horror ↘↖
Manga Review: Akame ga Kill!
“One thousand years ago, after the Great Empire was created, the Emperor began to worry,” he wished to protect his country forever, but he was not immortal. Thus he used his massive empire’s resources to create forty-eight weapons called the Teigu. These weapons were created using the created scientific minds, rare metals, and materials gathered from legendary creatures. However, the Great Empire, which was once a peaceful and prosperous nation, has since fallen into depravity due to the efforts of the current Prime Minister. Fighting the Prime Minister are a small group of assassins which use the Teigu to end the corruption of the empire.
Manga Review: Otogi Matsuri
In the quite little town of Miyakono life takes a drastic turn for many residents. The residents have forgotten the old traditions and have abandoned the gods. By destroying the mountain and filling in the rivers an ancient charm was broken. This charm protected the town from the onslaught of the ten Kenzoku. These ancient and monstrous creatures gather the souls of their victims to resurrect their creator. The only humans that can fight these beings are those who have been chosen by the four gods guarding the town. These gods are: Suzaku, who protects the south, Seiryu, who protects the East, Genbu, who protects the North, and Byakko, who protects the West. Upon contact with the gods the chosen must give up their most precious thing in exchange for a jingi, a sacred weapon. They, along with the few who have spiritual sense, are the only ones who can see the Kenzoku and thus must fight together to save the greater population who are unaware of the danger. Still, the Jingi users are only human and their weakness causes many deaths, some unavoidable, some harrowing.
Manga Review: Island
From the manhwa writer that wrote Shin Angyo Onshi and Defense Devil comes a story of demons, death, history, and vengeance. Island centers around Won Miho who, ever since she came to Cheju Island, has attracted the attention of the native demons. Her only line of defense is Pan, a serial killer who hunts these demons. This mysterious man uses Buddhist chants and his jade dagger to defeat both god and demons alike. He is unpredictable, to say the least, and Won has to resort to money in order to keep Pan defending her. However, these demons are the least of Won’s worries as she gets caught in a history of hate between Korea and Japan which manifests itself in supernatural killing and battles.
Manga Review: Parasyte
Even in real life, humans are slowly destroying the planet. However, in Parasyte Earth may have a chance due to alien invaders. These aliens are parasitic, sometimes symbiotic, creatures that attempted to take over human bodies when they first invaded. Most Parasites succeeded and took control over human brains. Others failed to take over humans but succeed in controlling other animals, although this is considered a failure by the Parasite population. These Parasites develop a need to eat others of the same species as their host. Thus Parasites in human hosts eat other humans. Another failure is when a Parasite fails in taking over a human’s brain and instead controls a different part of their body. This is the case of Shinichi Izumi who has a Parasite in his right hand.
Manga Review: King of Thorns
People often ask: “If you could have one superpower what would it be?” One day I decided to sit down and plan out what would be the best superpower so that I would be prepared should someone ask. After brainstorming I came up with two superpowers that were tied for my favorite. One of them is turning what I imagine into reality. Just like any superpower this one has flaws. This manga explores what happens if someone tries to utilize this great power in order to take over the world. In this manga the so called, “Medusa virus,” has started to infect humans. The result? People slowly turn in stone. Huge power awaits those who can control the Medusa virus.
Manga Review: Kaibutsu Oujo aka Princess Resurrection
“From Del Rey:
Werewolves, demons, monsters, vampires. All these ferocious creatures are afraid of the same thing: the beautiful Princess Hime, an awesome warrior who fights off the forces of evil with a chainsaw and a smile. Not only does she look great in a tiara, she has power that allows her to raise the dead. She’s a girl on a mission, and with the help of her undead servant and a supercute robot, there’s no creature of darkness she can’t take down!” - Mangafox.com
Manga Review: Dance In The Vampire Bund
“From Seven Seas:
After millennia in hiding, Mina Ţepeş, the princess of the ancient covenant and ruler of all vampires, wants change. Using the vast wealth of the Ţepeş line, she has paid off the entire gross national debt of Japan and in so doing, gained the authority to create a “special district” off the coast of Japan that is to become the future haven to vampires the world over!
Now, on the eve of the landmark press conference announcing the existence of vampires to the world, terrorists and rival factions are plotting to assassinate Mina Ţepeş before she has a chance to make her world-changing announcement.” - mangaupdates.com
Mang Review: Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation
Available here
“From Viz:
Are you a victim of unwanted spirit possession? Is there a ghost you need sent up and away…or down to burn for all eternity? If the answer is yes, then you need Muhyo and Roji, experts in magic law. Serving justice to evil spirits is their specialty.” - Mangahere.com
Manga Review: Kamiyadori
Available here
“From Tokyopop:
Girard and ViVi are special government agents known as “Right Arms” whose job is to seek and destroy people who have become “infected.” In this world, a weird virus that turns people into monsters has run rampant and the only way humanity can survive is to keep tight control on those who are infected. If the virus’ symptoms appear, the person must be disposed of. It’s a tough world where women and children must sometimes be killed to prevent the spread of the virus.” - Mangafox.com
Elfen Lied
Available here
“The story involves human mutations called “dicloniuses”, who grow horns on their heads and possess telekinetic powers, in the form of invisible “arms” called vectors.
The tendency for violence among dicloniuses varies among characters. Certain scientists contain them in a Facility in cells where they are subject to inhumane experiments to test their abilities or where they await execution for being too dangerous.
An infectious virus is also associated with the mutation. This virus is spread through non-lethal contact with the vectors of a diclonius.
The main non-mutant character in the story is Kouta, who ends up becoming increasingly involved with these dicloniuses, as they seek refuge from the scientists.
The main diclonius character is Lucy/Nyuu a killer whose alter ego is a hapless, and very cute child whose vocabulary and intelligence is quite limited.
{Corrections from Silvermagic.}
After a large amount of choice occurences the lives of these two characters becomes inexplicably intwined…” -Mangafox.com
I don’t think I have misjudged a manga as much as I have this one. Normally, I judge a manga by its artwork. This is a bad habit and I am trying to work myself out of it. To fix my habit I generally read a chapter or two so I can accurately judge weither or not I think I will enjoy reading this series. Normally that is enough to get a good feel of the manga. But it wasn’t enough for this manga. There was so much blood and gore right off the bat I felt like I could not continue. And I didn’t continue, until many months later when a friend of mine highly recommended reading it. Since we have similar tastes I decided to give Elfen Lied another try, and I do not regret it.
As it turns out my original assessment was not untrue but simply it overlooked too much. You see, there is a lot of a gore in this series, in fact that is an understatement. You see so many people dyeing in such gruesome ways that you think everyone will die and, in fact, everyone is in danger of dyeing by the end. By there is much more to that. There is love, hate, sadness, happiness, hopeless, hope, betrayal, forgiveness and just about every other emotion you can think of. If you can get over the gore there is a lot this manga has to offer. The characters for one, are very lovable. The plot is extremely good there is never a dull moment and the ending was just absolutely golden. When I reached the ending I was so flooded with emotion I almost had to take a break to collect myself… almost.
A warning to all potential readers: If you do not like gore or can not stomach it DO NOT READ THIS MANGA. It is very common to see heads, limbs, and bodies flying everywhere, the innocent are not spared. Also nudity is fairly common, this is basically a manga you want to read in privacy. You have been warned.
Sources: wordpress.com, mangareader.net, mangafox.com
