The Man who Never was

Lovesickness by Junji Ito My rating: 4 of 5 stars Viewer discretion advised: Warning for graphic violence, acts, and body horror. The master of Japanese Horror, nay, graphic horror worldwide. As usual he has the unique ability to take day to day, mundane aspects of life, and turn them into graphic, disturbing, macabre displays of terror. The premise of these series of interconnected short stories involves our protagonist, who has returned to his childhood home, a childhood which I might add, has some seriously disturbing repressed memories attached to it. Right after his arrival, mysterious incidents begin taking place, ending in a serious of disturbing suicides and deaths. As the body count rises, and bit by bit the townspeople turn to rabid, maniacal, insanity, it's upon him to solve this phenomenon and stop the violence. It seems as if, in every other of his stories, things go bad, and everyone goes mad. But despite a predictable pattern, we s...

20th Century Boys, Volume 1: Friends by Naoki Urasawa My rating: 4 of 5 stars It's difficult not to draw the parallels between Naoki Urasawa's '20th Century Boys' and It by the master, Stephen King. After all, both have a group of kids, turn to adults, battling a greater evil through various time periods in their life. Yet that is where the comparisons end. Where Mr. King's work is one of pure horror, involving the malevolent soul consuming entity of Pennywise, Urasawa's work is more an intricate quagmire of suspense, conspiracy and revelations, through the lens of the major cultural events in several time periods. Generally, I have an aversion to suspense, mystery thrillers, because they focus too much of the twists and revelations, and eventually write themselves into a corner, necessitating the writers to pull something out of their ass to keep the story going. Also, in many of such stories, the characters are merely. the...

Fragments of Horror by Junji Ito My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews Junji Ito is to Graphical body Horror, what Lovecraft was to cosmic existential horror.  His stories are anthologies, often set in the Japanese countryside, where mysterious things are afoot, and just around the corner one might encounter the paranormal, that can, for no particular reason latch on to you, ruin your life, and oftentimes end up taking it as well.  They often feature a coterie of everyday people, who are afflicted with, or experience the horrors on the other side of the veil. Where malicious, whimsical and mostly evil incarnate entities toy with you for their own perverted amusement. And there is little you can do to combat them.  The characters of Junji Ito rarely try to fight against their oppressors; you won't find wooden stake wielding, silver bullet shooting monster hunters. Just what one would expect if you were to encounter the monster that goes bump in the night. You...

A Man and His Cat, Vol. 1 by Umi Sakurai My rating: 5 of 5 stars View all my reviews A Man and his Cat tells the story of a soft-spoken elderly widower Fuyuki-san, and the cutest, sweetest, chonkiest of boys Fukumaru, as they deal with their own battles with loneliness, through each other's love and companionship. Now, seeing as how I'm probably going to end up like Fuyuki-san, (Sans the loving wife & kids), being a cat guy, the manga holds some amount of interest to me. Plus, the art style is adorable, comical and whimsical, while at the same time heartfelt and wholesome. Reading the day-to-day adventures of the Ojii-san and his cat, after a long tedious day, was like a cold balm on the forehead, a glass of chilled lemonade after spending all day in the sun. This, and the likes of [b: The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today|57032865|The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today, Vol. 1|Hitsuji Yamada|https://i.gr-asset...

The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today, Vol. 1 by Hitsuji Yamada My rating: 5 of 5 stars View all my reviews My procrastination has once again prevented me from writing down thoughts in regard to this wonderfully wholesome slice of life manga which I read months ago. One thing I love about manga is how, the number of subjects covered is so expensive, one can almost always find a story which caters to your particular tastes. Even if those tastes are particularly macabre. I’m reminded of the many works under the Psychological/ Tragedy/ Mature tags, where several acts which can be considered as an affront to nature are put on page. But enough of that; we’re talking about cats. And  ‘Dekiru Neko wa Kyou mo Yuuutsu’  is the type of manga that scratches the particular mental itch to satiate the cat lover in me. While there have been several other titles featuring cats as protagonists or glorified mascots, the anthropomor...