Pumpkin Night

Blood, guts, and gore galore. yippee. You might think that mangled corpses are the messiest thing in this manga, but actually it’s everything. This whole manga is a mess.

It plays out like a shitty slasher movie– complete with nonsense logic, ridiculous dialogue, and an out of control plot. It very quickly hits "so bad it’s good territory" and continues to run off this high (aka insanity). It thrives off of edgy absurdity as each chapter progressively ups the ante. Part 1 fullfills the bullying revenge plot with its dramatic flair, and by the end of it, I was completely certain that no one (especially the mangaka) was taking this story seriously lmao. When Part 2 started, I was feeling a bit iffy since I think the story could've completed just fine. But, I was interested to see what direction this was going. Spoilers (not really)– the story goes dumpster diving… or it was already in the trash anyways… I dunno where I’m going with this metaphor. It’s not that good, basically (but was never good to begin with, so oh well). Also, I should mention that the translator enjoyed messing around a lot. It was funny sometimes, other times I'm just staring at the screen like :/

My main complaint is that while the kills were gruesome, I wish they were more creative. I think part of the appeal to this stuff is seeing how ridiculous a killing spree can go. But a majority of the kills lacked a specific level of "creative bullshit". And don’t get me wrong- chopping off limbs, poking eyes, burning and electrocuting people are already pretty crazy. But none of them incite "how tf did you come up with this". There are some ideas that stuck out to me, such as the pulley system one or pouring sulfuric acid into the brain. Also my personal favorite was the Boob Piercer™ (featured in chapter 13). But, as silly as those ones were, a lot of the kills didn’t match this grandiosity. Which is a shame given that the plot and characters are already very wacky.

As entertaining as this was, I’m dropping this manga since I don’t really want to invest more time into it. I read until about midway through vol.6, but I’m pretty sure it's currently running at vol.9 or something at the moment. It was fun while it lasted, but I’m getting tired of this bullshit (sadly).

K no Souretsu

“The funeral bells are ringing the day that Mikaya moves into his new apartment. However, once he arrives, he learns a startling fact: the room he's moving into belonged to the dead man, K. Strangely enough, no one ever found K's body. Where is the body, and which of his eccentric neighbors was the one who killed K…?” (copypasted synopsis because yes)

This story is odd (in a good way). It works within its own strange logic with an equally bizarre cast of characters. It’s an experience that can be described as “well shit just happens, I guess”. It didn’t feel like a slowly unraveled mystery, more like a bunch of questions and build-up before the answer just comes and slaps you on the face. It’s kind of fitting that the mystery gets resolved this way though, given how surreal everything is. Plus, the extra chapters at the end really helped to solidify the mysterious character that is K.

The art is pretty striking with its aesthetic and harsh contrast between black and white. Almost gothic lolita-esque, I’m pretty sure there’s a name for this art-style but I’m blanking on it (maybe visual kei).

Victoria's Electric Coffin

The concept and aesthetic for this one was really cool. Frankenstein inspired story meets 1920s New York. Although there’s no horror despite its inspirations, there is a solid plot and message about two people trying to redeem themselves.

You have David Douglas, death row convict and murderer, who gets his second chance at life as Eins/The Electric Coffin. And then there’s Victoria Frankenstein, a 13-year-old child prodigy and often called a witch due to the moral unethicalness of her experiments, who makes Eins under the belief that they can help people. Together they work to do better while forming a bond that’s more than creator and invention. It’s simply a straightforward, nice story built off an interesting premise. Also Henry is a delightfully annoying villain with an equally delightful easy to punch face.

There’s a lot of speech ex machinas (that’s definitely a term I just made up). Characters giving heartfelt speeches mid-action (*coughs Eins) and then the conflict kinda ends soon after. The speeches don’t necessarily resolve anything and are more for character development, but I consider them to be part of the supporting cast. Funniest one to me (not really a speech ex machina) is when Walton just pops out of the car and starts reading the bible, reducing his opponents to tears.

The author also teases a relationship between Eins and Victoria with certain scenes that could have romantic subtext, but leaves that open-ended (probably because she’s 13 for most of the manga). I’m choosing to ignore it, because I believe in the power of strong platonic relationships. During the epilogue, Eins says something along the lines of “I can’t describe it as a romantic feeling and don’t want to marry her or anything, but I do love her” so I’m going to interpret this platonically.

Some cool easter eggs: *Slight Spoilers*

• the falling sign from chapter 6 says “Shelley” (reference to Mary Shelley)
• The name of the ship they boarded at the end was called ‘Prometheus’ (reference to “the modern prometheus” another name for the novel Frankenstein)
• Ingolstadt, Germany where they were headed is also where Victor Frankenstein went to university (University of Ingolstadt)
• And there's a bunch of character names that are reference to the novel

I Love Amy

I love Amy? More like ‘I love crying’. Not even kidding, I was bawling my eyes out at the last few chapters because unconditional love and support makes me cry.

True happy endings are not typically associated with yanderes. After all, the basis of these relationships are unhealthy and rife with complicated emotions. In fact that’s part of the appeal for me, to see the twisted mess that we call love. And yet, ‘I Love Amy’ took that idea of a yandere’s twisted love and instead made love into something healing and kind. It’s maybe not for everyone who usually enjoys dark and angsty yandere stories, but it was perfect for meee. Despite my love of angst, I was just so attached to all the characters that I couldn’t help but root for their happiness.

While the cutesy art style and yandere premise initially pulled me in, the characters really made this story shine. There’s no pure evil character (except for Bibi’s grandpa probably), everyone is just a person who’s trying in their own way. The two leads, Bibi and Amy, are complex and develop over the course of the story, comprising more than the ‘crazy yandere’ and ‘timid girl’ archetypes. And what connects them is that buried under layers and layers of muddled emotions, at their core both of them want to be loved. Which is why I think their relationship work so well, simply put, they both love each other so much and unconditionally. Amy sincerely and earnestly wishes the best for Bibi. And Bibi slowly falls (without realizing) for this feeling of warmth, causing her yandere tendencies to get dialed back overtime, becoming an intense but gentle lover. Despite the both of them having traumatic childhoods resulting in complicated attitudes toward love, they manage to work past it and end up in a loving relationship together. It’s just so sweet I want to scream.

In terms of their guardians, I think they were also really interesting characters. Joy and Nicolas are shaped by familial trauma, both ending up as single parents while juggling their complex emotions and ultimately unable to move past it. Joy's messy relationship with her sister leads her to become overprotective towards Amy, while Nicolas is neglectful to Bibi due to his abusive father. The story treats this aspect with care. It recognizes the pain they've both been through without discounting the current pain they're causing to their kids. And as Bibi and Amy break through generational trauma, I think forgiveness was handled really well. It’s complicated, and while they wish for their families’ happiness, they don’t necessarily forgive them. Which is okay.

I think what really got me was the ending. Spoilers: Since it’s called ‘I Love Amy’ you expect the title to be referring to Bibi. Which is true, Bibi does eventually love Amy. But, in that chapter where Joy says ‘I love Amy’ and shows unconditional parental love, I got so emotional realizing that everyone loves Amy. Even though Amy hates herself and thinks the world would be better off without her, there’s so many people who care about her. As someone who relates to Amy a lot, something about this makes me teary eyed. I feel like I’m not explaining well what exactly made me so emotional. But I think it’s just that coupled with the build-up from the previous chapters of Bibi and Amy finally fully communicating everything (cmon the kiss and slow dancing in the hospital), just made me break. So, in conclusion. I love ‘I Love Amy’

Useless Ponko

Set in the distant future, in which humanity has made many technological advancements,, actually fuck all of that we are in the countryside (yay). Grumpy Old Man™ Yoshioka Genji has resigned himself to a life of peace and quiet after the recent passing of his wife. This is until the arrival of a housekeeping humanoid robot maid, Ponko. Despite being a very old model who is deemed useless, Yoshioka begrudgingly allows her to stay, and so their slice-of-life adventures ensue.

It’s cute and wholesome but sometimes it just hits you in the feels. The relationship between Yoshioka and Ponko is obviously very sweet. There’s just something about a lonely old man in the countryside, in an empty house filled with memories of children who’ve moved away to Neo-Tokyo, along with an old model of robot who has, in a sense, been equally abandoned. I know it’s played for jokes, but there’s always the looming threat that this is Ponko’s last job and after this she’s turning into scrap metal. And to top it all off, we’re in this idle seaside town that, for better or for worse, always remains the same. (why am I being so serious,, this is a comedy manga)

The peaceful town is brought to life with the small cast of characters. I liked all of them, except for Fuji Jr. since I don’t really like the ‘haha he’s a pervert’ archetype. But other than him, I found everyone to be simple and charming. Especially Yuuna, I really enjoyed her character development and slightly inflated ego. Ponko really ties everything together throughout all her interactions, and makes for a very loveable character.

At times, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons to Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou. There’s some chapters and moments that carry a similar atmosphere. Also I was not expecting robot existentialism “for what purpose are we alive”. But generally, the tone of this manga stays in the realm of being comedic and sweet.

Can't Stop Cursing You

I won’t pretend this is an amazing manga or anything, but it’s fun for what it is. It’s got just the right amount of edginess, where it verges on being ridiculous but manages to pull itself together. The art and character designs are all pretty cool. The protagonist kinda looks like Rwanda from “From the Red Fog”. But now, onto the plot.

In this world, there exists ‘Curse Gods’ who can make contracts with humans to carry out ‘curse killings’. To combat this, there are individuals known as ‘curse breakers’ who hold some sort of supernatural power that can aid in stopping the contractor. Depraved genius Kiyoharu Saeyama is one such individual. In his case, he can communicate with the curse trace on a victim and ask a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question about the contractor. This manga follows Saeyama (and his morally dubious detective methods) as he solves different curse killings that are all loosely connected by an evil organization of contractors known as ‘Curse Blood’. How many times am I going to write the word ‘curse’

None of the characters are particularly fleshed out, with most of them just fitting into tropes. Deadass, a lot of the contractors inner monologues are just “heehee haha I want to kill people”. Istg they should add a comedy tag for the unintentionally funny moments. “You majority sheeple” is truly an iconic line.

The plot and characters are whatever, but the real appeal is in all the detective, psychological mind-game shenanigans. You know the deal– convoluted plans, plenty of twists, panels of characters making intense faces, and of course the dramatic “haha I got you” moments. This manga tends to reveal who the contractor is early on, so the focus is less of a whodunit and more of a battle of wits. My favorite case was the death-game styled ‘tag-your-it’. Mainly because it was more chaotic than the other ones and introduced more characters (Ann-Mary Riezs is pretty cool). Generally, it’s all in good fun as long as you don’t take it too seriously. It’s a shame the ending was so abrupt. They finally revealed the big bad and then it just… ended like that. I think this manga got axed or something, because there was clearly more story that was still planned.

With all that being said, the actually important take-away is… ALL ABOUT LILY CHOU-CHOU MENTIONED?!!

Houseki no Kuni

I just came here to read about sentient gemstones and cool worldbuilding. But somehow this spiraled into ruminations on humanity (and a slew of other things) as the main protagonist slowly morphs into something completely unrecognizable. Also, I want to cry now. *Spoilers ahead*, but if you haven’t read HNK I highly recommend it :]

There’s a lot that could be said about Phos and the Ship of Theseus, or the excruciating process of becoming human, or even just all the Buddhist symbolism stuff. But this isn’t an analysis, these are my silly little thoughts… so instead, let’s start at the beginning.

What immediately drew me in was the unique premise and art. One of my first thoughts upon being introduced to the world was that it was beautiful (and lustrous). But it was the bright-eyed protagonist, Phosphyllite, that truly made me invested. Which makes sense since Phos lays at the heart of this story. Weak and useless little Phos who just wants to be worth something (heh relatable). I was already aware through slight spoilers that Phos would undergo some crazy character development,, but I was not prepared for the goddamn trainwreck I was going to witness.

The tension just continuously builds and builds until everything goes to shit during the Invasion Arc. Everything leading up to that point had me thinking “this can’t get any worse” and then it does. It was incredibly cathartic to see Phos destroy everything as they were filled with vitriolic hatred. After practically all their relationships are ruined (especially after their fight with Cinnabar), everything just felt irreparable. As if we were truly past the point of no return. That scene in Ch. 93, where they briefly see the ghost of their past self is so good at destroying my heart. (Side note– maybe a hot take but I honestly can’t hate Cairngorm, or really any of the other Lustrous. As a Phos apologist, I already don’t care if characters make questionable decisions as long as it's well written. So in the same vein, while I recognize that the other Lustrous engaged in shitty behavior I can’t really hate them for it. On the other hand, I hate Aechmea lmao. Forgiveness is not for everyone :3 )

But after all of that, when it seems like only a tragic end awaits this story, we get gently led into a quiet and sweet last few chapters. Or as Phos says, “I think the last chapter should be told a bit softer.” And this really felt like a perfect way to end all of this, with Phos finally happy.

Misu Misou

A solid brutal revenge story. It’s gorey, edgy, violent, and everyone is horrible. Nothing too special and I honestly don’t have much thoughts on it.

The first few chapters were dedicated to setting the plot and tone. Nozaki Haruka moves to the countryside with her family and begins to experience extreme bullying from her classmates. And then the inciting incident happens where she finally snaps. The story really picks up once the gorey killing spree starts. As per usual with this stuff, suspension of disbelief is needed to get over how Haruka can have the knife skills of a trained assassin. Part of the story was hitting on the cycle of abuse. But there were other characters who were just pieces of shit for no discernable reason. There was also slight (toxic) yuri which caught me by surprise.

The artstyle took me a bit to get used to. While I liked the paneling, the art itself just didn’t suit my tastes. Sometimes I had difficulty telling characters apart because there’s a bit of same-face syndrome happening. Weirdly enough, when I was looking into the mangaka’s other works, apparently he also made High Score Girl. That’s like a complete 180 in genre lol.

Watashi (Kari)

Copy-pasting the synopsis because I’m lazy: “Our protagonist awakes in a house he doesn't know—in fact, not only does he not know where he is, he doesn't know who he is. What he does know is that this unfamiliar house is empty, save for the body (and head) of a decapitated woman—a stranger, he thinks. He’s rescued by a woman, Shio, who calls him "Iori"...but is that who he really is? And when she helps him hide the body without batting an eye, telling him to trust her...can he? Should he?”

If you were expecting a mystery with an amnesiac protagonist trying to figure out what the hell is going on, then unfortunately you’ve been bamboozled (like me). After chapter one, the manga drops this angle completely and instead focuses on ‘Shio Kurakado’, the true protagonist of this story. Slight spoilers here (this is all revealed in chapter 2), but basically she’s yandere who's capitalizing on Iori’s amnesia to get close to him. Now, I actually like yanderes, so I kept with the story anyway.

But starting from around volume 2, the plot sort of goes bonkers. I don’t have the energy to explain everything, but it gets ridiculous in a funny way. At some point I just turned my brain off and enjoyed the ride. Some highlights include (spoilers btw): crime organization named ‘Mad Donkey’ where the members' names are wonderful things like ‘Bubbagum Bobby’ and ‘Bunny Flakka’ (who looks like a knock-off Joker).// There’s almost an entire chapter that is just the main characters playing a fighting game.// “I want a taste of that Iori-san D”.// surprise cannibals, who happen to be leading a big, evil organization (and get defeated in like 1 chapter). I’m pretty sure the mangaka was purposely making things absurd and comical, because there’s no way it was all unironic. I’ll also give the manga credit and say that Shio is an entertaining protagonist. I’m biased since I like yanderes, but she was smart and scheming in a fun way. Unfortunately, the mangaka completely fumbled the bag with the ending. It was rushed and very unsatisfying, also kinda confusing with that last epilogue chapter. But honestly, I wasn’t really expecting much anyways because this manga isn’t that good (it’s still sort of entertaining tho).

MADK

Well, I got taken in by gorgeous art and read doomed and toxic yaoi. Because I’m an edgelord, I really enjoy twisted portrayals of love. And in this case, love and hatred are so thoroughly entwined that you can’t tell which is which. This manga starts with a wild premise that definitely doesn’t appeal to everyone. But I enjoyed how unapologetically gorey and kinky it was.

The world of demons was dark, twisted, and so compelling. Every good demon needs to know how to lie and manipulate, because words hold the most power here. While it’s not that heavy on the mind games, it’s fun to see tension brewing under each conversation. I’m also a fan of when names are integral to the world (god I neeed to read Earthsea one day, but that’s off topic), because not only is the concept interesting but it can also pull a lot of emotional moments. In this world, names exist in a precarious position. If your name is forgotten then you will die, but at the same time you can’t utter the name of demons stronger than you, so instead strong demons are only referred to by their initials. Therefore, the strongest demon in this world, J , hasn’t had his name uttered for a long time. To the point that most have forgotten his name. This concept was really cool, and I think the mangaka really utilized this to the fullest extent.

Our main protagonist, Makoto's ascent (or descent) into becoming king of the underworld was strangely satisfying. As he loses more of his humanity with each chapter, he gradually becomes more like J. You know that meme where it’s like “you became the very thing you sought to destroy”, yeah it’s exactly like that. Spoilers:Pretty ironic too, given that in an earlier chapter Makoto said he’d never become a demon like J. And then later Kieran literally thinks to himself that Makoto is just like J.The dynamic and twisted relationship between Makoto and J completely stole the show. Whether or not Makoto’s obsession with J was driven by love or hatred is unimportant, because his actions and the ending will remain the same either way.

Spoilers: I really liked that ending. First of all, the fact that Makoto becomes like J, also wishing for his self destruction. It’s like a loop or a cycle that can’t be broken. Makoto essentially becomes the person he was so obsessed with. Also, the final moments between Makoto and J were soo good. That line where J says, “The one you’ve pined for, chased for centuries… and they can’t say your name back.” Also the emotions to Makoto just repeatedly saying J’s real name. And then J saying Makoto’s name so he can die. God, I love angst so much.