The Woman of Udon
No, this isn’t a manga about a woman made of udon. (While I am sure that somewhere out there it exists, I have yet to read a manga about a person made of noodles. I can’t say the same about other foods.)
No Udon no Onna, Or Lady of Udon, by Est Em is actually a cute slice of life Josei that's the simple story of two people falling in love.
The leading lady works at the university cafeteria where our leading man buys his lunch every day. She works at the, you guessed it, udon stand. There’s a bit of an age gap between the two, of I think about 7 to 10 years, and it is really adorable to watch them fumble around!
The way they meet and get to know each other feels very natural, and being a josei it’s aimed at women and reflects a more realistic relationship than the average shoujo. Seriously, words cannot say how enjoyably awkward these two can be!
If this series has one down fall it’s that, like real relationships, there is not a clear ending. Despite this, the story still works and is enjoyable, but I know I wanted more at the end. But hey! Any series that leaves you wanting more is doing something right!
You would enjoy this if you want a cute romance to read!
I’d say skip it if you need action this week, and check out something like Tista or Assassination Classroom instead.
Sorry for the short review… >.>
I had work, Thanksgiving, more work, and quitting work this week so I’ve been busy! Lol
Next week I hope to be able to review an anime! Probably FMA or one of my 10 anime I’ve Never Seen. Oooh or maybe that Chrismas themed anime that's name I always forget… (Providing I can remember the name…)
~Tsu
Weird this week!
(Because I’ve been too insanely busy to reread or watch anything for a full review… Sorry!)
Ok so new thing I’m starting, about once or twice a month (I know the title is misleading) And I’m going to share the weirder things I’ve seen in manga recently. Usually it will be on a Wednesday but again I’ve been very busy. (I have 3 jobs, I’m translating a manga, I helped a cousin film and edit a pet project, I’m still trying to get my Claymation off the ground and I’m getting my Photoshop certification… Pish who needs sleep?)
So here we go!
Weird this week:
(all pictures are at the end)
5. A Gundam bag check?
--- From the gag manga Itonari no Seki Kun, this series is about a girl who sits next to the most creative boy ever! Well he may also distract her from class and always get away with his antics while she’s left in trouble… But still… And the thing I thought was weird? His toy Gundam hiding from a bag check… I love it. Ahhh the picture says it all!
4. Fish Bowl Headed Man
--- It's a manga about a fish bowl headed man… he turns people into goldfish. Do I really need to say anymore? Too bad cause it gets weirder… So the story’s about this boy who's sister was turned into a fish by the goldfish bowl headed man and he inadvertently ends up involved with a secret society of people who are fighting this menace… Trust me… Its very very strange… They literally jump into people’s blood to catch the disease (shaped like a gold fish) and use those little fishnets…
From Blood Diver Ringo and the Goldfish Bowl Man
3. Magical Boy Transformation?
--- I don’t know if this counts as weird per say… But come on! Do you know how many years I’ve had to sit and watch Sailor Moon kinda naked (I have a slight childhood grudge against Sailor Moon…) transformation?! Where’s the guy??? Haha! Found him! One of my current fav ongoing series, Birdmen, had a similar transformation that was not only really cool but actually kinda manly…
(Also the butt's not censored in the actual manga >.>)
2. This
--- I dunno… It was just so unexpected and hilarious… I smile every time I see it… From another one of my fav ongoing manga Ajin.
1. Wait… Gundam Use the toilet???
--- This was a good (or bad depending how you look at it) week for Gundam… He’s on the toilet… WTF??? Oh Japan I love you sometimes!
From The Violinest of Hamlin.
What odd things have you seen this week?
Have you read any of these?
Share any comments or stories in the comments!
~Tsu
Mermaid Saga
Also known as Mermaid Forest in anime form
By: Rumiko Takahashi
I don’t care what any of you guys say! Mermaids can be terrifying!!! O.O
I have no idea if it’s a Japanese thing or whether it’s just drawing on the traditional legend of sirens of death that would drown sailors, but I can name more than one manga with evil mermaids…
Anyways of all the mermaid manga this one is probably one of the more popular, as it’s by the same author as Inuyasha, and was widely published outside Japan. Don’t worry though! If you’re thinking this will be too much like Inuyasha! Its not, and it’s also fairly short at, I believe five books long.
Mermaid Saga is based off a legend (that I’m not sure, again, if its Japanese, a widely believed piece of lore or made up by the author, but I have seen the idea in other series) that if you eat the flesh of a mermaid you will be granted immortality.
The story begins with Yuta, a young man who stumbles upon a strange villiage where it appears only women live. Well they kill him less than 20 pages in so I’m not counting it as a spoiler. XD And guess what? He’s partaken of mermaid’s flesh. The story develops from there and is really a great introduction to this world of evil mermaids that the author proceeds to develop in the rest of the series.
If you’ve never read anything else by Rumiko Takahashi other than Inuyasha, you’re really missing out and this would be a good introduction to the rest of her works! The series is a bit more mature than Inuyasha (not by much, though) and keeps a fun supernatural vibe throughout.
This is a great series for people who want supernatural things on Halloween but don’t want to be wading across a river of blood to get them.
And come on! Don’t even pretend like evil mermaids don’t sound kinda awesome!
~Tsu
The Best of Itou Junji
For those of you that don’t know, Itou Junji writes some of the best and most visual horror manga. By most visual I mean that he is an expert at using manga as a medium to enhance the horror in a way that is unique and terrifying! Ever hear of Uzumaki or Gyo? If so, those are Itou’s work. If not… then clearly you are in need of a proper introduction. I’ve talked about Itou Junji before on Reign of Blood, but here I’m going to focus on my favorite of his short stories. Junji is the master of scary shorts… ah! So freaky!
I really love his work, he’s one of the few manga authors that I follow regularly. His work often feels like a modern fairy tale, not today’s kid friendly fairy tales, but the Grimm’s dark cautionary tales of old. He also manages to tap into my imagination and write the stories in a suspenseful way and show me the horrors in a way that’s somehow unexpected and disturbing, and I love him for it!
So here are my favorite, and what I think to be some of the scariest, of Itou Junji’s short horror manga!
Arg! It was sooooo hard to just choose 5!!!
5. Ice Cream Bus
When I was a kid, getting ice cream from an ice cream truck was the ultimate treat since my mom was always wary of them, and if I had read this as a kid I probably would have never ate ice cream again! This short feels very much the cautionary fairy tale I mentioned above. The story follows a man who has recently been divorced and is now taking care of his 8-10 year kid. After begging and begging to get to ride the ice cream truck with the other kids the father gives in, just wanting his son to be happy living with him. Needless to say some baaaad sh*t goes down! Gah! Just thinking about it! Needless to say I won’t ruin it for you, but (pun definitely intended) you’re in for a treat!
4. The Hanging Balloons
Ever thought that Stephen King’s It was weird for trying to make balloons scary? Well after reading this you’ll find yourself readily agreeing with him! The story begins with a sudden increase in suicides and well… it’s all down hill from there… Or er… up… in the sky… as people soon begin seeing what appears to be giant floating heads in the sky… Yikes! read it to learn all the freaky details! Oh man! Don’t pop any balloons!!!
3. House of Puppets
Why is this author trying to destroy all my happy childhood memories?! Lol Anyways House of Puppets is scary in a different way than the other two as it questions your personal freedom in a way that’s just… freaky! A poor family of puppeteers travels from place to place until the father becomes sick, the oldest son runs away, the father dies and all that’s left is the two youngest. Skip ahead several years and the oldest brother tracks down his siblings and invites them over and what do they find? Their brother is a crazy rich guy who’s made himself into a human puppet controlled by people living in his ceiling. Yeah talk about odd, this manga makes you think about who are the real puppets..?
2. Flesh colored Horror
No more ruined childhood! Woot! Ok this one is one of my favorites (and one of the scariest) The story begins with a Kindergarten teacher who has a problem child in her class. After the kid acts violently in school she decides to intervene with the parents and make sure everything is ok at home. Sadly her intervention doesn’t work and the boy has to be expelled after he injures another student. Even expelled he still sits outside the school every day. The teacher asks him why and he says he doesn’t want to go home. Being a good teacher and person, she begins to expect abuse and decides to visit his house again. Freaky stuff from there on… seriously every time I read it… it still gets me! Lets just say skin is important for many reasons including, protecting you from disease, keeping you hydrated, and protecting your muscles.
1. Glyceride
Ewwwwwww…. This one… This one! Anyways, the story of a girl who lives above a restaurant her father runs, where the oil and grease from cooking coats the air and the walls. One day her brother begins going a bit strange and starts drinking grease… well yeah… its gets gross and extremely disturbing from there! A great one shot that will give you a great horror fix!
Hope you enjoy reading! I know I always do!
You should definitely read this if horror is your genre, heck if horror is your genre you’ve probably at least heard of this guy and should definitely check out his shorts!
You should probably skip these if you don’t like horror… if you want a softer horror series by the same author check out his Tomie stories. They’re a bunch of loosely connected shorts that are a bit less disturbing but still very good!
~Tsu
ps. Do you have an awesome review world of your own? Share it with me and I’ll plug you here! ^-^
Zashiki Onna
Author: Mochizuki Minetaro
Oh this manga… It was one of the first series I ever read on the Internet and it always manages to scare the pants off me!
Zashiki Onna is a classic Japanese horror series from the 90s and follows the story of a young college student who finds himself being followed by a strange woman who is essentially stalking him.
This series has an interesting little history that I won’t go into in depth, but to touch upon it, this manga was written before stalking was recognized as word or a crime so at the time there wasn’t much you could do about it if it happened.
Zashikki Onna plays upon the fear of the known, of having someone following your every movement to the point of obsession and with the fear of the unknown, the things going bump in the night. For these reasons, the manga gives off a very real vibe that feels like it could be an urban legend or a “based off a true story” horror flick.
Zashiki Onna is fairly tame as far as horror goes, in that it has almost no blood or gore (someone gets a bump on the head and a few other injuries) but the true reason it’s terrifying is because it is a psychological horror series. The idea that it could really happen, as well as the artful way the main character’s mental state is shown throughout, from angry, to afraid, to possibly driven to the brink of insanity, is very well demonstrated. As the story progresses, we are made to question everything and it boils to an extremely memorable conclusion that I won’t spoil for you.
Ok so now I have to mention one other series with a similar plot, which is constantly compared to Zashiki Onna, Ibitsu, written by Ryou Haruto and being a newer series is more popular on the net. It also features a female stalker and poor male victim. While I did enjoy Ibitsu, it plays far more into the violence and less into the psychological horror, and also plays more into a supernatural vibe. Don’t get me wrong! Ibitsu is not a supernatural manga, nor is it bad, but it definitely didn’t feel like it could really happen and freaked me out less than the simplistic style of Zashiki Onna. I bring it up because it is eerily similar and clearly takes inspiration from stalker manga that came before it. (Borderline a remake or copycat it’s so similar at a few parts) Read it if you dare as it is still a pretty darn freaky series with a unique flare of its own!
Zashiki Onna is a classic horror manga and a must read for fans of the genre. It is also a good read for people who love horror but don’t want the gore of series like Uzumaki, Gyo, or Manhole.
If you dislike horror manga I would say skip it and try a lighter manga like Assassination Classroom.
~Tsu
PS. Thank you to everyone who reads this world! I have just reached the 3,000 view mark and I am so grateful for the support! If I make it to 5,000 I got a special review planned... so bribery! ;)
