Category Archives: dakazu’s reading

Various manga dakazu’s read with some commentary

Choudouryoku Mouko Daishuurai

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Choudouryoku Mouko Daishuurai

An alternate history manga where the Mongol empire was established by the dominance of special “Mongol Horses” that are actually the dismembered and regrown hands of a giant.

We’ve discussed this on a recent episode.

Shintaro Kago is a master of body horror and visuals that make you skin crawl. We’ve covered Super-Dimensional Love Gun last year which absolutely disgusted us. However I found Choudouryoku Mouko Daishuurai easier to stomach since Kago tied this concept of giant hands used as horses with historical events that shaped modern society. It was interesting to read how Vasco da Gama successfully brought the “Mongol Horses” back to Europe or how Germans developed various “Mongol Horse” powered tanks for superiority during World War 1. But make no mistake, this book still includes a ton of disturbing body horror that Kago is known for.

~dakazu

Godsider

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Godsider

A manga about Reiki Kikoku, a man born between evil and good who becomes a Godsider destined to vanquish Devilsiders who plan on conquering all for Satan.

This is a gory battle manga from the 1980’s when that genre was popularized by titles like Fist of the North Star and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. Godsider‘s gimmick was that the good and evil sides were loosely based around Judaist and Christian mythology. It’s a completely decent action series by Kouji Maki but it’s personally special to me because it was my first introduction to extremely gory battle manga. I read when I was visiting my father’s hometown in Shikoku, Japan. My much older cousin had it and it blew my poor ten year-old brain. I had nightmares from weeks because of this book. Looking at it now it’s really not that scary but to my sheltered childhood self it was the equivalent of looking at a snuff film.

~dakazu

Off Village: Daisan Bougyoheki

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Off Village: Daisan Bougyoheki

A manga about a secret village hidden in Japan where the dead reanimate. When the reanimated eat a living human they transform into a horrifying skinless monster.

The art work by VOID is very impressive here. While the reanimated zombie-like humans are nothing special, the skinless monster looks very terrifying. My main issue with this manga is the various plot holes that arise from the backstory of this village. The government secret unknown to even the prime minister premise is always eyerolling and always prone to illogical setups. It makes me feel appreciate horror stories that don’t try to explain everything because ultimately the explanation leads to more problems.

~dakazu

Kemono Shima

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Kemono Shima

A manga about a group of high schoolers who are trapped in a school on a remote island that has been overrun by dogs gone feral.

This horror manga is rote but doesn’t have a bad premise. Good horror troupes of the survivors arguing and causing more problems is done well. There’s definitely some horror to be had with the dogs that attack the students as well. It’s just that the art by Hakubahashi is a bit lacking. If the art could convey the terror of the dogs and the gruesome deaths a bit better this would have been a horror manga to remember.

~dakazu

Michi Jigen

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Michi Jigen

A manga about a man who discovers his city has been stuck in a time loop for over 5000 years. Breaking it exposes him and the city’s residents to attacks from evolved humans known as consciousness-information-lifeforms.

We’ve discussed this on a previous episode.

What a weird and strange manga.

The creator Souta Sugawara is a CG artist known as SOTA. He created this manga by combining CG artwork and tracing over photos of real life people in poses. The combined result is equally strange as it is off putting. On one hand the CG artwork is fairly unique but it looks really out of place in a black and white manga format. That combined with what is essentially photos of Sugawara’s friends and family posing makes this book unlike anything you’ve seen from a traditional manga. The closest work that I can think up is Gun Dragon Sigma. This was fascinating to read for how unique it was but not necessarily because it was good. Two volumes of strange art and strange story is probably the perfect length for this oddity.

~dakazu

Nikusogi Mura

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Nikusogi Mura

A manga about mysterious remote Nikusogi village rumored to practice cannibalism. When high school teen Ryu Natsume receives a letter from his missing older brother he seeks out the village. There Ryu is hunted by the Nikusogibito, a ghostly killer who skins his victims.

The premise for this horror story is alright. Kei Aomi does a decent job of stringing you along to the true nature of Nikusogi village. The problem here is that ABD Inoue‘s art just isn’t scary. Half of the Nikusogibito’s face skill is missing but it just doesn’t covey any horror to me. Perhaps I’m just numb to manga gore in but a horror manga that isn’t scary is not getting a recommendation from me.

~dakazu

Akujiki no Maria

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Akujiki no Maria

A manga about St. Avline Academy which houses twelve female students. One night at dinner a student is killed during a blackout. Since the teachers refuse to report the murder to the police it’s up to the student Kei Homura to track down the killer and kill them herself.

This is manga is really dull. Everything from the story pacing to the art fails to convey horror or build tension. There’s flashbacks that suggest Kei has a troubled past but it was so rote that my eyes glazed over. I’m pretty sure this was canceled since I couldn’t track down a second volume. As least the artist Ryu Kaname is currently drawing a manga about a woman who makes parfaits for the demon lord and that seems much more successful for them.

~dakazu

7 Billion Needles

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7 Billion Needles

A manga about a solitary high school girl who ends up being vaporized by a meteor that is an alien entity. The alien resurrects her while sharing her body and tasks her to help it hunt down another alien. Loosely based on Hal Clement‘s science fiction story Needle.

We’ve discussed this on a previous episode.

By all accounts 7 Billion Needles is a fine science fiction series with body horror elements. My issue with this manga mostly lies in the fact that I read Parasyte before reading this. Every aspect from the art to the story in this book pales to Parasyte and their similarities make it hard not to compare them. Nobuaki Tadano is completely competent as a manga artist but it’s just hard to recommend this when you can go read Parasyte instead.

Available in English from Kodansha.

~dakazu

Abara

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Abara

A manga about humans fighting a losing battle against alien invaders intent on destroying the Earth.

We’ve discussed this on an older episode.

Another wonderful book by Tsutomu Nihei! Abara was made before Nihei focused on commercial manga so it still carries a lot of his distinct darker ink work from earlier in his career. I personally prefer this style that was founded in BLAME!. If you’re a fan of BLAME! more than Knights of Sidonia than I would recommend this to you. It maybe thematically the same “Dying Earth” genre that Nihei uses but it’s such a visually stunning read with some truly grotesque body horror.

Available in English from VIZ.

~dakazu

Shokuryou Jinrui Re: Starving Re:velation

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Shokuryou Jinrui Re: Starving Re:velation

The sequel to Starving Anonymous where human society now revolves around the honor of becoming food for the “divine beings”.

This is pretty great! There’s a real good tension in the first chapter where we follow our main character in high school. He’s afraid of dying and immediately shunned by his teachers and classmates for not chopping off his finger for the “divine beings”. This sequel makes me excited to read it because I want to know how we arrived here from the ending of Starving Anonymous. These good hooks are what I expect from Yuu Kuraishi‘s writing. The later reveal of the “divine beings” is where Kazu Inabe‘s horrific monster designs really shine. Inabe is a master of gore so this is definitely not for the faint of heart. Hopefully this will be a future English release from Kodansha.

Available to read online in Japanese on Comic Days.

~dakazu