Holiday Review #21: MANSECT

 With so many horrors happening in the real world, it's almost a relief to turn to one of Living the Line's latest horror manga releases and enjoy a tale of supernatural terror on its 50th anniversary.

MANSECT (Yochu), by Koga Shinichi.  First published in 1975 and first published in North America in 2025.

PLOT:

After the loss of his mother, Hideo holed up in their empty house and filled it with insects.  His body soon undergoes a strange insect-like transformation, as silk spurts from his body to form a cocoon.  His transformation is interrupted before it is complete, leaving him a monstrous creature that is neither fully human nor fully insect.  He takes to lurking in the woods and the edge of town, seeking out other disaffected men who begin to undergo their own bizarre transformations.

Holiday Review #3: HER FRANKENSTEIN

 Many of these newer, smaller publishers are taking advantage of the current horror manga boom to pick up older, lesser-known titles like this one.

HER FRANKENSTEIN (Frankenstein no Otoko), by Norikazu Kawashima.  First published in 1986 and first published in North America in 2024.

PLOT:

In his youth, Tetsuo Utsugi was a scrawny wimp neglected by his family and picked on by everyone else.  He was fascinated by Kimiko Kimikage, a haughty, sickly, and angry rich girl who took a strange liking to him.  She was fascinated by Frankenstein's monster, and to please her Tetsuo makes a Frankenstein mask.  From that moment he is her Frankenstein, a creature who would terrorize others at her command.  Her demands grew more and more extreme until a terrible accident occurred.

Now Tetsuo is an adult, but he is still haunted by Kimiko's ghost.  There is something inside him that yearns for her guidance and to become her Frankenstein once again...