Petshop of Horrors

A manga about a mysterious pet shop hidden in Chinatown run by Count D that deals in legendary and fantasy creatures.

We’ve discussed this on a previous episode.

This is a really great! I really enjoyed Matsuri Akino‘s Colorful Crow so I was looking forward to reading this. What I didn’t expect was for Akino to present the fantasy creatures in human forms. It adds an extra beautiful and creepy aspect to these episodic morality plays about the human buyers who often mishandle their creatures. This usually ends in tragedy which reveals the actual animal forms of each creature. Akino’s art is deliciously steeped in 80’s/90’s shoujo. You have to enjoy that style if you want to enjoy this book. Unfortunately the English editions are now out of print. Someone please bring it back for me and Morgana!

~dakazu