"Happiness" Was Just Okay

Greetings, my adoring fans.

I know it’s been a while since we last spoke (hell, it’s practically March already), but there have just been so few new quality manga available at my local bookstore.

So…many…isekai.

So, even though it’s not necessarily “new”, I bring you my review of Shuzo Oshimi’s vampire horror manga “Happiness”.  (And yes, I did only pick it up because it was new on the shelves of my local library.  So sue me.)

You may remember this author/artist from his other series “Inside Mari”, which I believe I topped off last year’s posts by reviewing, and from his even earlier psychological horror work “Flowers of Evil”.

Note that I specify “psychological horror”, because that is, up until this point, Mr. Oshimi’s bread and butter.  His works don’t usually fall into the realm of action or serious gore, so I found myself pleased with how he carries off both of the former in this new and current work.

Makoto Okazaki is your typical loser, shorter than his classmates and easily pushed around by them (and, yes, just like all his other protagonists, he’s also a low-key pervert hiding behind an innocent mask).  One night, on his way to return a DVD to the Japanese equivalent of RedBox, Makoto ignores the warnings of his concerned Mom to be careful and runs into some trouble.

As it turns out, his Mom was right to be concerned.  Apparently, there’s been a mysterious murder committed right nearby where Makoto is going to be headed.

And then anime happens.  (Or manga.  Whatever.)

Long story short, a mysterious yet pretty fanged girl draws his blood out of him.  And, unlike many other, sanitized versions of vampire where it’s played only for hotness, this blood frenzy is graphic and painful for poor Makoto and played entirely for horror.

The girl asks him if he either wants to die or else become like her.  Not knowing, Makoto begs for his life and the girl leaves.  He passes out and wakes up in the hospital from his gushing neck wound.  He is later discharged with only an acute light sensitivity and a strange thirst for his troubles.  That is, until he gets to school, where his bullies mock him for being attacked by a girl.  In the hallways, Makoto finds himself assaulted by the scent of blood, mostly from girls who are presumably on their periods.  The overwhelming sensations cause him to stumble in front of his bullies while he takes their orders, only making things worse with them.  But, this time, Makoto fights back and manages to bloody his opponent Yuuki’s nose with a single punch.

When he tries, overwhelmed and unsuccessful, to attack a girl, a Ms. Yukiko Gosho, she plays it off as him sexually harassing her and quickly turns into the messed-up bully girl from Flowers of Evil.

A few years ago, I read another manga with a much similar premise called Kuro Zakuro, except the vampires were more Hollow-like creatures called Ogres and the protag became one by swallowing one of their creation seeds in his sleep, but you get the idea.

In the aforementioned, the protag found himself overwhelmed by his desires for violence and meat.  In Happiness, we can also see Makoto becoming overwhelmed by his desire for blood, but in a very different way.  We don’t just hear him inside his head crying out for blood; we see it visually as his world distorts around him, denoting his confusion and placing us, somehow, even more in his head than any mere thoughts could.

(That is, we the readers know it all represents his desire for blood; we ended Volume One with him still in the dark over what he is and what has happened to him.)

Another thing that sets Happiness apart from other monster transformation manga is that we also get to see the aftermath of the fight from Yuuki’s point of view.  By the end of Volume One, his girlfriend Nao has enlisted Makoto to come save him from some other bullies because his loss of confidence has turned him into their new punching bag.

Thus far, the series breaks little new ground in the monster transformation horror genre, but, as I’ve said, it is interesting to see such a story put in the hands of Shuzo Oshimi.  I predict lots of psychological horror, tortured whining and pervy fanservice before the series reaches its end.

That being said, this will probably be another series that I only pick up/notice whenever it’s new at the library and not one that I will excitedly scan the bookstore shelves for every other month or ever think to own.

But, if you happen to disagree, then by all means pick up a copy for yourselves.

"Inside Mari" Review

(Before we get started, YES, I know this is the visual for the cover of Vol. 2, but this was the most reasonably-sized "Inside Mari"-related image that Google Images could get me.)

That being said, we now come to our final manga review of the year, for Shuzo Oshimi's "Inside Mari".

This creator has already given us the psychological horror greats of "Happiness" and "The Flowers of Evil", so this reviewer came into this series with slightly-higher expectations than usual.

The blurbs made it sound like this would be just another body-swap manga, but, then again, this is Shuzo Oshimi we're talking about; surely it can't be that simple.

And it isn't.

Our ostensible hero Isao Komori is a college dropout NEET who yearns for a chance to go back and build himself a better life from back in high school.  And, speaking of high school, he has also gotten into the habit of noticing a certain high school girl at the local mini-mart now and then.

And here we have the first point where we begin to deviate from the formula.

Isao, for all his faults, is not a pervert (at least, not yet, anyway).  He does not lust after this girl, this Mari Yoshizaki.  He does not desire her physically or even approach or talk to her.  He knows how this could be misconstrued and how any physical attraction he might feel towards her would be wrong.  And, when he does find himself in her body the next day, he makes no attempt to look at her naked or watch her body urinate or in the bathtub or anything like that.

Normally, any male character in a body-swap manga would be doing exactly those things (to a degree), which is quite refreshing, given the "played for horror" perverted nature of Oshimi's male protagonist back in "The Flowers of Evil".

And another deviation is that, when Isao in Mari's body confronts his own former body at the mini-mart, it is NOT Mari inside!  We don't exactly know who it is, but whoever it is does not react like the body-stolen Mari-turned-Isao would react.

Mari.  Is.  Gone.

And thus begins the main conflict of the story: navigating a strange new social landscape in a new body, while keeping a secret, while trying to find out what happened to the soul/mind/spirit of the real Mari Yoshizaki.

That's right-this change between bodies isn't a body-swap.  It's an outright takeover!

This series moves about as slowly as "The Flowers of Evil" did, but that's a small price to pay for an interesting twist on the body-swap story, not to mention Oshimi's usual artistic flair and horror writing style.

Volumes One through at least Three are out in English now at your local bookstore, so here's another shining review from yours truly!

Have a great rest of the year!

Ain't She Cute?

This, ladies and gentlemen, is Ms. Kuroe Akaishi, the heroine of today's reviewed manga "Kaiju Girl Carmelise".

But don't let her looks fool you-she can transform into a massive, city-destroying beast.

And I'm not talking figuratively!

You see, for some unknown reason, whenever she becomes stressed, Kuroe here begins a slow transformation into a giant, scaly, Godzilla-esque monster.

Sadly, when Kuroe was little, she confessed her feelings to another little boy and her hands turned into claws, leaving both her and the boy in question with serious trauma.

Since then, she has become a bitter and lonely shell, "Psycho-tan" to her classmates.  In this respect, she reminds me very much of Tomoko Kuroki, the socially-awkward heroine of "Watamote".  But all of this changes one day when she catches the attention of local high school modelling pretty boy Minami Arata.

Minami used to be overweight back in the day, so he knows how it can feel to be judged solely on the outside.  He, naturally, sees into the broken heart of Kuroe Akaishi and begins to arouse certain feelings within her.

You can see where this is going...

This series was written and drawn by the great Spica Aoki, creator of "Beasts of Abigaile", another great series I liked.  But this series has its share of differences to her previous work.

For example, as of the end of Vol. 1, Kuroe (or "Harugon", as her monster form is known, because the location it first appeared was Harumi Town or the Harumi river, I forget which) seems to be the only person in the world at this time with such a problem.  There is no community of other non-human monsters here for Kuroe to find solidarity and support with.

There is also a tad more humor present in Kaiju Girl Carmelise, from the oblivious Kuroe, caught up in her own lovey-dovey world of imagining Arata-kun, accidentally destroying buildings and getting shot by the army (and not knowing!) to the crazy kaiju fangirl Manatsu, in love with "Harugon", who even sleeps in a bag shaped like Mothra's larva form.

When she/it first appears, Kuroe worries that she/it has come to do battle with her!

And, for those pervs out there like me, we get a lot more fanservice here than we did in "Beasts of Abigaile", Kuroe's clothes never coming along for the ride when she transforms.  And her clothing still runs the risk of damage whenever she transforms, not only when she goes full kaiju.

For example, when she grows a tail she has to hide, we get a gorgeous glimpse of her naked butt cheeks when it sucks back into her, having ruined her gym shorts.

While the series thus far does seem to be running a little thin on plot, such is almost beside the point at this point.

Long story short, for all its well-written characters, its unique premise, and, yes, even the fanservice, Kaiju Girl Carmelise is the first manga series in a long while that I not only want to follow, but actively want to own!  It's in my Amazon Shopping Cart!

But is it in yours?  Let me know!

"Eden's Zero" Review

Evening, readers.  Here comes a quick review of the newest series from legendary "Fairy Tail" creator Hiro Mashima-the space opera "Eden's Zero".

This series was another "I-picked-it-up-at-the-library-but-not-at-the-bookstore" instance.  At the time, I assumed science fiction was more on its way out, and, to be fair, Mashima admits it in his afterword at the end of Vol. 1.

I myself am wary of trying to write sci-fi, mostly because I have no real background with it, but also because, these days, with modern science rapidly catching up to, if not surpassing, the likes of Star Trek and the like, it looks like it's becoming harder and harder to come up with better and more fascinating futuristic technology.

(That and everybody wants to see/know the actual science behind the fiction.  I mean, who am I-Dr. Michio Kaku?

...

Look him up.)

That being said, this very thinking has left the market wide open for something like Eden's Zero, where all the classic romantic fantasy adventure tropes are instead transported into space.  For example:

* Magic is technology
* The Great Demon King is/was a robot
* All of space is basically an ocean full of stars

One day, Youtubers (frame it however you want-they're still Youtubers) Rebecca and Happy the talking robot cat, land themselves on the robot-filled resort planet Granbell.  There they also meet the planet's sole human resident: the boy Shiki, inheritor of The Great Demon King's gravity magic/technology.

Following a fake rebellion by his robot friends in a sweet "cruel to be kind" tactic, Shiki leaves the (unbeknownst to him) dying planet to join Rebecca and Happy on their adventures.

Oh, and if certain people happen to look familiar, it's because Mashima basically lifted them (and not even basically in the case of Happy-he's the same darn guy!) from his earlier work, "Fairy Tail".

Now, I couldn't really get into "Fairy Tail" while it was coming out new in stores or airing on Toonami (because I didn't have cable at the time), but I personally find "Eden's Zero" much more charming and entertaining.

The art style is fun, the fighting isn't too complicated, the story goes along at an easy (almost too easy) pace and we're even thrown the occasional fanservice here and there.

(And I'm talking more than we get in One Piece, but not as much as we would get in, say, Daily Life with Monster Girls.)

Speaking of One Piece, Shiki is basically a more childish Luffy, and the great treasure at the end is not The Great Demon King's treasure, but the legendary cosmic goddess Mother, whom no one has ever seen.  But our heroes intend to make their way there...in order to get more viewers for Rebecca's Youtube channel.

I've heard worse reasons...

We are currently three volumes in in the English release, and the series is still holding strong, in my opinion.  Although the series is plagued by a lack of a single concrete over-arching villain, as well as the presence of a lot of different plot threads that still have to be woven together.

But, dear readers, this manga reviewer is fully set to hitch his wagon to this series' rocket ship and ride it to the stars!

(PS: I have found the last two manga that I intend to review for 2019.  They are, and I quote "Monster and the Beast" and "Kaiju Girl Carmelise".  Now that I know their release dates and they've already passed, we'll see if I can't get those reviews to you lickety-split!)

The One on the Right

When high school student Tasuku is discovered looking at gay porn in class, in his haste, he blames it all on a prank by his brother and claims that he could never be a "homo".  Being that he actually IS a "homo"-and in rural Japan, no less-this drives him into such a state of self-loathing that he contemplates suicide at the top of a tall hill.  He doesn't, obviously, but a sighting of a mysterious woman jumping down (safely) from somewhere on that hill leads Tasuku to discover something called a "drop-in center".

This woman is the mysterious "Someone-san" (and no: I'm not kidding), who tells him that the people at the drop-in center, some of whom are also gay, may be willing to listen to him and provide support with his, for lack of a better word, "gayngst" (my word, not theirs).

Look it up; It's a thing.

I hadn't intended to pick this up.  It wasn't on my schedule of new releases, but I just happened to stop by B&N today, on a bad day for new manga, and I had come in such a good mood to review stuff that I had thought would be on the shelves.

While I can appreciate this appeal to diversity, I'd have to say that I probably might not pick up Vol. 2.  The story moves forward at literally a snail's pace and Tasuku seems far too passive and wimpy and whiny to ever act like a proper protag.  Hell, even the first major storyline follows the backstory of the lesbian couple that he meets at the drop-in center!

The art is all drawn in standard black and white, obviously, but the paper it's written on is a particularly stark white that makes everything seems almost minimalist, no matter how much art the artist crams in.

And, brother, does the artist love to cram in the art!

You get the sense that this Yuhki Kamatani character may have a background in the fine arts, given all the scenery porn and visual metaphors they indulge themself in.  For example, when Tasuku sees the happy and loving lesbian couple enjoying the kind of life that he may never have, we're treated to a glowing something flying out of his chest and shattering into fragments like shards of glass.  And a cool breeze is always represented by a visible wind full of intricate snowflakes.

Long story short, I may not have intended to pick up "Our Dreams at Dusk", but I'm glad I did, even if only because it gave me the chance to write up an oddly satisfying and freeing negative review.

That's not weird, right?  Right?

(And, PS, I have no plans to ever review that "My Boy" manga.  One volume was enough for me.  Too boring.)

Sweet-Ish, Let's Say...

Welcome back, manga fans.

Now, before we begin, I'd like to apologize for the lackluster punny title of this particular post.  The title of Happy Sugar Life does lend itself to "sugar", "sweet" and cooking puns, but my opinions on the work itself are nowhere near extreme enough for me to go very far in either extolling it or slamming it, so I found myself boxed into a corner.

Anyway, on to the review itself.  Again, this is the review for Happy Sugar Life Vol. 1, which just recently released here on American shores.

Sato Matsuzaka used to fool around with boy after boy until she came upon the adorable lolicon Shio-chan.  The two seem to live alone happily, subsisting on Sato's part-time job income and their mutual love for one another.

But everything is not how it seems.

Mysteries still remain, but Sato seems to have killed someone (or perhaps more than one someone) in order to gain the apartment in which she and Shio-chan currently live.  And Shio-chan is also seen to be a missing child that Sato no doubt abducted and is also forbidden from leaving the house.

I am reminded of Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, or possibly the short work of Thomas Ligotti, where it's all "Everything is fine...Until it isn't".  Not only are the sudden visuals disturbing, but possibly even moreso is Sato herself, out ostensible anti-hero.

There's a considerable age gap between her and Shio-chan, and it definitely isn't played for hotness.  Shio-chan seems to barely be into her double digits and at times seems to act more like a toddler, blindly obeying and trusting that everything Sato says is true, and seemingly unable to remember her own parents.

Let's just say this: Every night, Sato puts on a bridal veil and forces Shio-chan, an innocent child with the mind of a toddler, to recite to her wedding vows.

Yyyeah...

Sato cares for Shio-chan equally as a dear sibling, lover (?) and prized possession.  Her inner dialogue is also at times stilted and repetitive, denoting madness, and constantly refers to Shio-chan as "hers", as well as strangely calling Shio-chan's love "fragments filling up her heart".  Sato even treats her taking of Shio-chan like someone else would treat the shoplifting of, say, a keychain or something, and "Who cares?" about the real owners.

Twisted love is a major theme in this series, especially as Sato fights against other similarly-twisted people with their own warped ideas of love (but only if they threaten her and her way of life).

But I feel part of the fun of this series (however cringey it may be), long story short, is seeing just how far Sato will go and how long she can keep up her "happy sugar life" before it all comes crshing down, one way or another.

PS: See what I did there? :)

Gleipnir: Not Your Average Monster Movie

Shuichi (or was it Shinichi?) Kagaya is a seemingly-ordinary student who doesn’t want to stand out.  This is because he’s suddenly started becoming a monster.  We don’t know what this monster is or why he changes into it, but it looks to me like something out of “Bendy and the Ink Machine”.  He is also granted an amazing sense of smell, which is how he one day discovers a local house fire with someone inside.  He uses his monster form to save the girl, but leaves behind his phone before making the decision to do so.  As it turns out, the girl has the phone and confronts him over it, admitting to him that she’s interested in monsters. 

He meets her to try and get his phone back, but tries to play off what she saw as a hallucination.  He is forced to admit the truth, however, when he must use his powers to save himself after the girl pushes him off the roof.  The girl demands to know his secrets and she introduces herself as Claire Aoki.  Then a curveball is thrown when Claire invites Shuichi homes and tells him that the fire was her own attempt to kill herself.  And another is thrown when she reveals that her sister is another monster who killed their parents.  When the sister left, she left Claire with a star coin, which a mysterious new enemy monster girl comes hunting after.

She claims that the coin can be exchanged for power, if one is willing to lose everything else.  Our heroes bid a quick retreat, during which it’s revealed that Shuichi is an unwilling combatant like Kaneki from Tokyo Ghoul, despite how much the bloodthirsty Claire eggs him to fight.

It is only when her madness is combined with Shuichi’s strength via a mysterious zipper on his back that the beating (I mean “battle”) begins.  A few weeks later, the two enter into a brains+brawn relationship to defend themselves from the other monsters that are undoubtedly out there.

While the story itself is unique and the characters all have their various nuances that help them all stand apart from each other (plus I loved all the fanservice we got from Claire), there are also a few problems with it.  First of all, the blurb on the back makes it sound like Shuichi is a member of a hidden clan of monsters, like the vampires in Twilight.  Instead, he is struggling alone, with no community to support him or to explain what’s happening to him.

And, speaking of explanations, the magic that makes this whole story able to take place is also ill-explained.  The villain’s flashback before she dies tells us of a befuddled-looking pretty boy who appears out of a vending machine with the same star mark on it that we saw on the coin.  He tells her that he’s lost his many star coins and that he’ll grant her a wish if she helps him.  Is this how she became a monster?  The volume also ends with a flashback to what is presumably Claire’s older sister, meeting the same man and claiming that she wants to make a wish for…Shuichi?

Still, all in all, I feel that Gleipnir’s good points have far outweighed the bad (at least, at this point), and that I will continue to follow the series as it slowly-but-surely releases in the English.

Manomidori, signing off.