Death can sneak up on you like a silent kitten, surprising you with it's touch and you have a right to act surprised. Other times death stomps in the front door, unwanted and unannounced, and makes it's noisy way to your seat on the sofa. ~Hugh Elliott
Genre: Horror/ Supernatural/ Drama
Review Status: Full (3 Volumes/ 3 Volumes)
Licensed: Licensed in the US
Art: It doesn't look a whole like your traditional manga. Bodies are drawn in proportion (no chibis at any time), no extra-large eyes, no wild hair colors... it looks like an American comic, in fact, in terms of how everything is drawn. And it also looks really nice, with clean lines and uncluttered background (though those backgrounds exist- they just aren't uuber-fancy)
Summary: An episodic horror manga in which the enigmatic Reiji Akiba combines being a private detective with being an exorcist - at the behest of his clients, Akiba traces the origins of troublesome ghosts before dispatching them to the afterlife with his sanctified spiritual gun. (from ANN.com)
Review: I'm a big fan of the mangaka's other work, Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, so I decided to check out an earlier work he's done. It's an interesting anthology of horror shorts, focusing on the different stories of the dead (how they came to wander). It's an interesting setup, vaguely reminicent of the "Twilight Zone" opening, where you have a what-if question followed by a scenario. In this case the questions/observations are set up by the main character, and the story follows.
Each is a look into the cases of this excorcist/detective. What he has to do to track down these spirits, how he has to find where they're hiding, etc. But the even bigger focus is on the dead themselves and how their spirits came to be the vengeful beings that they are. How they terrorize the living is just as important as how they come to be.
Thankfully, we even get a look into this man's past- how he came to see these spirits and become an excorcist, which is just as fascinating as the rest of the stories.
There isn't much more to say about it- it has a somewhat abrupt end, but that's okay. These stories were rather episodic anyway. The flow is good, and the narration very tight.
Overall, it's a nice, short manga series. Not for the younger set, but if your older and into horror, give it a try!
Recommended: Sure. It would be good for an evening where you're in the mood to be creeped out. Teens and up, though, due to some nudity and somewhat graphic violence (murdered baby by poisoned milk, suicide picture, severed heads, etc.) So teens and up, please!
Other series you might like:
Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (manga),
Kieli (manga or light novels)
Natsume's Book of Friends (manga and anime)
Ghost Hunt (anime)
Shiki anime and manga)
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