Author Archives: dakazu

Vampire Hunter D

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Vampire Hunter D

A novel about a mysterious hunter, known only as “D”, who travels the post-apocalyptic world defeating monsters and vampires.

Here’s a rare instance where I’m actually talking about a novel and not a manga! I fell in love with Vampire Hunter D after seeing the first anime film. I’m a huge fan of Yoshitaka Amano from his video game work like Final Fantasy and Front Mission. When they started releasing the novels in English I bought them as soon as possible.

The actual books by Hideyuki Kikuchi are good but nothing great. They fall under the category of pulp fiction so it’s filled with action and racy content. I’ve read through more then a few Vampire Hunter D books and they’re entertaining but also highly forgettable. I would only recommend this book series if you’re a big fan of the anime. They’re available from Dark Horse Books.

We’ll be reviewing Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust this month so I look forward to discussing that with the other hosts.

~dakazu

Creature!

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Creature!

A horror manga about grotesque monsters emerging from the ground after an earthquake across Japan.

We’ve discussed this manga on an older episode.

Wow, I didn’t know that they put out an English release of Hakaijuu! Though I question the generic title of Creature!, this series is great if you want to experience what Darfox calls “creepy monster pasta”! Shingo Honda has excellent monster designs are plenty of gory action to keep you satisfied!

Available in English from Akita Publishing Co.,Ltd.

~dakazu

Gyo

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Gyo

A horror manga about aquatic animals rising from the sea using metal legs powered by a death stench who terrorize the lands.

This is another classic series from Junji Ito. I personally rank it fairly low compared to Ito’s other works. While the horror of the device powered shark is terrifying, Gyo pretty much can be summed up as an extended fart joke. It’s definitely unique and horrific but I would recommend Uzumaki over this one.

Available in English from VIZ.

~dakazu

315 – One Shot 30 – Utsubora: The Story of a Novelist

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315 – One Shot 30 – Utsubora: The Story of a Novelist 

Welcome to the start of our October Extravaganza at Manga Machinations! We’re going to be covering creepy, spooky, and horrific content all month long! To start, we’re doing a One Shot on Utsubora: The Story of a Novelist! Dawn from The Anime Nostalgia Podcast joins us to discuss Asumiko Nakamura’s psychological thriller about a novelist haunted by a mysterious woman who threatens to expose his secret of plagiarism!!!

Follow Dawn on Twitter! Listen to The Anime Nostalgia Podcast!

Continue reading →

Ushio and Tora

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Ushio and Tora

A manga about the boy Ushio who releases the monster Tora from his imprisonment in his storage basement from the Beast Spear that grants humans incredible power in exchange for their soul. Now Ushio must battle demons while keeping Tora in check.

We’ve discussed this on an older episode.

An absolute masterpiece of shonen action horror manga from Kazuhiro Fujita. Fujita ends up cramming all his ideas into his debut series, for better and for worse. While some story arcs drag a bit, all of them contain amazingly horrific art work that still creeps me out today.

Unfortunately the manga has never been officially licensed but you can watch the excellent anime adaptation while praying for a release like Morgana does!

~dakazu

The Panorama of Hell

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The Panorama of Hell

A horror manga about a painter obsessed with blood and various stories about his family members and their strange obsessions.

This is my first time reading through a Hideshi Hino book and I have to say I was shocked at how effective he is as a horror storyteller. In the beginning Hino’s slightly cartoony character art came off as charming and cute. They juxtaposed stories of blood flowers and boys sucking on pig eyeballs. The drawing seemed tame compared to the content they were trying to portray.

However halfway through the book I found myself being really horrified by the casual cases of domestic violence, both against women and children. The painter’s family was prone to violence and torture and these acts transformed the cartoony art into something more sinister. I really praise Hino for his art and I really loved of black ink blood filled with white dots representing snow.

Unfortunately The Panorama of Hell is out of print along with all of Hideshi Hino‘s English releases. Hopefully a publisher will rescue Hino’s works and release them so more manga fans can experience his unique art and dark themed stories.

~dakazu

The Drifting Classroom

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The Drifting Classroom

A horror manga about an Elementary school that gets transported to a strange remote world.

The Drifting Classroom is a classic horror manga by the famed master of horror Kazuo Umezz. The series is pretty tame compared to more extreme horror works but that is due to The Drifting Classroom being targeted for children. In that sense this manga may not be suited for most horror fans but if you want to see where Junji Ito got his inspiration from then I recommend you read this series.

It’s available in English from VIZ.

~dakazu

Tomie

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Tomie

A collection of various horror stories about a femme fatale named Tomie.

We’ve discussed this on an older episode.

Tomie is Junji Ito‘s debut work and in that sense it isn’t his greatest. Most of his stories aren’t supernatural or even that scary. However this series definitely established Ito on his journey into the master of horror he is today. I recommend it to fans of Junji Ito who want to see where he got started.

Available in English from VIZ.

~dakazu

AV Danyu Hajimemashita

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AV Danyu Hajimemashita

An autobiographical manga by a former male adult porn star, Erefante Kaeruno, explaining how he got started and behind-the-screen secrets behind making adult videos.

This series started this year over on Kurage Bunch and I’ve been enjoying it a lot. After Kaeruno became unemployed and divorced, he met an adult video producer who convinced him to participate in a bukkake scene but he was suddenly put on the spot to do a 1-on-1 scene. This manga follows him as he gets started on his career while explaining the ins and outs of shooting Japanese pornography. Much like Sexy Joyuu-chan – Girigiri Mosaic, you learn a lot of secrets like how they utilize the mosaic censorship to hide a dropper behind the penis that can squirt fluid to simulate ejaculation.

This is definitely a book for adults but a very entertaining one if you’re interested in the process of making adult entertainment.

~dakazu

Sousou no Frieren

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Sousou no Frieren

A manga about the elf Frieren who was the magician in the hero’s party who saved the world. A story follows Frieren decades later as she decides to start traveling the lands right after the hero passes away.

I really like this manga! The story setup feels like an extended epilogue to a role playing game. Because Frieren is one of the only living survivors of her party, there’s a lot of flashbacks that show how a small kind gesture she did in the past has largely effected a town. It gives the who series a real melancholy tone as Frieren remembers her short time with the other adventurers fondly. Really great job by Tsukasa Abe and Kanehito Yamada bringing this somber tale to life!

~dakazu