horrificanalysis

[horrificanalysis]

Tenkuu Shinpan (High Rise Invasion)

Author - Tsuina Miura | Illustrator - Takahiro Oba (2014)

A young high school girl, Yuri, suddenly finds herself transported to the rooftop of a Highrise building. Every door is locked and there is no way down. Running from masked killers who are hunting her without reason, Yuri must find her brother and somehow make her way out of this fight alive.

Review: I read this Manga a few years ago and thought it was okay. When coming across it the other day, I decided to have a re-read. I have to say I was quite disappointed. The story has a great premise, the highrise setting is really unique and had great potential, and the story actually has a female protagonist which is rare for the genre. However, the actual execution is a let down.

Coming back, I realized what kept me reading last time was wanting to figure out the mystery. However, in the end nothing is really adequately explained or concluded. The characters are cliche and hollow, it's not exciting or fun to go along the journey with them. You keep hoping they'll have some character development, but they never do. The main character is not written like a real person, completely one dimensional. The panty/fan service shots are so unsubtle and near continuous, it takes away any seriousness to the storyline. The horror aspect is lacking. There is no tension, no stakes. It never feels like the characters are in true danger. Overall, I really loved the opening concept with the unique setting and the masked killers, but it failed to truly deliver on any interesting horror for me.

Art: The art isn't bad, but it's not anything exciting either. I really wish they had used the art to emphasise the horror more, especially since the setting is so unique being high up. It would have been interesting for the art to play off the fear of heights. Ultimately, it's just kind of average.

Recommend: Not really, there are more exciting stories in this genre of 'battle royale' 'outsmarting death game' I would probably recommend over this one. But maybe if you were looking for something not too scary as a starter to this genre? If you were wondering if the manga fills out plot holes or character development gaps in the Anime, I wouldn't say it makes a difference to read the manga, most of the issues are present in the source material.

[horrificanalysis]

PIGPEN

Author- Carnby Kim | Artist- Beom Sick (2020-2022)

“This thriller webtoon offers readers a most unsettling bed and breakfast experience” - Destito 2020

Synopsis: This horror/thriller webtoon is pretty well regarded among those who have read it, but I haven’t as many people talking about this one. The story follows a young man who wakes up stranded on an island and struggling with his memory. He comes across a family running a BnB who happily welcome him in to provide shelter, but things may not be as they appear. 

Review: It has a really strong start, and I really enjoyed the atmosphere and tension built up in that first arc. Trying to piece together the mystery was genuinely engaging and I truly couldn’t predict where the story was going. The only let down for me was I wasn’t completely satisfied with the ending. I felt that since everything else leading up to the ending was pretty fresh, the ending did end up being a little similar to other stuff I had seen/read before. But overall, it was still pretty good and people in the comments are rating it pretty highly, so I still think a lot of people will like this one. 

Art: Pretty solid. Mostly it is pretty typical webtoon style but there is some genuinely creepy imagery throughout. 

Recommend: Yes

[horrificanalysis]

Infidel

Writer: Pornsak Pichetshote | Artist: Aaron Campbell | Colorist: JosÉ Villarrubia (2018) 

Synopsis: “Living with her agnostic boyfriend Tom in an apartment building, Pakistani-American Aisha Hasan is getting stared at by her paranoid neighbors in the wake of a recent bombing that occurred in the building. As much as Aisha wants to be part of Tom’s family involving his daughter and mother, she becomes haunted by entities fueled by xenophobia” - (Wilding, 2018). 

Review: Ghost stories often represent more than just a fear of supernatural threat.  Time and again, the horror stories we choose to tell are merely a reflection the fears circulating through current society. This story purposefully pulls on this tradition at the center of it’s narrative. For the most part, I feel that it worked well. I did find the pacing of the story was a bit rushed for me at some points. 

- I do want to note that the story did not have anyone actually Pakistani in the production team. The Author himself is Thai-American, though he did talk about how his extensive research on how to best represent the story, and has been quite transparent about the reasoning behind his narrative decisions in interviews. I was interested if anyone actually from the culture represented had reviewed the comic, and if they were happy with the portrayal of the character and their experiences, but I could not find anything. Not to say that the story is necessarily bad because of this, but as a warning there may be some things that would lessen the story for people actually from the communities represented, that I might not pick up on in my own reading. 

It does seem that at one point the story had been picked up for a movie deal with the Dutch-Palestinian-Israeli director, Hany Abu-Assad. But I haven’t found any updates online about this since 2018. 

Art: I loved the art style and the color decisions in the comic. I wish the stylization of the apparitions was used more, I would love to see more of that style in the future. 

Recommend: Yes. I think it was worth the read. If you don’t like horror bringing social commentary or politics into the story however, this might be a miss for you.

[horrificanalysis]

Delphine

Richard Sala (2006-2009. Republished 2012)

Publisher: Fantagraphics

Synopsis: A mysterious traveler gets off the train in a small village surrounded by a thick, sinister forest. He is searching for Delphine, who vanished with only a scrawled-out address on a scrap of paper as a trace.  Richard Sala takes the tale of Snow White retelling it from Prince Charming's perspective (the unnamed traveler) in a contemporary setting, but keeping the elements of terror from the original fairy tale. 

Review: This work seems to be a bit divisive in public opinion. I’ve seen some people rate it 5 stars, praising the clever retelling of a classic fairytale. Others have rated it pretty poorly, stating that the story raises more questions than it  answers. If I’m honest, this story probably won’t be put in my favourites list. It was okay, but I felt like the pacing was a little off, and the storyline felt just a little bit underdeveloped for my personal taste. Not that stories have to verbally spell out every detail for you, this is still a visual medium. However, I felt like the ambiguousness of the work served the narrative a detriment in this case. Particularly, the purposeful ambiguousness surrounding the main characters made it hard for me to connect to them in a meaningful way. Sometimes we need that ability to connect with characters, in order to truly feel affected by them being placed in scary situations. However, this isn’t a ‘bad’ comic by any means. It’s still enjoyable. I would describe it as like reading someone else’s creepy nightmare. 

Art: Pretty good, I liked this artists unique style and I think it served the fairytale theme well. 

Recommend: Yes. I would still recommend you check this one out for yourself. Some people really do love this work, and it is a short story. It’s good for a quick read when your looking for something with creepy and cool imagery. 

[horrificanalysis]

The Girl From The Other Side

Nagabe (2015-2021) Publisher: Monthly Comic Garden

Synopsis:  Once, there was a god of light and a god of darkness. Those devoted to the god of light experienced happiness, while the god of darkness would play tricks on the people and steal their joy. The god of light punished the god of darkness and turned them into a monster. Angered, the god of darkness retaliated, creating a curse that disfigures people into monsters of the dark. The god of darkness was banished to the ‘Outside’ for his actions, where he and his monstrous children remained. Those from the Inside must never touch an Outsider, lest they be cursed and transformed. A little girl named Shiva, an Insider, is found by an Outsider she calls ‘Teacher’. Though they cannot touch, Teacher cares for Shiva as best he can and together they live a moderately happy life. But soon, Shiva not only finds herself in danger from the Outside, but from her own kind as well.

Review: This story falls more into the genre of a gothic fairytale. It does have some creepy and disturbing elements, but this story could also be enjoyed by people who are not usually horror fans. In fact, I think a lot of controversy surrounding this manga (particularly its ending), has been due to people being drawn in by expectations formed on the basis of artwork style and cute little girl protagonist, only to be let down by the ending not meeting those same expectations. At least, this is my impression from reading the comments on the first volume vs. the last.  I was also somewhat misdirected by these expectations on my first read, but since returning to this Manga for a second time, I felt much more content with the story as a whole. However, I do also really enjoy traditional fairytales and grew up reading the brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson works, so I was perhaps already primed to enjoy the vibes of this story.

Art: The art in this Manga highly regarded. The artist is masterful with just shades of grey. Somehow, they managed to convey so much emotion with the character of ‘teacher’, with his only discernable features being his eyes and just a dark shape for the rest of this face. The art definitely has very ‘fairytale vibe’ to it. Some has said this is the best part, while others feel it is a detriment in that it can distract from the wider story. I enjoyed the art, and I feel like it added to the dreamy, yet also somber atmosphere. 

Recommend: Yes, the Manga is definitely good. But I will say how high you would rate it depends on your personal taste and interests. 

Spoilers Below------------------------------------------------------------

This story’s ending is kind of infamous for the ambiguous way it ends, without really giving us the complete closure of what happens with the wider issues of the curse and the division between the ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’, and what it all really means in the end. The completion of this storyline of ‘solving the curse’ was kind of where I was expecting the narrative to go, so I was quite surprised by the twist at the end and wasn’t really sure about what to make of it at first. 

I think I enjoyed the trajectory of the Manga more on my second read when I wasn’t distracted by the ending. I was able to focus more on what the author was trying to convey. Of course, with more ambiguous kind of stories this (or any kind) this is all just personal interpretation. But I feel like the ending with the ‘sharing of souls’ storyline, makes more sense if we look at it from the wider themes. The messages that stood out most to me when reflecting on the Manga were, ‘you can’t have light without the dark/you can’t have love and life without pain and grief’ and ‘humanity is not looking human, but coming together to care for other people’. 

I’ve also heard others theorise that the story is a metaphor for the cycle of life. I’d be interested to hear what others brought away as their understanding of the story. 

[horrificanalysis]

Dorohedoro

Q Hayashida (2010-2019)

Synopsis: The setting for Dorohedoro takes place sometime in a post-apocalyptic future, were life is divided across three ‘realms’. Our main protagonist Caiman, lives in the dreary human realm ‘Hole’. Life is miserable in hole, as people are constantly under attack from magic users crossing over from the sorcerer’s realm. These sorcerers see humans as nothing but cannon fodder for their magic experiments. Caiman is one of these magic experiment victims. Someone has transformed his head into that of a lizard, and he has lost all knowledge of his true identity. Together with his best friend Nikaidō, the owner of the local dumpling restaurant, they track down magic users in the hopes of solving the mystery of Caiman’s existence, and to enact their revenge. 

Review: This manga is more of a horror comedy or ‘splatter comedy’ than something traditionally scary, but it definitely doesn’t disappoint in the gore department. Hayashida somehow manages to make the fun and whimsical mixed in with the extreme violence seem tonally consistent. The actual plot was an enjoyable ride that kept me guessing. The fantastical and almost absurdist elements probably contributed to this, as you can never tell what is coming next. You will never underestimate a mushroom again. Another reason why this Manga is super popular is that every single character is enjoyable. Even within the villain group I truly loved every character. Also, you don’t come across many Manga’s that have complex female characters, and buff ladies as well! (although there is still some sexualised fan service). 

Art: Super interesting and unique art style with an aggressive and scratchy aesthetic. I would say it’s a lot less ‘clean’ looking than typical manga style and  more detailed too. I still enjoyed it though, and was actually disappointed that the Anime developed from the Manga wasn’t able to fully replicate the art style. 

Recommend: Yes, one of my favorites. It might be one to miss if you are gore sensitive or prefer fully serious horror. 

Spoilers Below----------------------------------------------------------------------

I really loved that there were no ‘true’ villains in the Manga, or really a clear divide in ‘morality’ between the two groups. The way the story would change the way you felt about the villain characters by slowly feeding you new revelations as the story moved along was super fun and interesting to me. I started thinking about how the main reason we view Caiman’s actions as justified was only because we were seeing things from his point of view. It kind of made you question what is actually right and wrong in the context of the story. 

I liked that the characters all had flaws and there was no true hero, yet the story was still felt sincere. It manages to avoid the cringe, 'the main hero is cool because he’s edgy’ tropes you can sometimes get with similarly themed stories. 

I guess maybe Chidaruma could be argued to be the true ‘villain’ of the story, but he was still an enjoyable character. 

I also liked how the romance plots were more background implications in the story. Any ‘romantic chemistry’ between characters was just enough to keep things interesting without overshadowing the main plot. It felt more natural to me because they didn’t follow too many typical romance tropes. 

The only thing that really lets this manga down for me is the obvious fan service scenes with the female characters. I was so happy to have found a manga that has even one good female protagonist that actually contributes to the action of the story and is badass in their own right, and this manga has more than one. Unfortunately, there were some sexualised nudity scenes that were just kind of add ons with no real plot relevance except, ‘look a naked girl with boobs’. Luckily, these scenes are not constantly barraging you throughout the story like other similar Manga’s I have read. 

If anyone else loves this manga, let me know what you think. I would love to know who your favourite character was and why. 

[horrificanalysis]

Underwinter: Symphony

Writer/Artist: Ray Fawkes Publisher: Image Comics (2016)

Synopsis:  Underwinter: Symphony centers it’s story on a string quartet struggling to make ends meet. That is, until they are offered an usual gig, willing to pay them more money than they have ever been offered before. Of course, only if they agree to some unusual requests....

Review: Affecting and grotesque, yet somehow still ultimately beautiful. The most interesting aspect of this comic, is how it manages to capture the traditionally auditory experience of music through his visual art. There’s not much I want to say about the actual plot, as it’s hard to explain without spoiling. However, I would describe the comic as overall a haunting experience. Helped I think, by the juxtaposition of the extremely beautiful with the grotesque and horrific. The writing style was very captivating and ultimately added to the poetic flow of the visual elements.

Art: The art in this comic is absolutely some of the best in the horror genre. Fawkes utilises watercolor as his main medium, whilst also using bold inking or crayon/pencil to supplement, depending on the emotional context he is trying to depict. Fawkes manages to create a sense of visual poetry with his strategic implementation of artistic choice. His stylistic approach is abstract and minimal, which only adds to the story. It teases the reader by giving us enough to make out the necessary details, but leaves space for our understandings to grow wild and anxious with the mystery of what we cannot see. Overall, a unique piece of work and surreal atmosphere I have not seen replicated anywhere else. 

Recommend: Yes. 

Spoilers Below:---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

According to an interview with the author,  “Underwinter: SYMPHONY is about the purpose of music in the world.... The relationship of art to passion, sin, glamour, and pain “, “Born of my fascination with the duality of our world: how it can be achingly beautiful and disgustingly horrifying all at once.”

https://imagecomics.com/features/the-agony-of-creation-ray-fawkes-presents-underwinter-interview?msclkid=01c314bcb60b11ec8bdfaffa8b1173f5 

The themes are so interesting to me, and the comic as a whole definitely left me feeling unsettled and contemplative for days after reading. The main ‘antagonist’ I guess, was very freaky. Still haunts my nightmares. 

Has anyone else read this comic? I would be interested to hear what you think.  Was it too abstract and artsy, or did you enjoy the different style of storytelling?  

UNDERWINTER: SYMPHONY: The Playlist recommended by the author himself

Mozart - The Requiem Mass: This is a book about classical musicians, after all, and pain and death and beauty and horror, so I've had this on repeat more than once while I painted the pages.

Bartók - String Quartet no. 5 (Allegro): This is a piece the musicians in the book play more than once, and it's, er, conducive to the kind of brushstrokes that some of the really horrifying scenes needed.

Portishead - Only You: I listen to a lot of Portishead, when I'm writing or otherwise. This song in particular feels like the scenes outside of the performances in SYMPHONY to me.

Portishead - Only You: I listen to a lot of Portishead, when I'm writing or otherwise. This song in particular feels like the scenes outside of the performances in SYMPHONY to me.

DJ Shadow with Run the Jewels - Nobody Speak: Just like the Phantogram songs: this one fits another one of the protagonists so well that it's on repeat whenever I paint the scenes that feature her.

[horrificanalysis]

GANTZ

Hiroya Oku. (2000-2013).

Synopsis: The story of Kei Kurono and Masaru Kato, both of whom died in a train accident and become part of a semi-posthumous "game" in which they and several other recently deceased people are forced to hunt down and kill aliens armed with a handful of futuristic items, equipment, and weaponry. 

Review: (Note: I did not finish this Manga. This is only my personal perspective after reading the beginning, so this will not be a review of the overall plot of the manga). 

Despite the overwhelming number of recommendations I have received for this Manga, I did not enjoy reading it. My reasoning for this 1) the treatment of the female protagonist was very disturbing. I understand that in the horror genre, violence against women can be a topic to be explored if it is done in the right way. This manga I feel, only used violence against woman as a lazy way to add ‘edge’ and phonographic fan service to readers (you can read more about why I think this below, if you don’t mind spoilers). 2) The male character was completely unlikable to me. I will explain more below If you want to read about my perspective. 

Art: What I can say about this manga is that I did enjoy the art. It was pretty solid. 

Recommend: No, not if disturbing treatment of women will distract from your enjoyment of interacting with a piece of media. 

Trigger warning for: Self Harm, S/A

The female character in this story (the only one as far as I read), is introduced to us completely naked. As the players of the game must enter through experiencing an ending of their original life, this character (a high school girl) has just committed Su****de. Apparently she was naked in the bathtub when she did this (why naked if you expect people to find you??). She appears unconscious at first, landing directly on the main protagonist (who is enamored with her giant boobs and gets an errection of course). He randomly kisses her unconscious body. No one is concerned about her or her health. Immediately one of the other men in the room begins to undress himself to assault her. Only on other man is concerned by this (and manages to stop him thankfully). The main protagonist is unconcerned. 

She is now sitting down (still naked) when she is licked inappropriately by a dog that is randomly in the room??? I absolutely cannot fathom why this was necessary. I don’t think this is normal dog behavior when seeing a naked person. She is then given a coat to wear by a man who says, “put that on before I do the same thing”.  

She then wanders around the rest of this arc in just the coat, with plenty of boob shots to excite the audience and remind you of her naked body. Every chapter title page is now her posing suggestively in underwear. You cannot convince me that this author was intending to say anything significant or insightful about the cruelty of sexual violence, or violence against woman. This is clearly because he wants to add ‘sexiness’ to his Manga, and apparently this is what he thinks readers will find sexy. 

(Example of a title page. Note: still a high school girl)

Secondly, the main protagonist is awful. He is uncaring and deliberately cruel to people. When this girl is homeless, she goes to him for help. He is excited because he thinks this means he will get to have sex with her for some reason? He even runs to the store to buy condoms. He is not at all concerned about how her (just surviving self harm. then thrown into a series of traumatic experiences and now homeless). In fact, after she has made no moves on him he thinks to himself, “this is not how I thought it would go. Well I suppose I could just take her by force”. This is supposed to be the person I am rooting for???? This is the point I decided this Manga was definitely not for me. 

What is even more disturbing is how many people praise this Manga for the main protagonist’s personality. Apparently he is much more relatable than other similar protagonists because of his flaws. Unfortunately, it was in no way relatable to me. 

From the way the story has been presented so far, I do not think that there will be any serous examination or growth surrounding his treatment of this female character. Nor any kind of consequence for these disturbing actions. Anyone who has read this Manga fully, you are welcome to update me and prove me wrong. 

[horrificanalysis]

Phantom Stalker Woman/Zashiki Onna

Mochizuki, Minetaro. (1993). 

synopsis: 

One night, mild-mannered college student, Hiroshi Mori, bumps into a woman visiting his next-door neighbor. A large, creepy woman, she has long hair, wears a coat and carries shopping bags in both hands. He had never seen her before. But then, without warning, the woman starts stalking Hiroshi, shifting her attention from his next-door neighbor whom she had been visiting to Hiroshi himself. Who is she and what is she after?

Review: Phantom Stalker Woman is considered one of the ‘original’ stalker Manga’s. With its publishing even predating the acknowledgement of the term ‘stalker’ in Japanese society. Much of the original fright factor of this manga, I think must have come from this novelty. Current readers may feel that the scariness of the manga is reduced by the proliferation of the stalker storyline in today's media. 

Despite this, the manga still manages to deliver an interesting and unsettling story. While there isn’t much horror in the traditional gore sense, this story manages to build a creepy atmosphere, and its well-paced writing enables a building sense of unease and uncertainty that you can’t look away from. The manga is short, but this only adds to the feeling of ‘I can’t look away’... making it very easy to devour in one sitting. 

Art: The artistic style of this manga is unique in that it is not the most technical or ‘pretty’. Some may even describe it as ugly. However, it does not detract from the experience of the manga. In fact, I feel that it only adds to the sense of unease viewers feel.

Recommend: Yes. A little dated, but still an overall enjoyable read. 

The main issue I have with the manga is the character of the stalker woman herself. I believe the ending was intended to imply ambiguity about whether she was just a strange woman, or if there were some supernatural elements at play. In some ways, the relentlessness of the character, how she seemed to be always watching, and some of her unnatural athleticism, almost reached the point of existing outside the realm of human possibility. In other ways, she never completely crosses the boundaries of what we could expect from her. 

Sometimes this ambiguity can work in favor of the story, complimenting the experience of confusing psychological terror, and leaving room for a multitude of interpretations. In this case I think it did the story a disservice. Am I supposed to be scared because of the unrelenting, unbeatable, woman who will never stop stalking? Or am I supposed to be scared because of the unspoken, yet realistic experience of being stalked. Something that could happen to any everyday person? I feel like the message of the story got muddled by the ambiguity and unanswered questions about the character. In fairness, the length of the story did not really lend itself to being able to develop fully fleshed out characters.

Due to me being unsure about the stalkers woman’s intended characterisation, I also felt conflicted about how to feel about her depiction. It’s kind of cliché that the unwanted stalker woman is super ugly and creepy looking. That’s what implies that her attentions ‘unwanted’. But, I find it hard to figure out if I should be critical of how she’s represented or not. If she was just a person struggling with mental health, I feel like that might be a little outdated to depict her so grotesquely with monstrous implications. But, she could also be just supernatural, or her creepiness could also just be over-emphasised due to the fear from the protagonist? I can’t really tell. 

A second element that let down the story for me is something I personally have an issue with regarding a lot of horror manga: the male protagonist is just not that likable. He is often cruel and dismissive. He also is dating an underage high school despite clearly being a college student (perhaps the author wanted to emphasise her vulnerability by making her younger?). These kinds of elements come up again and again in horror manga (particularly poor treatment of women by the male protagonist), often making it hard for me to empathise with the protagonist. In this case, it wasn’t too much that it disrupted the reading experience. However, it was something I would like to note.