Taimashin: The Red Spider Exorcist Vol. 1

Taimashin: The Red Spider Exorcist

by Hideyuki Kikuchi, Shin Yong-Gwan (Illustrator)

On a night of fireworks in Seoul, South Korea, Japanese office worker Megumi is being chase by someone...or something. She runs into a strange old lady named Gyouanja, who tells her to keep running until she reaches the dancer at a pavilion up ahead. The dancer turns out to be Akamushi Fujiwara, a beauty of a man whose outfit would look more at home in ancient Japan. It turns out that Megumi's pursuers are some kind of demons in human form, but once she asks Akamushi for his help, he subdues the demons for her. The next day, still frazzled from her experience and periodically hallucinating, Megumi's fiancé Ryouji suggests they take a vacation at a hot springs resort. Megumi stops off at her office first, and is attacked again by Inran, one of the demons from the night before. Gyouanja shows up and helps her escape, and Megumi and Ryouji continue on to the resort. There, she's again attacked by Inran, but this time Akamushi defeats her himself. Inran, seemingly dead, warns Akamushi that she'll have her revenge. Suddenly it turns out that Megumi's parents are also at the resort, as are residents of her neighborhood back home, some of whom died years ago... It slowly dawns on Megumi that she and everyone there with her are already dead. Her memory of fireworks from the night before was actually an explosion that destroyed the subway train they had all been riding during a trip to Korea. But it happened so fast, Megumi failed to realized she'd died, and now she's stuck wandering what the demons refer to as the Twilight Zone. Kirai, another of her former assailants, appears and attempts to steal her heart (the organ). If he does so, he can turn her into a vindictive demon like himself. But Akamushi saves the day, though he nearly dies thanks to the revenge Inran warned him of previously. A giant flesh-eating plant sprouts from the cut she had inflicted on his cheek, and the souls of Inran and Kirai inhabit the beast. But then, the pieces of Akamushi it devoured turn into spiders and eat their way through the beast from the inside. Akamushi tells Megumi that his job protecting her is done, and she can now safely leave this intermediate zone and reach the afterlife. She thanks him and makes her way there.

-----------------------------
Taimashin vol.1 - The Red Spider Exorcist
Summary

Traveling in-between the world of the living and the twilight world of the dead, Akamushi, the shaman, priest, demon-hunter, or better known as, the Red Spider Exorcist is one that’ll never refuse the request for help from lost souls falling prey to evil spirits and demons of the underworld. With the strength and regeneration powers of a giant spider, and the ability to command his swarm of arachnids to his will, he combats the malevolent supernatural and is a force to be reckoned with.

When career woman Megumi is suddenly pursued and attacked by the unholy demons of the afterlife, she seeks the help from the phlegmatic shaman to eradicate the infestation of unholy beasts seeking to take her soul and turn her into a vindictive minion.
But as it seems, these demons are more than persistent—everywhere Megumi tries to hide, they follow. With Megumi's cry for help, is this more than what Akamushi can handle—as he too collapses to the will of their malicious powers?

But why are these creatures of twilight after her? What does she know, or doesn’t know, that’ll unravel the truths about her true self and everyone around her? And what of Akamushi—can he use his unique shamanic spider-like powers to cast out and purify himself from the demon scourge?

From acclaimed Japanese horror writer, Hideyuki Kikuchi—(famed Vampire Hunter D & Wicked City novel series), Taimashin - The Red Spider Exorcist—vol.

Genres: Manga, Graphic Novels, Urban Fantasy, Fantasy

Kindle Edition

First published November 9, 2004

Reviews

[Leila Anani · Rating 4 out of 5]

First thing I ought to mention is that despite often being confused together, Taimashin: The Red Spider Exorcist is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, UNRELATED series from Taimashin: SPI - both are manga series by Hideyuki Kikuchi, but they feature completely different stories and characters.
SPI is Kikuchi doing Lovecraft and Red Spider Exorcist is more in the vein of Wicked/Demon City.

Onwards... Red Spider Exorcist begins in the city of Dongdaemun in Seoul - a city that comes alive at night and is full of shapeshifters and demons masquerading amongst the humans. Office worker Megumi is wandering through the city and finds herself chased by two centipede demons and a woman that changes into a bat. She is aided by a mysterious fortune-teller called Gyouanja who sends her to a beautiful Noh dancer Akamushi Fujiwara for protection. Mushi is an enigmatic spider demon who's threads kill and protect with equal measure.

Loads of Kikuchi tropes here - one of the centipede demons manifests a mouth in his hand (Vampire Hunter D) - the shape-shifting Demons are straight out of Wicked City, Our Pretty boy enigmatic supernatural hero is the same as all Kikuchi's other such protagonists (D, Mephisto, Taimashin, Darkside), we have a damsel in distress down to her underwear, a sarcastic witch lady.... it's all here.

What makes this series stand out is the gorgeous artwork by Korean artist Shin Young-Gwan.... And of course it's Korean, rather than Japanese setting. This is pretty much a dream combo because I love the art of Korean manga - it's got a style all of it's own that's distinctive from Japanese art... less childish and more beautiful. And yet Japanese plots blow everything else out of the water for freaky-weird and innovation (Korea tending to focus on melodrama) - So here we have the perfect fusion of beautiful art with freaky weird plot. And while there's nothing here you haven't seen elsewhere if you're a Kikuchi fan, it's still well worth checking out.

[Michael Hardy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Hideyuki Kikuchi 's stories. This one is dark, twisted, raunchy, bloody and creepy strange bad guys and a pretty boy hero named Akamushi with a few surprises for the bad guys. The story is about a female office worker being chased by a bondage queen and these thugs and she doesn't even know why. One thug has a mouth on his hand. Ha, ha! I get it. A reference to his previous work, Vampire Hunter D. And it's actually a cool mystery on why she's being chased. In the end, it's a fun and dark read.

[Felix · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot wait till the second volume comes out. ^.^ Preordered it already. I love Mr. Kikuchi's books. He's a fabulous writer and the visuals in this manga are not half-bad ^.^

[Fugo Feedback]

Algo me dice que jamás de los jamases me voy a enterar de cómo sigue esta historia, pero espero que este tomo sea lo suficientemente entretenido como para justificar los cinco pesos que puse por él.

[La Revistería Comics · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eeeeh... Para el que se quiera sumergir en las fosas del Canconi, este primer (y único hasta la fecha) tomo de Taimashin. Aunque si me preguntás a mí, ni te gastes.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Edición argentina. Tomo 1 de a nadie le importa cuántos, menos que menos al editor.