Title: Gyo

Author & Artist: Junji Itou

Chapters: 1-19 (Completed)

Summary

There’s something in the water… and it reeks. It doesn’t take Tadashi and his girlfriend Kaori long to realize the smell is coming from dead fish. But these fish don’t seem to stay dead for you see they are able to walk right out of the sea. A metal contraption is fused together with the dead fish giving it the ability to walk. But that isn’t the only thing Tadashi has to worry about. These dead creatures are infected with a disease that spreads throughout the cities of Japan. Tadashi looks for answers and, surprisingly, he gets more than he can hold.

The Good

Creepy Factor

Seeing as we are nearing Halloween, people tend to loosen up since they will be going into holiday mode pretty soon. And what a perfect way to celebrate the horrid day than with “scary” stuff. This is a good read for such an occasion. It has the elements of a horror flick in the making. Dead fish in killer zombie mode, mutation disease, apocalyptic setting, and a shark! Well you’re just going to have to read it to get what I just said.

Interesting Plot

Usually when watch or reading about the zombie apocalypses, we get the back story of how it came to be. More than not it is always the government’s fault. Here, it’s a little bit different and one I enjoyed thoroughly throughout the reading. I won’t spoil it, but it does involve a little bit of history that very well makes the plot seem realistic.

The Bad

The Girlfriend

I could not stand Kaori throughout the reading. All she did in the story was whine her ass off. I don’t know why Tadashi stuck with her so long. Though I did like a certain event that involved her, I can’t spoil the rest. Let’s just say it wasn’t a good event.

The Ending

I didn’t hate the ending, but I was disappointed. All I can say is certain events lead to a conflict with Tadashi and his girlfriend… and his uncle…and his uncle’s love interest. This conflict felt like it came out of nowhere seeing as I didn’t see this conflict before. Not only that, but the overall story isn’t exactly summed up either. A sequel to the manga hinted its existence. Though I don’t see anything wrong with that, I have liked a better conclusion to this story.

Overall

For a Halloween read, it’s worth looking at. That’s also probably why I’m going easy on it. Plus it’s short, so why not? I give Gyo a 4 out of 5.

Rating:****~ (4/5)

Title: Doubt (Not the Shoujo one)

Author & Artist: Tonogai Yoshiki

Chapters: 1-20 (Complete)

Summary
Rabbit Doubt is a popular game taking over Japan. The instructions are simple: each player is a rabbit in a colony, but one of them isn’t. A wolf in disguise is among the rabbit colony and in every round, the wolf kills off a rabbit. Every round, the group tries to figure out which of the rabbits is actually a wolf. But what happens when the players choose to meet in person? Yuu, Mitsuki, Rei, Hajime, Eiji, and Haruka have decided to do just that. Unfortunately, one of them has taken it to a new level. The wolf of the group has already killed once. Everyone must find the wolf’s identity while trying to stay alive.

The Good

Setting

The story is set in a Saw-like stage. It’s not bad, but quite intriguing. The characters are trapped in a cell setting which adds to the horror aspect of the manga. From then on, the Saw part of the story is slightly forgotten and the story starts to stand on its own.

Pretty Short

You know how I like the my manga (most of the time).

Starting Plot

From the starting to the near end, I was always second guessing who the killer was. There was enough interest in the plot to keep me reading and enough suspicious background stories to change my mind. No, I wasn’t one of those people that thought the killer was obvious from the beginning. I ended up suspecting everyone unless they somehow died (may have sound stupid, but it worked). But I have to say, the starting of the manga got my interest. The only problem was…

The Bad

The Ending

The ending was a huge problem for me. I did not like it, nor felt any slight evidence in the story it was coming. I’ll elaborate more on this. Throughout the manga, the story had a logical flow. The potential killers all had viable reasons to be the killer, as did the methods of keeping the group locked up. Yet when the story reached the ending and the killer was revealed, the main method that kept the game going was completely illogical.

******Spoiler Alert*******
And some censored swearing

How the hell can you end a manga on mind-control hypnosis? Yes it may have been unexpected, but like I said, the manga followed logical reasoning and out of nowhere used some made-up supernatural bull**** as an ending. Incredibly disappointing.

Overall

I find myself in a questionable position. I want to recommend this manga for others to read mainly because of the starting, but finds the ending to be a terrible migraine. I have seen a few people who seem to love the manga, yet can’t say the same for myself. I give it a 3 out of 5 (it barely deserved that 3).

Ratings:***~~ (3/5)

Title: School Mermaid

Author & Artist: Yoshitom Akihito

Chapters: 1-3 (Complete)

Summary

Yoshiko and Haruko are in love (not with each other). When one is in love, they must confess to the person of interest to see if they feel the same… right? Not in this case. Both girls decide to take a more subtle approach. When cleaning one of the floors of the school, the girls find an old book that relates to a concurring rumor. Late at night, mermaids appear in the school and if you eat their flesh your love will come true. Will the girls kill for love?

The Good

Setting:

It’s rare to complement a manga or a comic for the use of setting. Setting is usually the last thing people think about when reading a comic, but here it works. Being somewhere familiar (like a school), but in a different setting (at night) can be quite nerve racking.

The Mermaids

I am vaguely familiar with the Japanese myth around mermaids, though the story serves its own mythology. Without giving too much away, the mermaids were the main highlight of the story. Not only that, but the process of how they came to be is (to a point) horrifying.

Short Read

It’s short (like this sentence). However…

The Bad

Character

There is a point in the story where I found the character to be very unbelievable. Even in the beginning, I couldn’t believe the whole notion that girls would kill something for “love”. I want to say this may be a “cultural thing,” but I doubt that completely. This could also go under my hatred of the manga female archetype, but I would be wasting my time.

Not Really Horror

There isn’t really anything horror about the manga. Yes, there is an exploration of empathy and the loss of humanity, but other than that nothing.

Ending

I did not like the ending, but that is because of a “cultural thing” with me. I am used to the “happy ending” treatment and I am not afraid to admit that. I have seen movies and read stories that didn’t have a “happy ending,” and in the long run I did not like the majority of them. Here, however, I’m torn. I know I don’t like the ending, but I’m trying to see the meaning of it. It feels like a message hiding in the story rather than just a short tale. Even so, I still can’t see pass the badness.

Overall

It’s hard for me to recommend this manga to beginners mainly because of the ending. The ending may actually discourage beginners from reading any more manga, or I’m just thinking too much into it. My dislikes outweigh the likes, yet I think there is more to this story than what my current thoughts give it. This will be all on the reader to decide and debate. I give it a 3 out of 5.

Rating:***~~ (3/5)

Note: The story is very short so spoilers were out of the question. Sorry I couldn’t go into detail any further.