German girl he met on the street and followed her home and snuck in through her window wearing a Frankenstein mask. Like you do. Once there, he planned to just grab some of her flesh and run for it. He didn’t want to kill anyone, just grab some takeout. He did what all prepared killers would do and came at her sleeping form with an umbrella. She whooped his butt and sent him running, where the police caught him and ultimately let him go.

The real event happened when he was studying in France, and he met Renée Hartevelt, a 25 year old Norwegian. They started a causal relationship around his pretense of needing her to tutor him in foreign languages. All the while, he was having hookers come to his room every night and trying to kill them but backing out before he could shoot them. So, after some courtship and lots of tea, Issei Sagawa sniffed the seat that Renée sat in, recorded her talking, and then shot her in the neck and killed her. After he recovered from passing out, the true madness began. He started to ingest her to steal her beauty, intelligence, and strength. He ate her thighs, dug around in her fat. He had some fried, ate some raw, and went between raping her corpse and eating her corpse. This one’s bad.

So, how did he get caught? What led the police back to him? What was his favorite body part? What happened when he tried to eat her anus raw, and how did cooking it affect his opinion? How come he got away with it and walked out of a mental institution back in Japan 18 months after he confessed the murder? Who ruled him “sane but evil”? How in the hell did he become a celebrity in Japan, and is his art work any good? Listen, laugh, learn.

Interview of his life now: https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1372752/poetic-justice

Vice Article: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/7bwvvx/whos-hungry-502-v16n1