EERIE QUEERIE! (Gosuto!), by Shuri Shiozu. First published in 1999 and first published in North America in 2004.
PLOT:
Mitsuo is a lonely kid with a strange gift: he can see ghosts. Because of this, he often finds him hassled by spirits desperate for attention and conversation. Sometimes they'll even go so far as to possess Mitsuo's body, as Mitsuo learns the hard way. When a dead schoolgirl does just this to confess to Mitsuo's classmate Hanasuma, he ends up gaining an unexpected partner who might be into Mitsuo more than he lets on.
STORY:
Eerie Queerie! is clearly targeted at fujoshi, but in the most insincere way possible. Mitsuo and Hanasuma's relationship here feels less like a sincere romance and more like seasoning used to spice up what is otherwise a dull dollop of drama and horror.
The idea of an unwitting exorcist sounds like one with plenty of potential for pathos, but in execution it's shockingly boring. This volume is very formulaic: Mitsuo meets ghost, ghost possesses him to get close to a guy, Mitsuo solves the problems for both the living person and the ghost, and the ghost moves on. None of these characters are particularly deep or original, which leaves only the burgeoning relationship between Mitsuo and Hanasuma to provide any sort of interest.
The problem with that is that this relationship isn't particularly deep either, mostly because Shiozu won't let it develop any sort of sincere emotion behind it. Hanasuma's feelings are kept purposefully vague, which makes it hard for the reader to get invested in him. Meanwhile, Mitsuo's potential queerness is treated like a joke, something embarrassing forced upon him by (female, hetero) ghosts and thus something that can be written off as not actually gay. Maybe this will change in later volumes, but right now their whole relationship is basically one long round of No Homo and the whole thing feels feeble and even a little insulting.
ART:
Eerie Queerie!'s art is both dated and ugly as hell. Everyone is bizarrely gangly, skinny, and pointy, topped off by some of the worst mops of hair I've seen in some time. Panels are often framed at Dutch angles, which might lend the story an unnerving air if it wasn't done so often and in such intense close-up, packed on the page like so many anchovies.
PRESENTATION:
First of all, Eerie Queerie! is an absolutely terrible choice for a localized title. I know that the original Japanese one didn't give them much to work with, but Eerie Queerie! is a choice that should have never made it beyond the initial stages. That font choice doesn't help things either.
Secondly, this volume is padded out with a couple of side stories. One is a gag comic where a mini-Mitsuo is teased by Hanasuma. The other is an original work and apparently Shiouzu's debut piece. It's about a girl who investigates rumors that her twin brother is hooking up with his best friend, and unlike the main story it's actually kind of compelling.
RATING:
Eerie Queerie! is dull to look at and too pandering and shallow to compel anyone other than the most desperate fujoshi. It's just another justly forgotten relic from the Tokyopop library.
This series was published by Tokyopop. This series is complete in Japan with 4 volumes available. All 4 were published and are currently out of print.
"Maybe this will change in later volumes"
ReplyDeleteIt does. It gets WORSE.