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.