Viz Manga Creeps for October
Paul "Nomad" Nicholasi
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Halloween comes to Manga town! VIZ Media are those excellent importers of the wide eyed Asian characters you know and love and more recently have turned a few heads by bringing psychotic projects like the live action Death Note movies to America. We’ve got the run down on all the Viz goodies hitting stores this creepy season. This will also act as a starter kit for those of you who love your Asian Horror and were always curious about their horror comics. Read up!
A new 2nd Edition of this unique horror manga from Junji Ito, Uzumaki, depicts a town’s creepy obsession with spirals. Slowly but steadily, people become variously fascinated with, terrified of, consumed by and ultimately killed by the countless occurrences of the spiral in nature – seashells, ferns, whirlpools in water, and whirlwinds in air. Junji It is one of Japan’s most acclaimed horror manga creators, winning the prestigious Umezu prize for horror. Uzumaki was also turned into a live action film in 2000 and set off a run of popular Japanese horror films including Ju-On and Ringu. Uzumaki will make an impression with the reader as the hapless town inhabitants are pulled ever deeper under the spiral’s spell, as if into a whirlpool from which there is no return. The 2nd Edition features a trim black cover with red lettering.
Another horror masterpiece from Junji Ito offers a fishy horror tale that will guarantee a second thought before a trip to the seashore! From the mind of Eisner-nominated manga artist Junji Ito comes this diabolical tale of a peaceful town terrorized by waterborne monstrosities. Something is rotten in Okinawa as the rank odor of death floats over the island. A strange, legged fish appears on the scene and so begins teenager Tadashi’s wild adventure into the horror (and stench) of the sea. The new 2nd Edition features a trim black
cover with red lettering that complements the 2nd Edition of Uzumaki.
Asami’s best friend Chiharu has stopped coming to school and isn’t answering her phone. It seems she has found something that’s a little more addictive than the school art club. But when Chiharu mysteriously commits suicide, all Asami finds in her room is a strange video game called Portus. With the help of two of her teachers, Asami hopes to solve the mystery behind her friend’s macabre death and the bizarre game. But is she prepared for the horrors of entering the twisted world of Portus, a game where, if you lose, death is your only option?
Creator Jun Abe debuted with his manga Nedan wa Ii-yo in 1990, and followed with several other titles including The Yamada-ke and Miruo-Pon in Weekly Young Sunday, and Japanese Ahokko Kids in Monthly Sunday GX. Portus is notable for beautiful, precise illustrations reminiscent of the work of Takeshi Obata (Death Note).
Without warning, a Japanese elementary school is transported out of the world they know, and into a nightmarish wasteland. Have they gone to another planet, or is this toxic world actually a vision of Earth’s future? Soon, the students and teachers must struggle to survive in impossible conditions, besieged by terrifying creatures and beset by madness. Part Lord of the Flies, part post-apocalyptic Kid Nation, The Drifting Classroom (1972-1974) by Kazuo Umezu is a classic can’t-put-down manga series that was also adapted into a Japanese live-action movie (1987). Volume 8 of the 11-volume series finds Sho, a 6th grader and leader of the marooned group of kids, forced into slavery by the crazed former cook of their school. Sho and a small band manage to escape and make it into the wrecked Tokyo subway where they encounter a world of horror, but also perhaps the answer to the end of the world.
And – the October issue of Shojo Beat magazine – it includes tons of Halloween content, including two Halloween hot lists, a Do It Yourself guide to throwing an awesome Shojo Beat-themed Halloween party, and a four-page feature on the most terrifying movies, manga and myths in Japan! Plus, a story on traditional Japanese sweets (including an easy recipe for mochi!), an intimate interview with Japanese rockstars An Cafe, an interview with a gothic lolita designer who’s making waves in the US, and an exclusive manga preview! In addition, our Beat Girl is creepily rendered by the godess of gothic Shojo manga, Junko Mizuno, and the issue includes a deliciously dark poster from the vampire-romance series Vampire Knight!
– Nomad
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