Kenichi Kondō

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Lenni Reviews: “Dark Gathering” Vol. 7, by Kenichi Kondō

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

Keitaro, Yayoi, and Eiko are on the way to collect another sealed graduate, trying to get ahead before school starts again. At the same time, a sinister force is hoping from body to body.

So, not only do we have to worry about what the spirits can attack with, we have to worry about body switching that may or may not be detectable? As if all of this wasn’t horrifying enough getting attacked, possessed or – in this volume – cannibalized. This series is just damn creepy. I love it but it’s really unsettling. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Dark Gathering” Vol. 6, by Kenichi Kondō

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

After using the Damned Sargent to acquire such a powerful spirit they all barely survive and need to rest up, giving Eiko some time to think about how dangerous all of this ghost hunting really is.

Eiko didn’t waffle very long as she decides with Yayoi to buy a cheap house to store spirits and the story behind this old house is fucked up. If you do not do well with body horror, you will NOT like this volume. It’s less funny and much more horrific than anything that’s come before it. Aside for the murder, there’s also incest so, trigger warning for all of that. I guess the most unbelievable part of this volume for me is a young person just having the money to buy a haunted house on a whim. *cries in post-capitalism America* 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Dark Gathering” Vol. 5, by Kenichi Kondō

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

After capturing the spirit at H Castle ruins, Keitaro and his friends now have a mummified arm as a souvenir and make plans to move on to bigger and more powerful sprits.

This volume ups the gore as the sprit they’re chasing is an axe murderer. As a result, this is a frightening encounter. The sprits of the murderer and his victims are horrid to look at. I actually felt chills. This was well paced, scary, and compelling. An absolute high point for this series. 5 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Dark Gathering” Vol. 4, by Kenichi Kondō

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

Keitaro is pushing himself too hard after the god squatting on Ai has unbalanced Yayoi’s collection of captured spirit dolls. As they have vowed to defeat this god, Yayoi and Keitaro need to capture a new crop of sprits to be an army to face him.

I was worried that this new mission would mean a bunch of filler but I like the chance to see different types of spirits and the unique ways of acquiring them. The horror is on point with the creature design and the stakes in the story as we get another antagonist introduced. Eiko is starting to worry me though. I wonder how her story will play out. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Dark Gathering” Vol. 3, by Kenichi Kondō

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

Keitaro, Yayoi, and Eiko are actively hunting spirits together but regular life must go on so Keitaro gets a job tutoring Ai, a young lady who is plagued by bad luck and spirits.

This volume has much less breaks for humor so, it’s pretty fucking creepy. Yayoi is less creepy cute and more genuinely terrifying, the spirits are getting stronger, and its fucking fantastic. I am psyched for the next book as this one was gripping and scary. 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.