Reiko The Zombie Shop, Volume 2

Reiko The Zombie Shop #2

by Rei Mikamoto

The last time we saw Reiko, the beautiful, young necromancer, she had her head sliced off But you can't keep a bad girl down. Our Miss Reiko has got a few friends in dark places who'll make sure she hasn't shuffled off this motal coil just yet, even if she has to borrow a body or two. Part Sixth Sense and part Evil Dead - the ultra-violent, comical and disturbing manga Reiko the Zombie Shop has been resurrected Stateside and translated into English in its original format for the first time.

Genres: Manga, Horror, Zombies, Action, Graphic Novels

200 pages, Paperback

First published March 8, 2006

About the author

Rei Mikamoto 三家本 礼 (Mikamoto Rei) is a Japanese mangaka known for Reiko the Zombie Shop (ゾンビ屋れい子, Zombie-ya Reiko, "Zombie-merchant Reiko"), Satanister (サタニスター, Satanisutā), Chimamire Sukeban Chainsaw (血まみれスケバンチェーンソー, Chimamire Sukeban Chainsaw) and Big Tits Dragon (巨乳ドラゴン, Kyonyū Doragon), among other works.

Reviews

[Damon]

Lousy. The first volume was alright, but this one was like YuGiOh (or at least what I assume YuGiOh is like, only with some zombies, and people who like to introduce themselves).

[Alyssa W]

Why am I reading these? ugh.

[Danielle R]

Well, I probably should have seen Reiko's revival coming, but I didn't so I was a surprised to see her go full 'Green Ribbon' on us. (If you get the reference, we can be besties.) We find out she has an evil twin sister, Riruka, who wants to... zombify 99% of the planet so she can rule over it as a Zombie Queen and have all the books, movies, music, and shopping for herself. (I'm DEAD serious.)

Unfortunately, the zombie shop aspect goes from interesting side stories about murder and mayhem to Pokémon... There are other people with necromancer skills and apparently they each get one super-powered zombie that they can raise in fights. Reiko gets Yurikawa (the teen murderer from the first volume), Rudoh has a knight, Yuki has a cowboy gunslinger, and the villains all have mashed-together monstrosities that really make you question what counts as having 'one' zombie to summon.

Reiko picks up a sexy mercenary, Jasmine, and Yuki's wheelchair-bound way-too-young-to-be-on-this-quest little sister, Mayo, along the way to Riruka's mansion to save the world. In the fight with Riruka's main man, Dr Zero and his combined doctor-and-nurse zombie, both Rudoh and Yuki are killed off. (And both deaths were pretty gnarly. Yuki has his legs chainsawed off and reattached before he's stabbed in front of his sister. Rudoh is betrayed and killed by Yuki when Dr Zero says he can fix Mayo's legs.) Afterwards, Mayo appears to break down after what she's seen and Reiko arrives in time to witness the fallout.

I'm really not sure about reading the next volume because while I like the gore, monsters, and art style. I'm not really here for zombified-Pokémon... 3/5

[Laura]

I DNF this one because I just had no real interest in it. It felt like it was vulgar in a rather forced and boring way. I was expecting something akin to Army of Darkness/ Evil Dead, which it claimed to be inspired by. Instead, I got a book where people spit their names more than a pokemon and there was very little fluidity. I really wanted to like it and I see the potential, but my biggest comfort is that I only spent $5 on this book and that that money supported my local used bookstore. Sorry if that sounds mean.