Oct 6, 2024
Before the review, a list of content warnings for this manga because MAL doesn't have any.
Despictions and mentions of rape and sexual assault of underage characters, graphic animal cruelty, pedophilia, general sexual and non-sexual violence, despiction of a romantic relationship between a child and an adult, bestiality, despictions of torture, extreme body deformations, insects, also some translations use slurs.
With that out of the way, a bit of context is needed for anyone interested: This manga is considered to be "ero-guro" (エログロ), which is based on the short-lived pre-WW2 artistic movement "ero-guro-nansensu" (エログロナンセンス). It comes from the English words erotic, grotesque (not gore, contrary to popular
...
belief, though typically associated with it) and nonsense.
To be frank, this work's primary purpose is to be shocking. The ero-guro movement was born out of a collective challenge to push artistic boundaries as far as possible, challenging taboo subjects in a fight against censorship. In most of these works, being as weird and disgusting as possible will precede having a good story or a great cast; they're highly experimental in nature.
If you're searching for developed characters or even a profound narrative, this manga won't give you that— it isn't to say the story is horrible: just passable and quite forgettable. Many people complain this manga has no meaning or purpose, but the explained in the paragraph above IS its meaning and purpose: to disgust, to alienate the viewer, to tempt censorship. Does this completely excuse its rather rather poor storytelling? Probably not, but it's interesting to have context about things. Whether you agree that is a noble or even remotely valid endeavor is up to the reader.
Personal opinion here: I like this one. To me, the meaningfulness of this work lies in its imagery, as Masuo's art is extremely compelling. I don't agree with everything he has drawn, but it's undeniable that the man is capable of creating some striking pieces of art... Though I'd rather see the barrel of a shotgun before recommending it to most people.
If you're a fan of ero-guro or feel interested in the subject then this is probably a must-read. I'd say Shoujo Tsubaki is likely the most famous work of this kind and, being completely honest, it's actually a pretty decent introduction to the genre. Some ero-guro works entirely neglect the 'nonsense' side of things and focus on the erotic and the grotesque, but this manga also has elements of the bizarre and surreal to the point that even the narrative itself is confusing at times due to both its odd pacing and wording (which I believe to be a conscious creative decision as Masuo is a huge Kyusaku Yumeno fanboy... he's also slightly insane, or at least that's how he comes off in interviews)
Anyway 6/10 read under your own discretion, great if you seek inspiration, the mummy guy's design is kind of awesome, yadda yadda yadda.
Other adaptations:
- A 2016 Live-Action movie directed by Torico. The popular sentiment is that it's not very good, currently sitting at 2.5 stars out of 5 in Filmarks (フィルマークス). They toned down the violence by far because the studio feared another controversy like the one that followed the initial movie (see below)
- A 1992 animated movie by Hiroshi Harada. Has its own crazy story behind its production. I didn't find it as enjoyable as the manga but I do respect its existence. Also YouTubers LOVE being annoying about this one.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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