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Graphic Novel Review: Manga Classics: Dracula by Bram Stoker, adapted by Stacy King, art by Virginia Nitouhei

Manga Classics: Dracula by Bram Stoker, adapted by Stacy King, art by Virginia Nitouhei

Manga Classics, 2021

ISBN-13: 9781947808058

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Amazon.com

 

Manga Classics brings us a manga version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. By now most readers are familiar with the vampire classic’s general story. Jonathan Harker, a young English solicitor, travels to Transylvania to assist the mysterious Count Dracula with a real estate transaction in England. However, he soon realizes that he is a prisoner on the count’s vast estate. Through observation, he notices the count is not all he seems. While the young Harker is trapped in the castle, Dracula travels to England, where he begins preying upon Lucy Westenra, a young woman engaged to Jonathan’s friend, Arthur Holmwood. A patient of Dr. John Seward’s, Renfield, under the employ of the count, becomes increasingly obsessed with consuming the living a leaves cryptic clues as to the nature of his boss.

 

As Lucy falls ill with an unknown malady, her friends Arthur, Dr. Seward, American Quincey Morris, and vampire hunter Professor Abraham Van Helsing are determined to save her from the vampire menace. Unfortunately, Lucy succumbs to Dracula’s influence and becomes one of the undead. The friends turn their efforts on hunting down and destroying Dracula where he poses a threat to Mina Murray, Jonathan’s fiancée, and others. With teamwork and the aid of modern technology, they pursue Dracula for a final bloody confrontation.

 

This is the first Manga Classics edition I have picked up. I read the hardcover version from my library, and I have to say it is worth it. King, editor for Manga Classics, does a great job of adapting the original text. As the story is told through letters, diary entries, recordings, newspaper articles, and ship’s logs, I was not sure what to expect from a manga version. Everything lined up and flowed nicely from page to page. The mangaka for Dracula is Virginia Nitouhei, who is a featured artist for “The Tell Tale Heart” in Manga Classics: The Stories of Edgar Allen Poe, which I will also be reviewing. She has a classic style to her art that lends itself well to a story like Dracula. The detail Nitouhei puts into the characters’ costuming alone is exceptionally beautiful.

 

At the end of the book, the editor and creators include information on themselves, an article on what it took to adapt Dracula to manga, and other helpful tips on reading this book. It would make an excellent entry point for readers who want to read classic horror, as well as manga. Highly recommended.

 

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on June 29, 2024 by , Reply

Graphic Novel Review: Fragments of Horror by Junji Ito

Fragments of Horror - Ito, Junji

Fragments of Horror by Junji Ito

Viz Media, 2015

ISBN: 9781540050465

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition

Buy: Bookshop.org |  Amazon.com

 

 

Junji Ito’s Fragments of Horror, consists of eight original manga horror stories published in Nemuki+ in 2014, created after a hiatus from horror. Tales have a wide range in terms of content and atmosphere.

 

In “Futon,” new wife Madoka is lamenting her husband Tomio’s strange affliction. He refuses to come out from under his futon because of strange visions. Soon, Madoka experiences her own visions. Is there something supernatural going on, or is there a more mundane explanation for the strange occurrences the couple is witnessing?

 

Megumi and her father are quite proud of their old house and accept a new boarder in “Wooden Spirit.” The young woman eventually charms her way into the family, but it isn’t Megumi’s father that is attracting her affection.

 

“Tomio: Red Turtleneck” is one of the strangest stories in this anthology. Tomio returns to his ex-girlfriend Madoka, desperate for help. He has his hands covering his ears when he arrives at her house. At first, she tells him to return to “that woman” when the story turns to three days earlier. We see Madoka breaking up with Tomio for being unfaithful with a fortune teller they consulted. He goes back to the fortuneteller who turns out to have a unique collection, and she wants to add Tomio. If he removes his hands from his head, she will surely get her new addition.

 

“Gentle Goodbye” is a touching story, a departure from Ito’s usual horror fare. Riko, who is afflicted with nightmares of her deceased father, marries Makoto Tokura, although the family disapproves of their marriage. When she sees ghosts in the familial home, Makoto explains that his family has the ability to create afterimages of family members who have passed on. Through this ability, Riko discovers the shocking secret about her own nightmares.

 

In “Dissection-chan,” a class in the dissection lab at Chuo Medical University is preparing to dissect a cadaver. When they open the body bag, however, the body within is not dead. One of the students recognizes her as a childhood friend, and when the young woman realizes who he is, she won’t leave him alone, begging him to cut her open.

 

Rescued and injured hiker Kume is taken to the hospital in “Black Bird.” When he reveals how long he was lost- for a month– nobody can believe it. Then, there is the strange woman who visits him and feeds him every night..

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“Magami Nanakuse” is a somewhat problematic story in this anthology. Kaoru Koketsu finally meets her favorite author, the titular Magami. The author is strangely obsessed with people’s nervous tics and uses them as a sort of muse for their work. They’ve gotten bored with the current run of tics their associates have and needs to find new ones. Hence the reason for Kaoru’s presence. Can Kaoru provide the ultimate tic the author is searching for? The problematic part of the story is that it is revealed the villain is a transgender woman, where the main character exclaims, “She’s a man…?” with a disgusted facial expression. It could also be a look of surprise–it really can be viewed both ways. The character is written as a fairly distasteful person. Regardless, this could have been written without the “man in a dress” stereotype.

 

In “Whispering Woman,” Mayumi cannot make decisions on her own. She requires someone to tell her what to do constantly. Mitsu Uchida has been hired as the girl’s latest attendant. Mitsu has an uncanny ability to be at Mayumi’s side at all times, despite the fact that her health is clearly being effected. Mitsu becomes frail and emaciated, but she is faithful to her charge. What would happen if Mayumi’s external voice fails?

 

Fragments of Horror isn’t my favorite Ito collection. It feels like more of an exercise or warm-up to get back into his rhythm of horror. However, I would recommend this for the Ito completist. There are a few strong chapters, such as “Tomio: Red Turtleneck”, “Gentle Goodbye”, and “Dissection-chan”, so it is worth reading. Just do not expect Ito’s best work in this volume. Recommended.

 

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on February 9, 2024 by , Reply

Graphic Novel Review: Lovesickness: Junji Ito Story Collection by Junji Ito

Cover art for Lovesickness: Junji Ito Story Collection by Junji Ito

 

Lovesickness: Junji Ito Story Collection by Junji Ito

Viz Media, 2021

ISBN: 9781974719846

Available:  Hardcover, Kindle edition

Buy: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

In Lovesickness, originally published in 1996 and told in 5 parts, Ryusuke Fukuda and his parents move back to the town of Nazumi after his father accepts a job there. The story opens with a teenage girl approaching the crossroads of an empty street where a man is emerging from the fog. She quickly places her notebook over her face and asks for a fortune. The older man responds and they part ways. When the man meets his family at the Nazumi train station, it is revealed that he is Ryusuke’s father. He relates the story to his wife and son, the latter shaken by the chance meeting.

 

When he starts at school the next day, he is greeted by an old friend, Midori. Eventually the topic of rumors comes up regarding teenage girls committing suicide after encountering a mysterious handsome young man. Ryusuke, in an attempt to calm his own guilty conscience when he reveals a terrible fortune he gave to a woman in distress, which led to a grisly suicide, hunts for the shadowy figure delivering his own tragic fortunes to innocent strangers at the crossroads.

 

The artwork in Lovesickness is probably some of my favorite in Ito’s work. The effect of the fog and shadows is excellent, and the body horror is fantastic. The handsome stranger is eerily beautiful. The character design reminds me of Fukusuke from the visual kei band Metronome.

 

Four other stories are included in this volume. “The Strange Hikizuri Siblings,” told in two parts, are a strange family, often at odds with each other while still trying to support each other the best they know how… to a degree. The first story, “Narumi’s Boyfriend”, shows the cruelty of the siblings and how they all take part in driving Kotani, the titular boyfriend, albeit in a forced relationship, to madness. In “The Séance”, we see family power dynamics play out in the worst possible way, with the two eldest brothers being just awful people.

 

The next story in the collection, “The Mansion of Phantom Pain”, relates the story of Kozeki, a young man employed to be a live-in caretaker for Yusuke, the son of a wealthy family. Yusuke’s condition is a strange phantom pain that extends beyond his normal body. A team of caretakers who can never leave the bricked up mansion manage the boy’s pain, day and night. When they start to experience their own maladies, and the death of Yusuke’s father, his mother still refuses to let them leave. Some of the caretakers slowly succumb to infections and hallucinations, but those remaining can’t leave, with the promise of the family’s wealth at stake, no matter how much Kozeki pleads for doctors.

 

Following that is “The Rib Woman”,  a cautionary tale of rib removal surgery and  obsession with the perfect figure. Yuki laments the lack of an hourglass figure like her friend Ruriko’s, and decides surgery is the best option. Throughout the story, Ruriko is tormented by strange and discordant music. One evening Yuki and her brother, who is also dating Ruriko, find the latter in agony on the sidewalk as she is trying to find the source of the song. They offer to help, and when they do find the source, they see a mysterious woman in the park playing a small instrument. She flees and leaves behind her instrument, which looks to be a large rib. After Yuki’s surgery, she too can hear the music. She also finds the woman and discovers there is more to the story than she believed. There is some deliciously good body horror in this one.

 

The final story in the collection is the inexplicable “Memories of Real Poop.” It’s the shortest chapter in this collection, at only four pages, but it’s memorable. I’ll just leave it at that. Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on February 7, 2024 by , Reply
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