horror graphic novel

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Lenni Reviews: “Mieruko-chan” Vol. 6, by Tomoki Izumi

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Mieruko returns to that creepy shrine with Shindou and Mitsue to do something about the creatures haunting her best friend, Hana.

This volume was crazy, finally facing such a huge spirit and it’s genuinely terrifying. This series had fantastic creature design but still can handle being cute when it has time to be around all the horror. We also get some back story on Mitsue and her student, Shindou; who are amazing as they try to battle these creatures. It’s all coming together in what I hope will be a fantastic conclusion. 4.5 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Dark Gathering” Vol. 2, by Kenichi Kondō

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Yayoi wants to help Keitaro eliminate his curse, the curse he shares with Eiko. To do so, they must gather more spirits to increase their abilities but meanwhile, Keitaro and Eiko still try to maintain a normal life; starting by attending college orientation.

If you like Mieruko-chan, I think you’ll like this series as well. It has some humor to break up the scares and tension but not so much as to disrupt the scary tone. It leans much more towards horror plenty to amp up the tension. The spirits give me the shivers; the designs of them are fantastic and I can already see the plot with the big baddie perking up. Very awesome so far but – no spoilers – Eiko… Yikes, girl. Just yikes. 5 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Dark Gathering” Vol. 1, Kenichi Kondō

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Keitaro avoids the supernatural due to his unusual magnetism when it comes to spirits. All he wants is a regular life but when he takes a tutoring job, he meets the young Yayoi, who is on a mission to capture ghosts and ghouls in order to find the one that took her mother’s spirit. His childhood friend and Yayoi’s cousin, Eiko, is all to eager to help out.

The art style does creepy and cute very well, especially the nightmare fuel of pulling demon hair out of your throat (seriously, that’s a recurring nightmare of mine). The premise and execution so far is perfect. Keitaro has an interesting backstory to explore and Yayoi is very entertaining and scary to watch. Strong start to the series. 4.9 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Soichi” by Junji Ito

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

This is a collection of ten stories featuring the creepy Soichi from the Tsujii family.

While I am a fan of Ito’s work and there are some creepy moments in this collection, I felt less scared or unsettled and more “Wow, I’m watching this kid just be a dick head” and the wackiness that ensues around him. I was annoyed with him by the end of it; which may have been the point but I didn’t have the sense of unease Ito’s work usually gives me. Not bad but Soichi is grating in large doses. 3.5 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Parasocial” by Alex de Campi & Erica Henderson

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

His acting career fading and marriage ending, Luke attends a convention to sign things and take pictures to earn money for his upcoming child support payments. After an exhausting day, he has a car accident and a fan of his stops to help, only for her to take him prisoner.

It’s no Misery but this is a freaky read. It’s very story driven and shows the dangers of obsessive fans but it’s too short. It says a lot and deals with how social media plays into these things, it has some legitimately scary moments but I think there should been more story and less creator notes at the end. 3.5 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Orochi: The Perfect Edition” Vol. 4, by Kazuo Umezz

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

This volume features two stories:

  • Eyes: Orochi takes an interest in a blind girl named Keiko, who’s father is falsely accused of murder.
  • Blood: The youngest of two sisters is constantly compared to the older and Orochi gets closer to them than expected.

This volume was more sat than scary; telling stories of family drama and putting a blind woman in the path of a murderer. There’s some thrilling moments in the first story and we learn a little more about Orochi but this volume is mostly the story with the sisters and leaves a somber feeling when it’s all done. 3.5 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Tombs” by Junji Ito

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

This short story collection features some great examples of Ito’s work. If you do not like body horror, this is NOT the volume for you. Nearly every story features horrid distortions of the human form. Even the weakest story in this collection will leave a lingering creepy feeling (I’m not a big fan of “Slug Girl”). Some of Ito’s previous collections weren’t doing it for me but this is one hell of a rebound. There’s some very original ideas here and they are executed with Ito’s classic spine chilling art. 4.9 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Call of the Night” Vol. 11, by Kotoyama

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Uguisu is on the trail of a very old vampire named Kiku Hoshimi, who is known for turning humans and abandoning them. She enlists Ko and Nazuna for help but Ko has some strange things going on with his body.

I am beginning to see how Uguisu fits into the cast now and I’m warming up to her. It was still jarring for her to go from major threat to part of the main group so quickly but now, we have Kiku. Whatever Kiku is up to is messed up but what I’m really interested in is what’s going on with Ko. It makes the story so much more interesting than him just becoming a vampire. It makes me want more. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Choujin X” Vol. 1, by Sui Ishida

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Tokio and Azuma volunteer to assist in the search and rescue efforts at a plane crash were even though the plane was said to be on fire, all the passengers survived. Such a strange event is rumored to involve a choujin – a person with supernatural abilities – and an encounter with a bully with such powers puts the friends in the direct path of a choujin’s wrath.

Even though this is the start to a series, I feel like I’m missing some back story. The concept, action, characters, and what’s been revealed so far are fucking amazing and I absolutely want to continue reading. Maybe the next volume will fill in some gaps for me. Tokio is a great reluctant hero. This is the same creator as Tokyo Ghoul and I can see a bit of commonality in the protagonists but they’re not exactly the same. So far, my favorite is Ely. She’s adorable and has an awesome design. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Inuyashiki” Vol. 1, by Hiroya Oku

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Ichiro Inuyashiki lives a sad life with a family that doesn’t care about him, a dull job, and a dismal medical diagnosis of terminal cancer. One night while out walking his dog (the only creature that seems to care about him) he sees a blinding light and wakes up hours later in the park. At first it seems nothing’s changed but Inuyashiki realizes his body has been drastically altered.

This is a bleak but solid start to the series. Inuyashiki’s life is just depressing and seeing him get a little bit of happiness is genuinely touching. This volume sets up the twist happening in his life and a possible conflict with another person who has also been changed. Oku also made Gantz and as such that series gets more than a nod here. It’s fine to do that but the story stops dead in it’s tracks so two characters can debate if Gantz is good or not. I ended up skipping over that part to get back to the main story and I honestly hope that doesn’t happen again. 3.7 out of 5.

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