Ibitsu

I love urban legends and all sorts of folk lore from around the world. I personally love British and Japanese of these two things, the latter always seems dark and twisted full of unhappy souls and revenge seeking creatures. Again, something I love to read about.

I found this manga but bumbling around online as I often find things, by accident and out of sheer boredom. The manga is two volumes long with a story to break the main one up between. So it's not a long one to finish and it's not ongoing.

[2009]

A boy went to take his trash out late one night, and found a strange, creepy, lolita woman sitting amongst the garbage bags. She asked if he had a little sister, and he answered her, hurrying afterwards back to his apartment. When he looked out the window, she was gone. Who is the strange woman, and why does she give him such a bad feeling? 

The urban legend in the manga goes as follows.

You see a girl dressed in dirty gothic lolita clothing, if you walk past her she will ask you a question 'Do you have a little sister?' if you reply 'No I don't' She will become your sister. If you say 'I do' she'll try and kill your sister and take her place. The only way to avoid dying horridly is to not reply.

It was slow to start with as girl in lolita clothes gets more and more creepy and stalker like as the manga goes on, odd things happening as she breaks into his house to clean, and watch him sleep and other things all the while he's trying to figure out what is wrong with this girl.

He has a little sister who comes face to face with the creepy girl and things get worse for them both as soon the boy starts to realise more and more that this strange girl who is stalking him might be more then that as he hears of urban legends floating around and rumours of this 'Strange Lolita' cause him to look online for more answers, when he finds them they aren't good.

While trying to find the answers on how to get the girl to stop his own sister is being chased down and punished more by the strange girl. Soon he finds himself in an old mental hospital as all the secrets and abusive past the girl had come to light and he tries to make things right to get the bitter soul to leave him and his sister alone.

But as with most tales and folklore from Japan, it's a bitter twisted world.

The story that fits between one half and the other is really creepy. Again based on a legend that if you go into this old building as a couple and write your names down you will be happy forever. The building was where a famous doll marker lived and suffered losing his wife which drove him nuts.

Too many creepy fucking dolls man. Was very good read though.

Like I said it's a slow start and seems to drag it's feet as is typical with alot of J horror but when it gets going you feel a little on edge and feel yourself tense as the truth comes about and everything slots together in a twisted way.

Story: 4/5

Art: 4/5

Gore: 3/5

Scares: 1/5

Pacing: 3/5

Overall enjoyment: 4/5

READ IT HERE 

Jigsaw

xxx

MPD Psycho

Multiple Personality Detective Psycho

(1997)

So back to another Japanese manga in the horror genre for us but about as horror as 'SE7EN' where as horrid deaths and crime related things as apposed to full on horror but hey, gore is just as good right?

I just started to read it the other night and damn it's long but at least it's completed and pretty good going so I will be reading the rest.

So it's about a very good, very handsome, very smart detective that works on  gory case about a man who decapitates bodies and is abit of a messed up person and our main guy with his team are hot on his trail but all is not well in perfect looking man world!

He gets a package sent to his office and inside he finds his girlfriend still alive but chopped up, missing all her limbs and naked.

And he hunts down this sick mother fucker and manages to kill him which gets him in alot trouble and chucked into a nut house due to this sudden trauma with his girlfriend the way she is and the surge of pure anger the main guy has a break down and developed split personalities.

But years pass and a woman who he used to work with leaves the the force and makes her own business and hires the newly let out main guy to help her with future cases and he seems happy enough to do so and has a place to live.

So more gross killings come along including the most well known one. Woman being kidnapped and being turned into flower pots.

The manga is good, it's gory and interesting if not a fair bit confusing at times as he goes from having two people in his head to like four people in one head.. so it's a pain when they all have their own names and not just one name each... but a full first and second long Japanese name so unless your fab with names you might just gloss over like I did.

So the main guy has no memories whenever he turns into another person and this means the switch flips from time to time and he gets into some messy situations.

A TV show was made from the manga and directed by Takashi Miike who is a great film maker.

The crimes are well done, gory and nasty but all seem to have a very sexual element to them like the naked woman and the bondage type wear. Also alot of males seem to be very gender confused and feminine.

So far I have read about a cannibal, the flower pot woman and teen suicide cults and look forward to seeing more strange and odd cases for Mr overly handsome mental man to solve.

Art: 5/5

Gore: 4/5

Story: 3.5/5

Overall enjoyment: 4/5

XJigsawX

To read MPD PSYCHO online click here

The Horror Mansion

While bored and having a look around online for something else to have a read of while my partner spends all night playing Saints Row the third I came across this manga. It's a collection of short horror stories. It's kinda like 'Are you afraid of the dark?' or 'Goosebumps'

1987

By Ochazukenori

About a woman who is driven crazy by stalker like phone calls.

A brother and sister who are awkwardly close, he gets a girlfriend who happens to be his sister's best friend and there is jealousy to be had as well as human spiders and a very strange sex scene.

A couple go to the beach together and the girl is confronted by a mother who has lost her child.. Another tragic water themed horror story, I sense a theme in Japanese horror.

A good old fashion cannibal story.

This is a very short story, follows on from the last panels of the story before it. A one way love story with grim endings.

A really wtf and gory story of the evil COUNT KEVIN! [I hope that was a translation mistake..]

A three part story about two sisters cursed by a lake.

Horror Mansion Manga 2

Much longer then the last few, about a father and his girl who soon finds out the sick measures he has gone to keep her close and what happened to her mother. My fav story so far, it's sick and grim.

A bitter sweet story about two lovers who make the ultimate promise but there is betrayal. Also LESBIANS.

Oh yes there's two more parts to the adventures of COUNT KEVIN!

And now for some crazy Japan. A jealous lover catches her love sleeping with another woman and kills her. A witch then decides she will be reborn as her lover and the other woman's child...

I don't really know what to say about this one other then odd family affairs and bitches be crazy.

No girls with long hair trying to kill you in this. A short story to go out with, a tape that tells the future.

These manga's and all the short stories are pretty good reads, some are far too short like maybe 5 pages long? The art style has it's own arty style and it's nice to see manga as old as this and seeing how far it has come since 25 years ago in leaps and bounds.

Some old school style horror stories with not too much of Japan's whackyness. If you want to read something gory, short and fast paced this is good but if your someone who likes length and real plot then give this a miss as you can sometimes find yourself really getting into it and then it just comes to an end.

Art: 3/5

Gore: 5/5

Plots: 4.5/5

Scares: 1/5

Overall enjoyment 4.5/5

Wish some had been longer.

TO READ HORROR MANSION

XJigsawX

The Enigma Of Amigara Fault

This is a short story by the man who did Uzamaka/Sprial [ Junji Ito]and it's part of a horror collection called GYO. It's an odd short story but it's a creepy one.

There is an earthquake in Japan and a huge fault down the mountain is made, people rush over to it to see more about it. A really odd thing has happened, they all find human shaped holes in the side and no one not even a wired camera can see the other side.

Our main guy goes to have a look and bumps into a girl who claims one of the holes is 'her hole' and looks just like her but he refuses to believe such a thing.

He walks with the girl and stays by her side while everyone is trying to work out what this all means, how did those human holes get there? why are they there? They soon meet a man who has found 'his hole' and without a second thought takes off his clothes and decides it's a good idea to walk down the hole.

They send out a rescue team to try and save him but no one else can fit into this mans own personal hole and so they give up. Our main man starts to have nightmares about the hole, how there is something not right, something evil about the holes.

People start to freak out and get almost hypnotised by their holes when they see them and soon others join in. Including our guys new rather nutty girlfriend.

In despair of having his new girl vanish down the hole he stumbles upon his own one, and taken over by some sort of force he also enters..

And soon the research crew find the other side...

Short story so short review. I found this by accident by seeing loads of online things about Drrrrr drrrrr and 'This is my hole it was made for me' so I googled and found this story. I was already a huge fan of Junji Ito's dark and creepy work and this was good. I wish it had been longer though.

Scares: 2/5

Plot: 4/5

Art: 4/5

Overall enjoyment: 4.5/5

If you wish to read GO HERE

XJigsawX

Battle Royale

Well I have been on a HUGE Battle Royale kick as of late. I've read the manga and the book years ago and also watched the movie a good 100 times in the past too but I managed to tell a friend about how amazing BR novel was and she went out and bought it and since she has used me as a library all year I decided to borrow it and my god it's just as fantastic as I remember.

And trust me that it's an awesome kind of writer who makes you want to re-read his 2 inch thick book of normal sized text. His style is so easy to read and once you get past the ten odd pages of waffle and get to the actual story it's very hard to put it down.

So this review we will cover the manga, the movie and the novel.

Now as with everything there are difference in novel to movie and there are for the most part some big changes in the movie but nothing that takes away from the beauty of this awesome story. The manga follows the novel pretty well from what I remember [I can't remember great shakes about the manga] only VERY over sexualised I am sick of hearing the term 'pink' and other sexual things.

Yes someone does get raped in the novel and I do think there is a sex scene later but they are not over glorified they are mentioned and moved on, he is detailed in his setting the scene and gore details but doesn't focus on the more dirty side of things where as the manga drowns the story in it.

Despite the two being very close to each other the manga is very shit, the over sexed bits and I find the art ugly as sin I also think the way they do Shuya and Nobu is abit.. off not how I mentally see them in the novel and for some reason a boy who is only a year older then them IE Kawada looks like he's 30 and joined the marines.... what.

Everyone is far too 'bishi' for my liking too. Oh and Shinji doesn't do back flips and ninja stunts in the novel. That I think was a big change from novel to manga. Like I said re-reading the novel now and was ages since I saw the manga.

They draw girls and gore really, really well but the men? nope.

The novel as I said is about 2 inch's thick but it goes by so fast when you into it. He paints a very good picture in your head as you read it, the setting the scene, going into the raw emotions the people feel, something that isn't half as good in the manga but admirably done in the movie.

His gore is classic, it's gross, well detailed but not corny or over done. You really like characters in this book and feel for them.

Also something I love about this book is that it is easy to keep track for what is going on and after each little bit that might focus on a different person or different group there is a '_ students remaining' which is a grim reminder but also a good add on so you know how the story is progressing.

I'd say to anyone that this book is worth buying. Buy It Here

I think the movie is what started my love for Asian cinema and to this day I think it is one of the best movies I have ever seen let alone best Asian movie I have ever seen. It's not corny like alot tend to be but it's ageless. It's a classic in my eyes. The cast are fantastic I even love the changes they made from the book as it didn't take away from the story it added it's own charm to it.

People die at different times in the movie to the book like Shinji comes 15th in the book and manga but comes 5th in the movie. Some people even change looks. But this story is a masterpiece. One of the big changes other then some weapons and relationships with the people is very much the teacher Kitano doesn't appear in the manga or the novel he is 'Sakamochi' who seems to LOVE being a dick and his place of power where as ther is something very different about Kitano and he has this really odd thing for Noriko which isn't anything sinister.

He seems to be a lonely man who's hated at school and hated at home and shoes loneliness he also taught the selected class before the BR act in year 6. The emotional connection to people in this movie is just as strong as in the novel I love Shinji to death and Kawada.

It's a great movie to see gore [well done gore] and to see how these kids deal with the issues at hand. If you have seen the movie please read the novel and vice verse the normal snobbery of 'never as good as the book' should be put aside for this because the changes aren't a bad thing.

The only thing that should be avoided about Battle Royale is the manga.

As you can tell Battle Royal is a massive love of mine so please excuse the gushing. But yeah, go buy it, read it and watch it.

Battle Royale Movie

2000

9/10

Battle Royale Novel

1996

10/10

Battle Royale Manga

2000 to 2005

5/10

XJigsawX

Highschool Of The Dead

Why yes I AM alive... it's been a busy, hectic ands stressful time for me in the real world so this is a fun review on something I've watched twice now.

(2010)

This anime has 12 episodes and come in both English and Japanese with English subs but if I was you... I'd really, really not watch the English version, they make jokes and references fit for the western world like 'who is she? Sarah fucking Paling?' but they are so out of place with a very obvious IN JAPAN based show and far too many curse words are added in.

It's like western audiences can't enjoy something unless there is pointless 'FUCKING A's added or something... but the Japanese version is very good /weeabo

So yes, story is the same as any good Zombie related show or movie. Normal day everyone is just doing normal shit and suddenly ZOMBIES and all of the city and later all of Japan is up shit creek.

So yeah, based on a main guy, the girl he fancies and a bunch of other students who don't know each other very well and the school nurse band together to escape the school and find a safe haven together and to survive.

They later meet a little girl and save her and normally I'm very very against whiny kids.. but she's not annoying and is very adorable, awww. So yes the show is everything you'd want for in a zombie related show and more! The gore is awesome, it's very gory and the characters for the most part pretty awesome/

The show is emotional too, you really end up liking the people and do care what happens regardless of them missing a third dimension. The animation is swish and not too typical of anime where it's all yap yap yap and no ones mouth moves. There are really good fight scenes.. some really WTF moments.

There is a matrix boob scene.. I don't know if the person who made it has even seen real tits... but son, they do NOT work like that and they certainly don't make 'badooong' noises when they move. Every girl in the show minus the little girl are smuggling large melons around to help them survive the days ahead.

The cast is pretty cliche..

Snobby rich smart girl

Main calm cool hero but doesn't want to be type

Hot girl love interest [who does kick ass]

Hot silent, serious girl

Ditsy blond with huge tits

Fat nerdy guy who comes in use.

But other then the cliche to the max cast they are good to watch and like I said it's a very gory and emotionally charged show. But I do find all the woman wanna jump on Mr calm guys dick like no tomorrow.. I don't know if it's due to him just being a 'swell guy' or the only other cock provider is a nerdy fat dork..

Either way..

OH and if you like tits and ass? this anime is full of it. Ass and tits EVERYWHERE it's a very fan serivce fuled anime and you could tell the person making it was having a very long dry spell and needed to see someones ass and tits regardless of who or whats. But if you don't mind that then this is a great anime, if your really not a fan of over sexed things... boy you will hate it in the first ten minutes.

The show also shows the nature of people who survive, we have a teacher who is nuts and saves a handful of students but turns them into a sex crazed cult who follow his every word. It's good to have a show that's kids trying to survive in the end of the world type deal and how they are forced to grow up and cope with it.

Plot: 3/5

Gore: 5/5

Animation: 4.5/5

Over all enjoyment: 5/5

I heart it.

X6X Jigsaw X6X