By Comix
I don’t think I need to tell you that Japan is chock full of comics. I mean, just an outrageous amount of comics. From convenience stores to bus stations to comic cafes, you can literally spend your entire day reading the things and still accomplish everything you need to do. With manga hitting the US/European shores like so much tsunami refuge, it’s a wonder that there is anything left to translate for world readers. Well, let me tell you sir, the horror manga genre is still in desperate need of filling. My previous reviews of Junji Ito, Kazuo Umezu, Suehiro Maruo and others is literally the tip of the iceberg of what Japan is pumping out of its terror filled veins. There are creators that go so deep into horror it defies convention, with art ranging from slow-burning eeriness to over the top gore and stories that, honestly, freak me out. I mean, I’m looking over my shoulder for ghosts to come rip my guts out of my mouth, that’s how creepy they can get.
Though it might be many a day before any of these comics see a true adaption, I’m hoping maybe someone who works for a company that translates manga (*cough* Dark Horse *cough* Viz) will see this list and make my dreams come true. Until then, I present my picks for upcoming translations.
Fuan No Tame (Seeds of Anxiety) by Masaaki Nakayama
Seeds of Anxiety is a very atmospheric comic made up of short stories revolving around a certain theme, like school or strange visitors. When I say short, I mean each story is literally about three to five pages long. It’s a very simple set up: a character goes about their day when suddenly, a quick turn down the wrong road or a look at the wrong place, and something bizarre quickly fills up their vision. A ghost or an other-worldy creature suddenly appears in a place that it was never at; a point that on any other day at any other time would be completely benign. It’s very similar to that foreboding feeling you get when you are completely sure that something is right over your shoulder, but imagine that it is; that that monster you convinced yourself isn’t real, really is and it’s gonna follow you home.
This comic is amazing. The short stories are a perfect way to address that completely irrational feeling that something is slightly off with the world. That if if you look between the cracks in your walls at just the right angle, you can see all those little creatures that macabre writers can only hint at. I love the fact that there is literally no resolution in any of the stories. The characters see the ghosts, the ghosts see them, and the story ends there, on a very high tension note. It really lets your imagination run wild with what happened to that person after the story ends. The art is also very down-played and doesn’t have any of that big-eyed, goofy shit going on. It’s a very quiet way of telling very quiet stories.
There are three volumes of Seeds of Anxiety and a follow up volume Seeds of Anxiety Plus published by ACW Champion in Japan. Unfortunately, I haven’t found any more work by Nakayama and would love to see him take on longer works. Until then though, I’ll stay scared with Seeds of Anxiety.
Anamorphosis no Meijuu (The Dark Beast Anamorphosis) by Shintaro Kago
Oh man, Shintaro Kago. I can’t begin to describe how completely messed up and absolutely brilliant this guy is. He is considered to be one of the biggest underground ero-guro (erotic-grotesque) artists in Japan. His work is large, over the top, usually satirical, sometimes serious, super gory, and as artistically intricate as a kid with ADD high on meth. He straddles the line between genius and ‘what the fuck is wrong with this guy?!’ so well, it makes you question his sanity. Though he has many works to choose from, I picked The Dark Beast Anamorphosis because it’s a good starting point with what this guy is capable of without exposing you to his more messed up art. Trust me, his stuff gets fucked up.
The Dark Beast is a semi-longer work accented by a several short stories. The title work is about a group of people who participate in a reality TV show similar to the ‘ghost hunting’ shows, in which they recreate murder scenes and have people complete challenges. This particular group is dealing with the ghost of a guy who died on the set of a kaiju (monster) movie and is rumored to still haunt the studio. Though the story sounds like pretty standard stuff, it’s the amount of detail that Kago put in to the comic that really sets it apart. He faithfully recreates the little buildings that were used in the old movies with the detail of an experienced architect, and it’s a good example of his technical skill. Also, there’s this twist at the end of the comic that seriously blows your mind. I still don’t know how he managed to think of it, let alone work it out on paper, but I’m telling you, it’s impressive. The follow-up stories are a random collection of comedy and gore, another good introduction on his range of absurdity and just plain gross stuff.
Though Shintaro Kago is still mostly recognized only in Japan, he’s seeing a little bit of state-side recognition. Vice Magazine picked up a few commissions of his for a while and tossed them in the back of the issues, and he’s getting a huge amount of exposure thanks to the internet. Like I said, he has a lot of work that he’s done and it’s a damn shame that literally none (save for The Dark Beast, which was translated in France) have gotten translated. I also feel like I should warn you again when I say, his stuff gets messed up. He’s got a short story called Drafting a Water Goddess where young women are killed and their bloated corpses are raced down a river for the title of the village’s water goddess. Another one called Fetus Collection is a satire on proper Japanese women where ladies from a town get together and arrange fetuses in their hair in a tasteful manner for fun. Yeah, it’s that kind of weird. But if you’re not into that, he is a great artist and is amazingly detailed in his work. Check him out.
Manhole by Tsutsui Tetsuya
Manhole is a really good comic if you’re into biological horror, which apparently Japan is really into. In fact, the original The Ring series actually turned into a sweeping virus of little ghost girls that destroyed the world. Anyway, Manhole revolves around a ring worm from Bostwana that has invaded Japan and is driving everyone who is infected to kill the people around them. As the virus makes its way through the infected body, it messes up their brains something fierce until the person finds themselves in the middle of a crowded area literally exploding their bodies onto everyone. It’s like a really nasty zombie infection but instead of biting to spread the infection, they explode. The comic follows two detectives who originally believe they are dealing with widespread random killings, until their investigation leads them to something a lot more epidemic.
Honestly, I’m not one for biological horror, but this comic really had me going. It’s well paced without getting too slow and really brings the terror of a mass virus close to home. It also reads like a good detective novel, so it has a good mass appeal to people who aren’t too into horror. The art is solid and, like Seeds of Anxiety, stays away from that cartoony stuff and goes for more realistic art. The creator, Tsutsui Tetsuya, has several other works out as well, but once again none of it is translated, save for in France. Seriously, France is where it’s at when it comes to horror manga. They get all the good stuff. Tetsuya’s work generally tends revolve around technology and virus horror, ranging anywhere from people’s obsessions to computers and video games to, well, bio-horror and just plain murder.
Manhole is a three volume comic that was published by YG Comic in Japan. His other work is also published by the same company and tend to run anywhere from one to three volumes as well. Really, I wouldn’t be surprised if it did get picked up to get translated sometime soon, as it’s a really good example of our modern world and its intricacies. I’ll keep you posted.
Soil by Atsushi Kaneko
Soil is an epic of a comic about a town that is literally infected with ‘the weird.’ You know what I mean, random strange happenings begin to appear around a perfectly normal town until the residents can’t take it anymore and start acting just as weird as their homestead. Well, let me backtrack a little. The manga actually begins with a family that just up and disappears from a town called Soil New Town. Two detectives are put on the case and what is originally thought to be a routine disappearance turns into a case of a claustrophobic town slowly forced to face the strangeness of the universe. Beginning with a huge mountain of salt that appears at a local school, the town starts to completely unravel as secrets about the missing family begin to come out, the local teenagers run away and start their own cult, and weirder and weirder forms of destruction magically appear around town. But who is really messing with these people? Is it aliens, is it ghosts, is it mass hysteria? No one knows and as the detectives struggle to to solve the case, they find themselves more and more drawn into their bizarre world.
The comic is just as much a supernatural as it is a philosophical work. The creator, Atsushi Kaneko has an amazing ability to take these people, people who could be your neighbors or friends, and force them to look outside themselves. To see the world for what it is: random, beautiful, and terrifying all at the same time. The way the town falls apart is done so masterfully that you really feel for these guys, but you also know that it has to happen, something that perhaps has to happen to all of us. All of the characters are fantastically thought out, each having their own their personality and quirks that separate them from the rest of the crowd. There are 11 volumes of Soil and I believe it’s completely finished and published by Beam Comics, a Japanese comic company that aims at older men.
Fun fact about Kaneko’s work: he is actually the one guy on my list that has had a comic translated into English. Bambi and Her Pink Gun (translated by Digital Manga Publishing) was released in 2005 and is about a girl named Bambi who has a bounty on her head and is being hunted down by every hit-man in the area. Very fast-paced, it’s considered to be a mash-up of Love and Rockets meets Sin City with a bit of punk mixed in for good measure. I’ve read it and it’s a really good work to start with, but I want Soil. It’s so much more in-keeping with what Kaneko is capable of doing and really sticks with you.
Hideout by Masasumi Kakizaki
Hideout got really freaky, really fast. It’s about a man named Seiichi who one day, decides he’s going to kill his wife. But he’s not just going to kill her, oh no; he’s going to take her out into the woods and chase her down with a knife in the middle of the night. As he takes her out to the forest to ‘do what must be done,’ they are suddenly assaulted by a man who had been living in the forest by himself and kidnaps them. This is where the comic begins its slow descent into Hell, as the couple is held in underground bunkers in a cave for no foreseeable reason. As the man explores the depths of their prison, he finds other people who are held down there and are slowly being dismembered so they can be eaten by their kidnapper. Suddenly, it’s a fight between Seiichi’s last shreds of humanity to save the suffering people and his missing wife, and his creeping insanity that is threatening to destroy his mind.
This comic seriously gave me the shivers. If you have claustrophobia, I suggest steering clear of this one, especially since the comic spends most of its time deep in the woods, down in a cave, trying to stay away from a hungry cannibal. I guess it’s a bit like The Descent, but with just one guy instead of a whole army of blind, Lovecraftian-type creatures. The art is mostly emerged in dark shadows and heavy inks and it really brings out the terror that the victims feel down there. Kakizaki is kind of an eclectic guy compared with the other creators on here as he doesn’t just stick to one genre, but can be found doing work in adventure, drama, and sci-fi. I haven’t read the other works, but if they’re anything like Hideout, they’re pretty awesome. Hideout is a single volume comic originally published in chunks in a comic magazine called Big Comic Superior. There is a rumor that the comic has gotten licensed, but by who and where, I have no idea. Hopefully we’ll see it soon.
Well, there it is my friends. Five horror manga that I feel needs to get translated as soon humanly possible. If I could, I would demand it now, now, NOW! Do you feel like I left anything out? Have any ideas? Feel free to comment! I’m always up for new horror comics.