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!
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!
posted by John T at 10:34 AM
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