Kudan no Gotoshi

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Had a decent start but ultimately flopped till the end.

After finishing the entire manga, I can finally see why it had such a low rating here.

Let’s start with the plot. A plot doesn’t need to have a good story it can be simple at times and be great. But reading through the synopsis and after reading the manga it’s very clear that it isn’t as original as it may come out to be. I mean it’s basically a rip-off of so many horror genres with the same idea of “A group of friends going somewhere then eventually came across an accident where they go home ... and start having this curse shit where they only have XX days to live” kind of stuff.

The plot had a good start at first, I didn’t care about how unoriginal the plot is, what’s important is the consistency and the execution of how the story is portrayed and foretell it to be.

I focused on the main characters more since they are crucial for keeping – not only me, but also the readers to keep their drive to read. However, it didn’t really helped.

As the characters on this one was just as bland as the story is. It had no actual development. The whole idea it being that “how do we solve this curse” is the main stuff that is happening throughout the story.
As the story progresses further, we later get to learn more on Hikari which by the way, only confused me even more as it goes even further all the way till the end. As the story not only focused on the group itself but now apparently near the end it suddenly changed its focus by making the curse not only focused on the group itself but now the whole world. Some parts of the story were a bit lost for me and some even made me question wtf is happening now?

Well, what about the ending? Is it any good? At least have some decent ending, right? Well no. apparently it only confused me more as I was scanning each chapter near the end. It didn’t feel finished at all. But you know what? I’m glad it did end.

Overall, the plot wasn’t original, it had bad pacing, it was only good till the first half volume-ish something like that, it had no uniqueness at all and no decent development. 4/10

For enjoyment: I did enjoy some parts of it and found some parts disturbing (well mildly) but in the end, it was a boring experience for me and wished it had more context to give. 5/10
The art is decent however, I like it for its kind of genre but it’s alright. 6/10
So, is it recommendable?

No. if you have nothing else to read then go ahead and try this one. That’s what I had going anyway when I read this one. But there are definitely more good titles out there other than this one.

Cheers.

Kudan no Gotoshi is a visually stunning manga that blends supernatural horror and Japanese folklore. The storytelling is a major highlight of the series, with each character coming to terms with the kudan or other events. However, while the individual stories are well-crafted, the ending, in particular, feels rushed and unsatisfying, leaving many questions unanswered and loose ends untied. The art style is very nice, combining traditional Japanese ink painting with modern manga techniques to create a visually striking work.

Despite the artwork, the disappointing ending detracts from the overall experience. As a result, I would score Kudan no Gotoshi a 6/10. While the storytelling, ... art, and characters are all impressive, the lackluster ending leaves a bitter taste in the mouth and may leave some readers feeling unsatisfied. Nonetheless, the series is still worth checking out for its unique blend of genres and stunning visuals.

Kudan no Gotoshi is the type of story that wants to instill shock and surprises on its readers, but it doesn't know what shock or surprise it wants to focus on.

During a late night drive, 7 college students end up hitting into a large cow. Upon further inspection, the cow had the face of a man, who foretold that they would all die within 7 days. With this mysterious curse, the characters are trying to find a way to prevent their deaths and to escape fate's hand.

That plot might sound slightly interesting, a bit repetitive, having been done in so many stories before. The ... difference with Kudan no Gotoshi though is that it can't stick to a plot for more then one chapter. The first book stays pretty consistent with it's story, but soon after it spreads into so many twist and turns, and they just make everything an incoherent mess. One moment the issue is all about surviving, then its about someone possibly being the cursed one, then you find out someone else is too, then you start seeing cow ghost, then other people become cursed, then there is now a country-destroying prophecy, then someone becomes psychic after sleeping with a guy, someone becomes pregnant and gives birth to a cow within 8 hours, and all of this happens within one or two books of each-other. Its just... every chapter they try something new and it doesn't add to the story at all, only takes away.

If that wasn't bad enough, just about all of the characters are very unlikable. You won't care about any of their deaths, everyone acts selfishly, and with the story jumping all over the place, it becomes hard to even remember what a character's "arc" really is. A lot of the side characters are very one-note as well; jealous childhood friend, protagonist who wants to save everyone, religious zealot, ect. You seen them in other comics, and you've seen them done better.

This was a series I seen a lot of people drop, and there is a reason for that. What starts off as a standard horror manga turned into a horrible mess of dried up ideas that fail to stick together. Instead of connecting things and keeping the plot leveled, every chapter is just a new turn with very little pay off. And with the bland characters who add nothing to the story either, Its just safe to skip this cow curse all together and to move on to another series instead.

Kudan no Gotoshi is by far the most interesting manga I’ve read during my recent horror fiction late night deep dives. What starts out as something that could be considered Japans answer to Final Destination (just replace death himself with bovine themed Yōkai) slowly but surely evolves (or devolves depending on your perspective) into a truly odd story that cannot fully commit to a single idea for more than a few chapters.
The previous comparison to Final Destination wasn’t an unoriginal or unfair comparison to make, as the story quite literally begins with a group of friends who narrowly avoid death because of a supernatural occurrence, ... but later find out that death is actually coming for them one by one, in the order they would’ve died. Despite some major similarities to one of horrors biggest franchises near the start, the series slowly starts becoming something completely different, with Christian concepts like golden calf’s and the birth of man being alluded to.
Despite the jokes I’ve made at its expense, the art is Kudan no Gotoshi is actually very good and occasionally genuinely disturbing (bulls with human faces are very unsettling to think about) and despite how insane the story gets it’s honestly more interesting than your run of the mill Shōnen so I’d absolutely recommend reading it just to guess where it’ll go next and be wrong every time.

this was a clusterfck lol

Idek how to rate this, this immediately feels like a fever dream upon finishing. It started out pretty good in the beginning and i think the plot- or what the plot seemed to be- was pretty well formed for a bit. It progressively got weirder though, like it felt like a lotta stuff just came out of no where. It felt like the mangaka just started throwing random events in there to see how weird they could make things. I could see from the comments of the site i was reading it on that many readers were disappointed by the deterioration ... of the plot, but to be honestttt i kinda liked it lol. Like, it was all over the place and i appreciated the oddity of it all- even though much of it didn't make a whole lotta sense. I could look at this for the poor plot developing, but i kinda don't even care hehe. It was a fun and weird read. I think i'm able to enjoy it more just cause i didn't really take it seriously, but yee, i actually liked it sakj;askjkhdh