Well, as promised, just in time for Halloween, here comes my review of Be Very Afraid of Kanako Inuki, her latest English-translated release here in the US for no doubt decades by this point.

 

To start off, I would like to discuss the packaging that the book came in.  I can't remember if the back cover was all that special (and can't check), but the front cover was quite artfully done.  As you see above, a distorted, doll-like face grins up at us from a sea of innocent pink roses.  It is almost too on-the-nose in that regard; that is pretty much what you're getting when you pull back the cover.  Initially, I had been expecting a thick hardcover book, more along the lines of a Junji Ito collection.  I got a small and thin paperback.

 

The book does begin with a table of contents but also, strangely, a set of introductions and profiles of the characters we would meet going forward.

 

Only 12 hours later do I realize that this "collection" is indeed a collection: a sampling of short stories from various horror series that the author has done in her lifetime.  And these people are her various recurring protagonists and villains of said multiple series.

Anyway this collection contains stand-alones from Inuki's Presents, Bukita-Kun, Big Sis Sasori, The Haunted Examination Room, Fulfilled Wishes and The Mysterious Tatari-Chan.

 

Each selection had its own subtitle, the title of the story from each series, but I had forgotten my notebook when I left for the bookstore last night, and had to take my initial review notes down on my phone.

Thankfully, the free Amazon preview I just found just happened to contain the title page, including the subtitles, in their entirety.

"The Birthday Present" from Presents: There’s an old saying that it’s not the passage of time that makes you older on your birthday; it’s the “extra years” hidden inside your presents.  Is that why Mayuko’s old classmate Kurumi, who has never gotten any presents, has remained a child all these years, while Mayuko has grown old?

 

"Lolita" from Bukita-Kun: Little Marimo wants to grow up and become an adult.  When she encounters teen Bukita, she finds a way to get her wish, but it may wind up being more than she can handle…

 

"The Sasori Doll" from Big Sis Sasori: When bullied little sister Sanagi prays to Santa for a doll that her mean eponymous sister cannot break, both horror and warm fuzzies are found inside her stocking the next day.

 

"Lovesickness" from The Haunted Examination Room: The serious Dr. Kanawa narrates for us a case involving a bullied young girl taking refuge in her delusions of a fictional romance.  And, as it turns out, the perfect man does exist only within her heart…literally…

 

"Happiness Hidden in the Dark" from Fulfilled Wishes: In a fantasy kingdom, a blind princess has everything that she could wish for, except sight.  She learns of a demon-summoning ritual that can grant her wish, but she soon learns to be careful what she wishes for…

 

"Friends at the Smiling Gate" from The Mysterious Tatari-Chan: When bully boy Noroi sticks a worse-than-usual “Kick Me” sign on the back of shy Tatari, it unleashes the fury of an angry mob on the hunt for a scapegoat.

 

Now, don’t get me wrong: Inuki’s works in this book do qualify as horror.  But, so far, it’s sort of a Goosebumps meets Junji Ito meets Kazuo Umezu thing, with a shoujo manga twist.

 

The stories are all centered around children, a la R. L. Stine, but that doesn’t make them any less unsettling.  The cruelty and selfishness of children is on full display here, and played for all the creepiness it is worth.  The artwork is reminiscent of Umezu: decidedly unsettling, particularly with it all being printed on stark white paper with stark black ink.  And Ito’s influence can be seen in how it is often the darknesses and madnesses lying deep within ordinary people that winds up doing them in.  Wishes are twisted in this series.  The cruel and the greedy are always punished in these stories, so you readers should probably be prepared for a definite preponderance of Downer Endings.

 

But this is fair, as it really plays into the “horror” aspect of tragedy, by definition.

 

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, there are two great tragedies in this world.  One is not getting what you want, and the other is getting it.

 

And don’t get me wrong: the artwork is definitely unsettling, but I am glad to report that it was nowhere near enough to ever make me stop reading or want to slam the book shut and look away.  (Kind of hard to slam a paperback shut.)  That is often the problem I’ve had with Junji Ito-due to his extreme attention to detail, his artwork can often be a little TOO unsettling for my tastes, no matter how good the writing is.  And while there is thankfully very little graphic blood and gore, that only helps to make it stand out even more when it does show up.

 

There are also short descriptions of the origins of each story posted beforehand, as well as several horror-related Top 5 lists that help give us a deeper insight into the author.  And they do add something to our understanding of the works.

 

But, finally, there is one thing I don’t 100% understand.  The child-friendly descriptions and “getting to know the author” stuff, plus the simplistic notes before each one that explain how to use the Japanese honorifics within (which all seasoned fans of anime and manga already know) seem to point to the series being targeted towards children.  But there is blood, mentions of adult situations, and plenty of creepy imagery that they might find too disturbing.  The labels on the back of the book say Ages 16+, so that’s another wrinkle to it.

 

But, as an adult who has literally just turned 34, I’d say that this work is definitely worth reading, for those who can handle it.

 

And, as R. L. Stine would say, have a scary day, everyone!

 

(And a scary rest of the year.  Good night, Seattle, we love you!)

 

(References.)

Status Updates

 What's up, dear readers?

Now, I know it's been almost two months since my last posting, but, rest assured, there's a reason for that.

As some of you may know, I try to average nine series or stand-alones a year to review.  And true: I haven't been to the bookstore or the library very much recently, due to my own life schedule getting in the way, but there's an actual intended reason why I haven't posted in so long.

You see, I am a frequent customer on Amazon, just like everyone else on the planet.  And sometimes Amazon's algorithms will recommend things.  Sometimes they are crap, sometimes they aren't.  And I was given the recommendation that I may be interested in something called "Be Very Afraid of Kanako Inuki".

Yeah, I've never really heard of her, either.  Apparently she's the queen of Japanese horror manga over across the pond, or something.

Well, anyway, she was the writer/artist behind this one horror manga I saw one time at Borders (feels like so long ago, doesn't it?) called School Zone.  Her art style in that was quite creepy, and it looks like that trend will continue with this upcoming book when it releases here in the U.S. on Oct. 4.

Now, I was only a kid, maybe in middle school or high school, when I first saw the English version of her School Zone manga in the stores, but I remember it being highly unsettling, mainly due to its creepy and distorted art style.  And, while I may have grown up a lot since then, I definitely still have a thing about body horror.  I much more prefer my horror to have roots in disturbing ideas, rather than images.  I mean, I can read and enjoy the synopses and tropes of Junji Ito, but I just can't bring myself to actually read his stuff because of all the disturbing pictures.

I can remember having once owned copies of his Tomie books and Volume One of Gyo, but that was, again, a long time ago, and I believe that I have only become more sensitive since then.

 

But my main point here is that, due to the release date coming so close to my October birthday, and the recommendation from Amazon, I fully intend to attempt to soldier on and read this comic in the stores on release day, in the hopes of getting a good review written for all you readers out there.

 

Although, now that I write this, I realize that, for all I know, the comic may come to our shores all shrink-wrapped shut and sealed tight due to "concerns for our children", which also keep us from reading all the good ecchi stuff.

 

In that case, then, I may be off the hook.

 

PS: I don't know about the rest of you, but that link I posted back in May/June/something for the translation of Koisuru One Piece is no longer working on my phone.

 

Thankfully, though, I just tested it, and it does seem to be working just fine on my laptop.  Disappointing, but I shall make do.

 

Just A...Quick Lick?

 

Saya Namekawa, bullied by some of the other girls in her middle school, has resolved over the summer to become a badass delinquent that nobody will mess with.  Resolved to, sure, but she still hasn't quite gotten the hang of it.  Sure, she does talk in a 4Kids-dubbed Joey Wheeler tough guy accent (no doubt a speech pattern hard-translated from the Japanese), but she's always trying (and failing) to act like a delinquent to get people's attention, however positive or negative that may be.

 

Whatever side of the spectrum it falls on, this new persona puts her at odds with the serious-minded class rep Tojo.  Funnily enough, however, Tojo not-so-subtly hides a distinctly perverted side that seems to only come out around Namekawa.

 

This leads to our heroine ending nearly every short chapter being comically molested and licked all over by Tojo, one way or another.  (All kept PG-13, for better or for worse.  Not even any undie-flashes or shirt-lifting!  But at least the vagueness is there, so us pervs can theoretically imagine anything we like.)

 

The series is basically a very readable fusion of the Japanese-style humor that I have mentioned once or twice already on this blog, as well as tasteful ecchi.  There’s almost no story; it’s a gag manga.  I will say that would probably work against it for any serious readers hoping to get invested.

 

Another interesting thing about Namekawa-san Won’t Take A Licking is that our two protagonists’ antics also seem to awaken lesbianism in many passersby who happen to witness them together, most notably a pair of visiting underclassmen girls and Namekawa’s other friend, the pet-keeper Inukai, who quickly gains a desire to add Namekawa to her collection.

 

That is, cage her up, teach her tricks and order her around.

 

So there's likely going to be escalating levels of both silliness and perviness.  Fingers crossed.

 

Don't Let The Name Fool You

 

 

Yes, dear readers, Shuzo Oshimi, the master of pervy, adolescent hormone-addled psychological horror, the man behind Flowers of Evil, Inside Mari and Happiness (the vampire manga) is at it again.

 

(Though, thankfully, this time, despite its title, he has not yet gone and warped Alice In Wonderland...yet...)

 

Long story short, the bespectacled Yo is crushing on Yui.  Also in the mix is popular boy Kei.  Given that this is an Oshimi manga, it should come as a surprise to no one that Kei teaches Yo how to masturbate (albeit thankfully not in graphic, depicted detail).  Yo later witnesses Yui confessing her love to Kei, as well as a kiss.  This triggers one of the few lust-induced nosebleeds I’ve seen in a manga that was not played for comedy.  Then Kei suddenly moves away to Hokkaido soon after, without any warning.  Years later, our protagonists are now in high school, although Yo and Yui’s relationship has become strained.  He still wants to date her, though.  On the day of first entry, a new girl appears in class who uses male honorifics and talks crudely, who hits on Yo.  It is then revealed that this new girl is their old friend Kei, returned to their hometown apparently “done with being a guy”.  There is also a scene where Kei kisses Yo in the (male) bathroom and Yo runs away.

 

The flirtatious Kei invites Yo over to her house (where she lives alone) in order to help her unpack.  Yui is also invited to this little “reunion party”, though she does openly lament the loss of the male Kei that she kissed those few years ago.  This does not turn out to be a deterrent to Kei kissing her again.  Yo promptly breaks it up and Yui runs off after Kei now turns her attention to Yo and kisses him.  The volume ends with Yo running out of the house after Yui.

 

Well, technically that’s a lie: the story of the volume ends there, but we are also treated to a brief autobiographical omake, wherein Oshimi tells us the story of his own sexual awakening and his own concepts of manliness and what it means to be a man.

 

I will admit, I had initially only picked up the title because not only were there slim pickings on my local B&N shelves, but also because it had "Alice" in the title.  (My own hang-ups and masochistic self-sabotage after the Tim Burton live-action disaster being a subject for another time.) 

I have said before that I support the rights of everyone to find love and to be who they are, and I stand by that.  And at least this is a relatively-positive (by some definition of the word) exposure of the transgender/agender/genderfluid/something-or-other experience and lifestyle.

(Actually, as of Vol. 1, Kei only says that he is "done being a guy, but is not necessarily interested in being a girl", whatever the glittery hell that means.  But I support his decisions and his rights to be so; but I just hope that it doesn't all come to a too-horrific end for any of them.)

Wish It Was Invisible

 

If you’re like me, then you use a Samsung Android phone.  And that means that your Google page when you first go on the internet immediately bombards you with ads or with the news of the day.  For a short while, back in the early months of 2022, the top article on my home page was always an invitation from Shonen Jump to look at a free preview of their apparent “new hit” Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible.

 

I did read this first preview chapter, and found it to be nothing worth writing home about.  But then I saw the first physical copies of Volume One available at my local Barnes and Noble, so I figured I would take a look.

 

Sadly, my opinion did not change.

 

Long story short, Junta Shiraishi is basically invisible to everyone at his school.  Other students sit on him and he must work hard to make sure that the teacher (who oddly resembles Ochanomizu from Astro Boy) does not mark him absent by mistake.  The only one who ever seems to notice him is classmate Nagisa Kubo (for plot reasons).

 

The series itself has very average artwork and mild amounts of comedy, but is also deadly boring.  Funnily enough, the first volume includes a translated version of the original pilot chapter that was submitted to Shonen Jump in the first place, and it somehow feels worlds better than the actual finished product that we wound up getting.

 

One small thing that seperates Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible from something like Teasing Master Takagi-san or Komi Can’t Communicate or something like that is that not only does Shiraishi have a baby brother named Seita, but Kubo also has an older sister named Akina.

 

And that’s it.

 

Finally, I should say that even the title of the work seems a bit misleading.  As I see it, the title seems to be saying (or at least implying) that Shiraishi actively wants to remain invisible, but the troublesome Kubo just will not leave him in peace.  She will not allow him to just sit there stewing and wasting his life away.  (This is clearly not the case; Nagisa is a funny-ish character who’s trying to break Shiraishi out of his shell, but there’s nowhere near as much drama as my first interpretation of the title would have led me to believe.)

 

My advice to you, dear readers, is to pretend that this series is invisible.

 

Sasaki And Miyano And Me

 

 

Let me get this out of the way: I am aware of BL and gay rights and all that.  I am “woke”, in the proper sense of the term, in that I do my best to be open-minded and tolerant and understanding of all innocent people who have never done anything to me or other innocent people and are just trying to live their lives.

 

That being said, I am not much for yaoi or BL (boys love).  I am 100% straight, but I do find titillation in sexuality of all kinds.

 

But the other day (literally, the other day), I found a copy of Sasaki and Miyano Volume One.  (And, I believe, it has also recently gotten an anime, if anyone’s interested.)

 

The reason I talk about BL is not only because the series is a BL, but also because a lot of the story and humor derive from the whole BL phenomenon.

 

Cute underclassman Miyano, the BL fudanshi (male fanboy perv, as opposed to fujoshi, the female fangirl perv) just happens one day to witness a bullying incident.  He is right in the middle of calling for help when delinquent upperclassman Sasaki tells him that [Sasaki] is going in to break them up.  Three months later, the two of them are on their way to developing a potentially-more-than-friends relationship.

 

The art for this series is good, especially the eyes on Miyano, plus each main character introduced in Vol. 1 is different enough from all of the others that I can tell them apart easily.  That being said, one can easily mistake it for a 4-koma gag-a-day comic from the formatting, which may turn some readers off.  Also, the wordings and speech balloon placement can, at times, make it hard to keep of who exactly is saying what to who at any given time.

 

A lot of the humor comes from the unintended cringe of Sasaki casually saying something about BL (his own fascination with which Miyano is trying to keep on the down-low, the “BL DL”, if you were) and Miyano frantically trying to shush him.  But there is also slapstick and traditional “Japanese humor” (as I call it) involved, so there is some variety.

 

Sasaki is just dumb and lazy enough to carry the odd joke here and there, and Miyano has definitely got the whole “cute but self-conscious about it” thing going on.  Together their antics almost make me smile.

 

And, while Sasaki does at times struggling to understand exactly what his new feelings for Miyano are, it is always treated with respect.  There is no homophobic bullying (at least in Vol. 1) and nobody finds this possible attraction to be odd or off-putting at all, save for possibly Miyano.  It is played as a gentle, heartfelt introspection.  And major points for showing/mentioning actual girls as well, rather than keeping the series all-male as some yuri/yaoi series are wont to do (even if the story does take place at an all-boys school).

 

It's an ordinary falling-in-love slice-of-life manga that just happens to have LGBT+ protagonists, that's all.  The feelings are what's important, and they are carried off quite well.

I could probably compare it to Kase-San and Morning Glories, a similar yuri manga I read a couple of years aback, albeit with boys instead of girls and working the jock angle rather than the fudanshi angle.  I also don’t seem to recall Kase-San and Morning Glories to be all that funny.

 

But they are both cute, innocent slice-of-life manga with LGBT+ protagonists, so that’s something, right?

 

PS: I also wound up going to the bookstore the other day, so I do have a list of other manga that I am meaning to read ASAP and then review for you, so stay tuned!