Reiko the Zombie Shop: Volume 2

by Rei Mikamoto

Things take an interesting turn in Reiko 2. Where Volume 1 was mostly a series of short stories revolving around the resurrection of recently killed corpses, Volume 2 tells one long tale, actually the first half of a single story about the battle between Reiko and "The Master”, an evil summoner who wants to rule the world with an army of zombies.

This transformation in story structure also leads to a transformation in the mood of the book. The crisp look of Rei Mikamoto’s style is unique for a horror manga, and it made for a somewhat jarring, but refreshing contrast. Reiko 2 definitely has some scenes of horror, but employs more of an action feel. Reiko isn’t the only necromancer in the land, and in this volume we are introduced to several of her allies and enemies as the stage is set for a battle royale between the mysterious “Master” and Reiko and her friends.

Reiko takes a big turn in Volume 2, but it isn’t a change for the worst. Many new characters are introduced, and the more intricate storyline requires a little more attention from the readers. (One cannot help but think the sheer volume of new speaking roles might not be a little bit of a joke on the reader, because… well… we aren’t going to be the ones to ruin the surprise!)

Along with the brethren of new summoners we meet, we learn that every necromancer has his or her own zombie to call for battle. This is one of the most unique aspects of this book. Each summoned zombie was usually some kind of killer in life, whether it is a World War II Nazi, a crazy cowboy from the Wild West, or a mummified Egyptian king. Others were'nt even human. Some summoned take orders better than others, and the interaction between the zombies and their masters makes for some very clever and original fight scenes.

The dialog is still very fresh and the art is crisp. It’s easy to get spoiled by Mikamoto’s truly dynamic drawings. Although this first half of two-part story is more straight-forward than the twisted vine-like vignettes of Volume 1, it is still a gripping page-turner, compelling the reader to pick up Volume 3 before Volume 2 hits the shelf.

R.I.P. Testuro Tamba

Testuro Tamba, who may be better known as Tiger Tanaka, passed away at the age of 84 of pneumonia on September 24.

Tamba was an film actor who appeared in the 007 film "You Only Live Twice" in 1967.

More recently he appreared in the (PDI favorite) "Gozu" and "Happiness of the Katakuris", both directed by (PDI favorite) Takeshi Miike, and appeared in over 200 films during his long career.

Museum of Terror: Tomie 1

by Junji Ito

It is difficult to discuss horror manga without discussing the work of Junji Ito. Museum of Terror: Tomie 1 is the first in a series of Ito’s work brought to us by Dark Horse.

"Tomie" tells the story of a beautiful schoolgirl whose only fatal flaw is her vanity. This leads to her accidental murder and viscous dismemberment by her suitors, and just as the school is in the middle of grieving for its lost classmate, Tomie suddenly shows up again, wondering what everyone is so upset about. How could this be? We discover throughout the separate stories that keeping Tomie from what she wants can be a very difficult thing to do, and this horrible beauty has a hard time staying dead.

Museum of Terror is made up of nine stories, all chapters in the "Tomie" saga. Stretching over eight years of story writing, we can see not only the enrichments in the story and character, but also a steady growth in the drawing style of the manga. The first chapter has little shading, and has a sketchbook feel to it, which creates a creepy atmosphere all it’s own. The first story almost feels like you are peeking into someone’s morbid diary. As the drawing style develops and becomes more detailed in later chapters, Ito's true horrific genius can be seen, crystal clear.

Each chapter is a stand-alone story, but gives us a few more pieces of the puzzles to what Tomie truly is. For some reason, Tomie’s unquestionable beauty has led to her murder by the boys in her class, who, along with the teacher, proceed to slice her up and hide the body. Somehow Tomie returns, and this cycle of murder and reincarnation will repeat itself over and over, but also morph and change like a genetic experiment gone terribly bad. No matter what form Tomie takes, she seems bent on one thing: revenge, and the bloodier and more painful the better.

We have been looking at quite a bit of Japanese horror in recent weeks, but make no mistake, Museum of Terror really lives up to its name. It’s hard to imagine a truly nightmare-inducing comic book, but Museum of Terror comes as close as we have experienced, and is likely only to be topped by the second volume, Museum of Terror: Tomie 2, which is also available now. Museum of Terror: The Long Hair in the Attic, which is a collection of short horror stories by Junji Ito, is released on October 25.

The first two images are from Chapter 1. The last two pictures are from the last chapter, "Painter". Click images for more detail.

Death Note, the animated series

I guess we shouldn't be too surprised. Looks like this starts on October 3 in Japan. Death Note 2: The Last Name is released in theaters November 3.

Link to Japanese site

Reiko the Zombie Shop: Volume 1

by Rei Mikamoto

Although all the comics we bring to your attention are new to English-speaking audiences, Reiko the Zombie Shop is also relatively new to Japanese audiences as well, with the 11 volume series finishing up last year. Reiko the Zombie Shop: Volume 1 introduces us to Reiko, a high school girl with the unique and special power to raise the dead – at least partially – as the short life of the reanimated corpse will be that of a zombie. During this awakening the zombie can tell whoever is around how she died. And if she died at the hands of another, she might take her brief breath of life to inflict a zombie-riffic revenge.

Reiko doesn’t use her power simply for the benefit of her fellow man. She makes no bones about it; she is in it for the money. The people that hire her are usually trying to find out how a loved one or friend passed away. Reiko recommends chaining down the body before bringing it back from the dead, as if the guilty party is in the room – the person that had a hand in the untimely demise – there is no telling what might happen. Of course, just because a person is a zombie, doesn’t mean they are brainless, and sometimes they have a wily way of getting out of those chains during their short stay in the land of the living…

Reiko the Zombie Shop is cleverly arranged as a group of short episodes combined with a longer story about a serial murderer who kills little girls in a small town. The stories combine elements of humor with horror, which keep the reader always guessing. You don’t know if you will be turning the page to a cute little scene, or a blood-soaked zombie attack!

The style of Reiko is more modern than some of the manga we have looked at recently. This works both to its advantage and disadvantage. Many of the characters, including Reiko, have a bit of the “standardized” manga character look – the well-known oversized eyes and Barbie doll measurements. On the other hand, this makes the scenes of violence that much more shocking when they happen. The clean look of much of a story is suddenly invaded, and although horror isn’t as graphic as some manga we have seen, the contrast is very sharp and very sudden. This style fits well with the pace and mood of the book.

The translation is handled very competently by Michael Gombos. (You may remember Michael helped us with our article on Dark Horse and manga translation earlier this year.) The English is smooth and appropriate for the story, (it is rated for older teens).

Reiko the Zombie Shop: Volume 1 bursts out of the gates, and sets the mood for the series right from the start. As the stories progress, they get more intense, and the end of the first volume explodes off the pages. It seems to be setting up for more in-depth stories in future volumes. Check here for future reviews of Reiko the Zombie Shop…(Volumes 1~4 are available now. Volume 5 is released December 6, 2006).

Japan wins another silly contest...

In a continuing effort to win every contest which requires little in the way of talent worldwide, we are proud to present to you Ochi "Dainoji" Yosuke...

Octopus Girl: Volume 1

by Toru Yamazaki Originally released in the mid 90s, Octopus girl is a different kind of J-horror manga. Combining horror and gore with comedy, the end result is something like Betty and Veronica meet Night of the Living Dead on the ocean floor. It is sometimes scary, sometimes silly, and always original.

Toru Yamazaki has made a splash in the Japanese media as a talk-show guest and singer. His art would lead one to envision a Rob Zombie type character, but his soft-spoken demeanor, and ambisexual fashion reveals more about the catty behavior of his female characters than about the buckets of blood and ooze that cover the pages of work. Unlike more traditional horror manga, Octopus girl is unique and more than a little weird. It’s hard to compare with other manga, as there truly is nothing like it.

The “hero” of our collection of stories is Takako. Harassed by her classmates, she is forced to eat octopus, despite her allergy to them. Somehow, (a word you will use a lot when describing Octopus Girl stories), this turns Takako into Octopus Girl, basically a head attached to eight octopus tentacles. How she gets revenge on her classmates is funny as well as disgusting, and the even funnier part is the entire story is contained in only 15 pages. Most of the stories are about this length, and Octopus finds herself in many bizarre situations usually within a page or two of each chapter’s beginning. The pace is fast and furious and Yamazaki introduces us to other far-out and freaky characters like Eel Girl and Granny Vamp. From singing contests to airplane crashes, Octopus Girl is all over the place. And when things go a little too far, the fourth wall is torn down as we see the reader’s own hands going in to strangle the offending Takako. At times the stories do get a bit dippy, and the attempted strangulation is justified. Although Octopus Girl is technically horror, its very nature forces jumps to other genres as well. And even though Octopus Girl acts like a typical teenager, the language and imagery is definitely not for kids.

If you are looking for standard scares or ghost stories, Octopus Girl will not be what you are looking for. However, if you are fishing for some devilish fun and some kooky, oozy stories then Octopus Girl just may be the girl for you…just watch your back, and cover your nose and mouth!

But he isn't done writing Death Note...

From Mainichi Daily News:

'Death Note' cartoonist arrested for possessing knife
Cartoonist Takeshi Obata, author of the famous "Death Note" manga series, has been arrested for illegal possession of a knife, police said.
An officer questioned Obata, 37, in Tokyo's Nerima-ku after he was driving his car with the headlights off shortly before 1 a.m. on Wednesday.
Obata, from Musashino, was arrested on the spot for possessing a knife.
Obata made his debut as a cartoonist in 1989. He won a prize for his work, "Hikaru no Go," in 2003. (Mainichi)

In the Pool

byHideo Okuda

In the Pool was a huge success upon its original Japanese release in 2002. The stories here have gone on to appear in movies and on TV since its release. In the Pool is a collection of episodes about one eccentric psychiatrist, Dr. Ichiro Irabu, the sole doctor in the lonely Neurology Dept. located in the basement of the Irabu Hospital (say, that's the same name as the doctor…). This is clever and rather hilarious collection is by former magazine editor Hideo Okuda, who credits manga as a major influence.

Five tales are told here, each one about a patient with a condition that cannot be treated by conventional methods, and each one a line on a laundry list of “ailments” that plague not only Japan, but human beings in general. Among the poor souls that find themselves consulting Dr. Irabu are a magazine editor who becomes obsessed with swimming, sacrificing work and family time to get in a few more laps; a just-over-the-hill car-show model who starts to believe every man she sees is stalking her; and high-school student so obsessed with text messaging on his cell phone, even a few moments of separation create panic and cold sweats.

Although each character begins as almost a caricature of him or herself, they develop into people we may recognize in our own lives, or even aspects of our own personality. The fun and humor of each story comes from not the ailment, but Dr. Irabu's unorthodox and unexpected avenues of treatment. Often the reader wonders if what Dr. Irabu is doing is even intended for the patients benefit, and simply his own. (The dubious injections given to each patient on each visit by Dr. Irabu’s sexy female nurse give us a clue.) Though in the end of each tale some sort of resolution or recovery path is reached, whether this is by accident or by design becomes clearer as the reader finishes each story. Although each tale is written from the perspective of the patient, we get more and more hints as to what kind of person Dr. Irabu really is.

Translating humor from Japanese to English is one of the most difficult undertakings a translator can expect to take. Comedy is so different culture to culture, and having it make sense and seem natural in the translated language requires real talent, and that talent shows here is the seamless English creation by Giles Murray.

In the Pool is a fun and interesting splash, just slightly deeper than the surface suggests. Dr. Irabu's techniques and ideas collide with not only his profession, but his national culture, and although this isn’t always comfortable for his patients, it makes for pure entertainment for his readers.

STRANGECO

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