Review: MONSTER

Of course, perhaps the most unnerving sort of manga are those about people whose minds and hearts become twisted enough to kill their fellow men, the sort of person worth of the moniker "monster."

MONSTER, by Naoki Urasawa.  First published in 1994 and first published in North America in 2006.

    

PLOT:

Dr. Tenma was a skilled neurosurgeon with a promising career.  He was working with some of the best surgeons in Germany, as well as a promising engagement to the daughter of the director.  Everything was looking up for him...until Tenma defies his superior’s orders and operates on a gravely injured young boy instead of the mayor of the town.  

This single decision costs him his cushy position and his fiancée, and the former is only saved because his superiors die from poisoning.  Years later, Dr. Tenma is the head surgeon, but he suspects that the recent chain of murdered childless couples may be tied to the young boy he saved so long ago.

Review: SCHOOL ZONE

It's the perfect time of year to look at yet another series from a legendary horror mangaka...just maybe not her best one.

SCHOOL ZONE (Sukuuru Zoon), by Kanako Inuki.  First published in 1996 and first published in North America in 2006.

PLOT:

It looks like just another ordinary school building, but within it boundaries are terrible things.  There are murderous ghosts, identity-stealing yokai, abandoned dolls, and more.  Only a few unlucky children can perceive these terrible apparitions, and none of them are quite the same afterwards.

Review: WELCOME TO DEMON SCHOOL! IRUMA-KUN

Thankfully, there's a much more recent shonen manga with a spooky theme that is a lot more confident in itself and its purpose, even if the title character isn't so much.

WELCOME TO DEMON SCHOOL! IRUMA-KUN (Mairimashita! Iruma-kun), by Osamu Nishi.  First published in 2017 and first published in North America in 2023.

PLOT:

Iruma is a nice boy, the sort of kid who can't say 'no' to anything...including being sold by his own parents to a demon for incredible wealth.  It's not all bad, though.  Turns out the demon in question is a lonely old man who is happy to treat Iruma like the grandchild he never had.  He's even willing to send Iruma to the school he runs...a school for demons who will eat Iruma if they discover he's human.  It's going to take a lot of luck and all of the skills learned at all the jobs his money-hungry parents forced him to do if he's going to survive!

Review: LYCANTHROPE LEO

It's October, which means time for more spooky manga.  I picked this one out hoping to get a neat werewolf story, which is something of a rarity in manga.  What I got was indeed a werewolf story...of a sort.

 LYCANTHROPE LEO (Reo), written by Kengo Kaji with art by Kenji Okamura.  First published in 1991 and first published in North America in 1999.

STORY:

Leo thought he was just another high school kid, doing his best to get through school, do well on the track team, and avoiding his strict father.  It's his father that reveals the truth: Leo is not human.  He is part of the "blood tribe," lycanthropes who can freely transform between human and beast form.  Further more, Leo's father is a member of a league of hunters dedicated to eliminating creatures like Leo.  This revelation triggers Leo's first transformation, who ends up killing his father in self-defense.

Now Leo is being pursued not just by the hunters but by other lycanthropes engaged in a centuries-long power struggle.  All the while, Leo must learn to control his powers and deal with the ramification of his actions.

Review: WILD 7

 Let's cap off this month with another 1960s gekika title, albeit one focusing on people fighting crime instead of committing them.

WILD 7 (Wairudo Sebun), by Mikiya Mochizuki.  First published in 1969 and first published in North America in 2002.

PLOT:

Sometimes, there are criminals that the police cannot handle.  They commit the most horrendous crimes, but they rely on loopholes, lawyers, and the basic decency of the cops to slip out of the grasp of the law.  In those cases, the only solution is to bring in Wild 7.  They are a gang of former criminals and societal outcasts, who are feared by the criminal underbelly and loathed by the everyday cops they outrank.  They have been deputized by the government to bring in the worst of the worst by any means possible - dead or alive.