Pet Shop of Horrors, Vol. 2

Pet Shop of Horrors [ペットショップ オブ ホラーズ] #2

by Matsuri Akino, Tomoharu Iwo (Translator), Bryan Masumoto (Translator)

Count D and his exotic pets have a way of changing a person's life for better or for worse. Whether it is fulfilling one's deepest desire or teaching an errant soul an important lesson in life, his magic always comes with a price.

Genres: Manga, Horror, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Comics, Supernatural, Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 12, 2003

About the author

Matsuri Akino (秋乃 茉莉 Akino Matsuri), is a Japanese manga artist from Mitaka, Tokyo, now a resident of Yokohama. Her work is a mix of the fantasy, mystery, and horror genres. Her self portrait is usually a kappa, sometimes with braids or an odango hairstyle.

Reviews

[JoAnna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really REALLY enjoy Count D. His love for animals reminds me of myself. The way he was willing to sacrifice his life for a innocent creature was 100% ME! If only that stupid cop hadn't of pissed me off I would have five starred this!!!! Ugh!!!! Why do you like him Count D..... WHY!!!!!!

[☾❀Apple✩ Blossom⋆｡˚ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't stop reading this, I'm addicted 😩

[Katie❄️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well I couldn't find this at any of my libraries in my state....so I guess it will be unread for now.

I found it! YAY!!

[Nicolle Baptista · Rating 5 out of 5]

DO NOT SHIPP COUNT AND LEON, DO NOT SHIPP COUNT AND LEON, DO NOT SHIPP COUNT AND LEON, DO NOT... oh shit

[Titis Wardhana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cerita 1 - Dragon: ahhhh naganya gak diceritain dia ke mana gt, tiba2 ngilang pas uda di langit, mana keren pula, kepalanya ada tiga
Cerita 2 - Dice: kurang jelas neh knapa orang ini bisa liat kucing dalam wujud manusianya, sementara yg lain tetep ngeliat klo itu kucing. why, why???
Cerita 3 - Delicious: jd mermaidnya ini makan daging manusia, trus jd ketagihan gt, jd knapa tetep dijual ke manusia? Masa cuman gara2 mirip?
Cerita 4 - Destruction: paling misterius, apa hubungan beast itu sama Count D?

ayo Level buruan terbitin semua, tar gw keburu baca ol nya lg :p

[osoi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Только я настроилась на жесткач и общую атмосферу хоррора, как пятая глава подкинула типичную «рождественскую» историю (конечно, в антураже странного мира, где живут неведомые зверушки, воображение имеет силу воплощения и все вдыхают благовония неизвестного происхождения). И блондинчик-детектив слишком быстро включился в эту игру, несмотря на все возражения :Р

Рассказ про милую кошечку – это притча в картинках. Финал приятно удивил, я всю дорогу опасалась внезапного треша (ну, с такими-то первыми главами).

Потом история о рыбке и ее хозяине. Ее я увидела раньше, чем прочитала, но тягостное ощущение ровно то же, что от экранизации. Это из раздела несчастных судеб, одержимости, неспособности двигаться дальше, психических расстройств в результате душевных травм. Не знаю, что из этого пытается вылечить граф, а что – косвенно вызвано его же усилиями.

Последняя глава тома опять посвящена совместному времяпровождению детектива и графа, где они по воле судьбы (а точнее, в результате чьего-то сталкерства :Р) оказываются вовлечены в приключение, про которое неясно – сон это или реальность. Не моя тональность, и резкие перепады давления не по мне. Темы поднимаются более серьезные, чем в «рождественской» истории, но особенного отклика не вызывают.

hisashiburi

[K.S. Trenten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leon Orcot set off to capture Count D, but instead he ends up having his baby, which is a dragon. What will the dentist and the don say? :) Business continues at the pet shop as two very different cats pick out two very different owners while a mermaid shows a voracious appetite for love, which the Count is more than happy to indulge, even while Leon tries to solve a mystery which may involve murder. The Count, however, has a softer side towards animals who no longer roam the Earth whom no one recalls other than him. In the meantime, Leon Orcot finds his feelings for Count D becoming even complex while he’s drawn into the count’s strange world.

Horror and humour went hand in hand in this volume, the mermaid providing the horror, Leon providing the humor, while Count D and the cats offered both. The mysterious pet shop owner’s relationship deepens with the detective hunting him when the two find themselves thrown together more and more often. The artwork continues to be stunning in the panels with Count D, the cats wearing human forms, and the mermaid along with her prey spread across the pages. Leon, the kitten, and the kitten’s human proved some cuteness, revealing that visitors to Count D’s pet store can find happy endings when they accept the terms of their contracts. For deepening the human drama involving those who chose to wear human faces along with those fooled by them in the same aesthetic style as the previous volume, I give this four stars.

[Jody Mena]

Chilling and enthralling, and strangely, sometimes extremely cute and funny! These stories are all really rather predictable in the end, but magnificently drawn, and frightening in spite of their forgone conclusions. I liked the last chapter of this book in particular, it held a mirror up to society's disregard for the balance of the natural world, and echoed a haunting and lonely consequence for our rash negligence. I adore Count D! He's so cheerfully mysterious, and so chillingly unaffected by the strange and gruesome deaths piling up at his doorstep. The great twisted irony, and the main moral of this story, is that none of the customers would have had any problems with their pets, if they'd only have kept up their end of the contract they signed - though Count D is selling these murderous man-eating creatures, he is completely correct when he says that he cannot be held responsible. The lesson is to always keep your promises. I have a feeling that detective is going to get himself into trouble one of these days, even though Count D appears to like him - after all, as he said at the end of this volume he said it himself - "I do enjoy your company. One of these days I may not let you leave..." Prophetic words? Only one way to find out!

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn’t as great as the first volume. Personally, I don’t care much about the overarching plot with Count D and the cop. The running thread with the cop trying to bust him for selling dangerous pets is fine. What I find boring is the chapters that resolve solely on the dynamic between their two characters. I would probably love this ten times more if the author had just stuck to an anthology type format. In particular, I thought that the dragon story was super pointless.

[Phantomº · Rating 4 out of 5]

We got a glimpse of the Count's feelings in the last chapter, his love for animals is truly an admirable one.

[Jessica Eck · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite story in this volume is "Destruction", it never fails to make me cry.

As a cat lover, "Dice" is also a highlight for me. It doesn't get much more adorable than Lady :)

[Nancy Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pet Shop of Horrors continues in the second volume where we get an additional 4 stories that range between the realms of humor, mystery and horror.

Dragon: A story about a misplaced dragon egg that is expected to hatch by accident on XMAS instead of the Chinese New Year risks killing the family that brought it home... and possibly the entire city of Los Angeles is under danger too. It is up to Count D to ask for Detective Leon for his help in order to sneak into the house and safely hatch the mythical beast in a remote area before things go crazy. A humorous story, we also start to see flashes of attraction between both characters, even though neither party wants to admit it yet.

Dice: A homeless con artist rescues a kitten without realizing Lucky is very special. Unable to care for her, Count D appears and takes the kitten away from him. Thinking little about the odd change of events, the guy ends up getting arrested by Leon for petty theft and bailed out by Count D. Little does he know, Count D is giving him the chance of a lifetime by adopting a strange little girl who might change his life for the better... as long as he doesn't break any of the tenets of the contract. A cute/odd story with a different kind of protagonist than other stories so far. I find it interesting that we get meet a low life criminal making a contract with the Count and the way despite being a lazy slob, there is a good side to him.

Delicious: The original manga version of the same chapter in the OVA series. The anime stays fervently truthful to the original source material. I personally didn't enjoy this episode as much as some of the other ones, but I suppose the animators chose this story because of the horror elements.

Destruction: Another story featuring Count D interacting on a more personal level with Leon. Our perpetually igneous detective has spotted Count D visiting a natural history museum one evening while carrying a suitcase. Assuming he is planning on selling opium, he follows him inside and gets teleported to a prehistoric world with extinct animals. Where are they and can they escape this strange dream before Leon harms any animals by mistake? A very different story from what we are getting accustomed in a pleasant way.

Overall, the stories remain fresh and fun to read and I award it 4 stars.

[Sherri · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Leon was introduced in the first volume, he truly starts to become a character of his own in this one. And in the first chapter, Leon becomes inexplicably and inexorably (and involuntarily) tied into D's world with the birth of Honlon. While the chapter has several humorous moments (the dominatrix dentist, for one, who makes me cringe and hold my teeth in fear), it's also the first glimmer that we see that D does have the capacity to care for humans, as the entire adventure is predicated on getting the right egg to an elderly buyer so that his grandchildren have their Christmas miracle (and, y'know, the city isn't destroyed by a gigantic dragon).

The theme of somewhat caring for and wanting to help humanity continues with the next two stories — the girl who needs a seeing eye dog; the man who saves a kitten and that kitten becomes his literal lady luck. But by the story about the man with the kitten, we start to see that hard edge of D again, where the animal trumps humanity. By the last story, with the woman who became a mermaid, we once again are reminded that D is not on humanity's side. But, perhaps more interestingly, we start to see some development in Leon, who in the first story trusts D, and who, by the last story, has grown on D enough that when asked what he sold the man, D simply answers "a mermaid."

[Nenia Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this installment but I think I liked the first one more; each short story felt like a closed circuit with a clear moral. The stories in here felt a lot more nonlinear, like the Count's meditation session in the museum, and the story about the serial killer who ate humans. The American cop character played a larger role in this book, which made volume 2 feel less like a traditional shoujo manga horror and more like an 80s or 90s buddy cop comedy. Desire felt the most like the stories in the previous book and it was also the only story to make me cry. I liked the mermaid story quite a lot, as well.

3.5 stars

[Tabby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another very unique manga and one of my favorites of all time. It’s about a pet shop that sells weird and mysterious pets to unsuspecting customers. It’s considered a horror but it’s not that scary or disturbing just weird. This was my second time reading it since I was a kid and it’s still very enjoyable to me. The four stories in it are each unique and have a mystical feeling to them.

[Timothy Pitkin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of a weaker bunch of stories with most of them just being ok granted the story "Delicious" was a bit better as it had a pretty gruesome end and I really do not like the idea of giving to much focus on the Count or the detective as I feel the Count can handle being what ties the stories together, the Detective is sort of boring.

[Gabby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this will become one of my favourite manga series ever. I love Count D and all the creatures and stories these volumes explore. Creepy, curious and delightfully odd- I'm sure everyone can find something in this story.

[Rebo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lmao I didn’t really take 3 years to read this; just set it down and forgot about it until recently, when I finally read it all.

3.5 stars rounded up. I think it’s stronger than volume 1 overall. I like the relationship between D and Leon, lol

[Fa · Rating 4 out of 5]

En este tomo pudimos conocer más al Conde D y no solo a un random vendedor de mascotas, me encantó, le da más personalidad a la historia en general.
Las interacciones con el detective están de 10, amo al dúo cómico.

[CC · Rating 4 out of 5]

The mysteries deepen as more unfolds; I’m excited to read the series!

[H. Givens · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNFed after the first section... It wasn't a creepypet story like in the first volume. I'd wanted more about the shop and shopkeeper/detective characters, but when I got it I didn't like it.

[Nomad nimrod · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as the first one.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

In order of how much I liked them from best: mermaid story, dragon, cat girl, and saber tooth tiger.

[Dani · Rating 5 out of 5]

My cat Leon wasn't named after Leon Orcot but he's also dumb and fair-haired, so the cat story in this volume made me think of him a lot, hahaha

[shemah · Rating 4 out of 5]

#2024

[Laura Sanner · Rating 5 out of 5]

How did I not see the yaoi undertones? lol Loving this latest re reads!

[devon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was just alright

[Geo Hendrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

The pets are awesome!

[kai ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

lil' lady is so adorable 🥺

[Mosley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great series. This volume had a little comedy added in but it was still dark and spooky.