In 1995, after establishing himself definitively in Tokyo, Arias was introduced by a friend to Taiyō Matsumoto's manga , a work that profoundly affected him. "Tekkonkinkreet" ("Tekkon") is a metaphysical coming-of-age story concerning two orphans, and and their struggle to survive in a pan-Asian metropolis, , beset by evil. Of first discovering "Tekkon", Arias recalls that a friend loaned him "Tekkon" to read, "And that was it. Hooked. ...I cried many times reading it, also a new experience for me to be moved to tears by a manga.""