The Strange Pictures - Tome 1

変な絵 [Hen na E] #1

by Uketsu, Kikou Aiba (Illustrator)

Sasaki est membre d’un cercle d’occultisme. Un jour, son ami Kurihara lui parle de l’existence d’un blog sur lequel figure l’étrange message “Le crime que tu as commis”, ainsi que le dessin d’une jeune femme dans le vent réalisé par une certaine Yuki, épouse de l’auteur du blog…

Saurez-vous résoudre les mystères que cachent neuf étranges dessins??

Genres: Manga, Horror, Mystery, Comics, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Seinen

160 pages, Paperback

First published October 3, 2024

About the author

Associated Names:
* Uketsu
* 雨穴
* อุเก็ตสึ (Thai Profile)

Reviews

[wayward jon]

If someone knows where can i find this manga let me know! Thanks!!

[Kelli]

So, this adaptation adds some much needed emotion to the source material? We get to actually see reactions to things on the characters’ faces. Also, how the manga panels are formatted adds some dimension to how the pieces of each mystery fit together. But, otherwise, this is a fairly 1:1 adaptation and reading the original book would still give you enough information for you to decide if this kind of storytelling is for you~

[Crowinator]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

A faithful adaptation of the first strange picture of the book, with a little about the second strange picture; the manga format made the revelations feel a bit more dramatic because you could see the characters' expressions and reactions, when the novel was a bit more clinical.

[Alice]

Bah j’ai adoré vraiment hâte de voir ce que ça va donner la suite ! Pouvoir retrouver une trame semblable à celle de the strange house mais avec un style de dessins différents c’est que du bonheur !

[Shiritaku]

Uh, wieder sehr spannend! Zwar kommt es bisher noch nicht an “Strange House” ran, aber es hat schon sehr ähnliche Vibes! Dieses Mal geht es um einen Blog und die Bilder, die der Verfasser dort gepostet hat. Der Autor schreibt über Alltägliches mit seiner Frau, die Schwangerschaft und was danach passiert.. nur kurz nach der Geburt folgt nur noch ein Post - gut 2,5 Jahre später! Dazwischen gibt es keinerlei andere Texte. Auf den Blog wurde Sasaki durch einen Kommilitonen aufmerksam (beide sind im Okkultismus Club). Sie rätseln gemeinsam, was es damit auf sich hat, denn der letzte Eintrag gibt einige Rätsel auf. So kommen sie dem ganzen nach und nach auf die Spur - doch bisher sind es alles nur Vermutungen, denn mit Sicherheit können sie nicht sagen, ob alles der Wahrheit entspricht.. kurz vor Ende des Bandes taucht dann noch eine alleinerziehende Mutter mit ihrem Sohn auf, der im Kindergarten ein seltsames Bild gezeichnet hat.. und nun bin ich extrem angefixt und möchte wissen, ob es hier eine Verbindung gibt oder alles nur Zufall ist!? Was hat es wirklich mit den Bildern auf sich? Wer ist der Autor des Blogs? Fragen über Fragen, aber wieder richtig spannend alles! ❤️‍🔥 Auch zeichnerisch gefällt mir der Stil - die Panel sind sehr detailliert und strahlen eine gewisse Atmosphäre aus - die gezeichneten Bilder innerhalb grenzen sich klar davon ab. Das passt ziemlich gut und macht verdammt neugierig! 😄

[Estibaliz]

After reading 'Strange Houses', picking this title for reading wasn't a tough decision. And, so far, I think I'm enjoying this one eve more than I did the previous series.

Mostly, because the whole mystery in the pictures/drawings feels more accessible and straightforward in a way, and it is mighty fun to follow along with the characters in solving the clues.

So far, the story is gripping, subtly dark, original and entertaining, though I have to admit the last chapter gave me a bit of pause when it comes to this volume's rating. Just because it felt like a bit too abrupt a departure from the previous mystery, and as such left me slightly confused.

Though I have to admit I did some superficial reading on the general plot and next instalment's one, and it seems that this is going to be several stories based on different drawings that will end up combining themselves in even a bigger riddle. And, if that is the case, it's likely the 4.5 stars here are just the beginning.

Exciting...

[vi]

Already read the book so I know I’m in for something great, but I don’t remember the details ups

[Natalie H]

August 2026
Paperback edition

I was curious how the manga compared to the book. It's a bit confusing with how into the blog the MC was and how creepy his friend that set him on that path comes across. Completes the first picture and starts on the second. Looking forward to the next one.

[Dee]

I was waiting for this book to be adapted into a manga! Perfect, and makes the stories even more chilling.

[Kat Ice]

I got this as an arc, and I was very excited to read it. I really loved the mystery behind it all! It really made me think and not want to put this book down! Very quick read and really makes you want to know what happens next!

[Mehsi]

I received this book from the publisher on Edelweiss in exchange of an honest review.


I absolutely LOVED the novel for this one and so I have been quite curious about this manga adaptation for a while. I was thinking of picking it up in German, but then I saw the book on Edelweiss and so my plans were diverted. I was so eager to read this one!

And I have to say it was good, it was just a strange and mysterious as the original, HOWEVER, some panels just missed the flow. While the transition from A-Ko’s art and the lecture about it to the blog posts made sense and felt natural, the transition from the blog posts to the next story just felt odd and I was confused. It helps that I read the novel and so I know what is going on, but I still struggled to connect things. I think this transition could have been far better.

This book focusses on the first chapter of the novel with a slight bit from the second chapter. I am really impressed that they managed to weave a 44 page story (with a lot of blog posts and several art pieces) into a 168 page manga and it all felt good (well except those transitions, haha). I am definitely curious about the other four volumes, especially the later ones as, if it is anything like the novel, those will be the ones with the most OMG OMG moments. Now we are just setting the stage. We get puzzle pieces but don’t see the full picture.

So in this first volume we learn about A-ko, the girl who murdered her mother and why she did it. This may seem like a random lecture especially since after that we are going to the blog posts, but be sure to remember A-ko, OK. I liked seeing the teacher explain several important details along with the drawings A-ko made. After that lecture we see our MC, Sasaki, learn about a certain blog from a friend. This blog isn’t like any others. It may just seem something normal, about a man and his wife and her pregnancy, but with the addition of the drawings and some details in the posts you quickly figure out that something is off. I loved seeing Sasaki get totally invested in the blog posts to the point he just kept reading. After that comes more, because of course this blog isn’t your ordinary blog as I already said. And with Sasaki and his friend we are going to figure things out. Sure, we still don’t learn everything or every detail, but we get some very interesting details that one should really remember as we read more stories in this novel/in this manga series. I loved that the friend also let Sasaki himself figure things out before helping him out, that is something that I really appreciate as I have read enough books featuring characters who just show it without given the other a chance.

And the art was also pretty good! And the addition of drawings was once again perfection, I already loved those in the novel and I am happy to see the same drawings here.

All in all, I would highly recommend this one. I kept it vague because this is one novel (and manga series) that you need to discover by yourself. I am rating this one 4 stars because of the flow that at times missed + the fact that for me there won’t be a lot of surprises and that does take away from the fun, at least a bit. I think if this was a new read for me I would have rated it 4.5 or higher.

Review first posted on https://twirlingbookprincess.com/

[ellis]

gratuitously dramatic in the way, it would seem, the best manga are. even though it followed the book almost exactly (to my shock i realized that i don't actually want adaptations to be so close, as i have long professed) and therefore i knew everything that was going to happen, i had to read it all in one sitting. then i was almost late to my friends' production of "beetlejuice the musical." so much to say: it was exciting. the book really lends itself well to this new format. it wasn't like a literary revelation or anything, but fun times.

[Natalie S]

Interesting!! Excited for the next one to see where this goes, same vibes but different context (from the strange houses).

[Leah]

Not the worst manga I have read but not the greatest, I will happily continue this series though

[Valérie Harvey]

Les polars d'Uketsu réussissent toujours à me donner des frissons imprévus. Et, pour ma part, c'est encore plus efficace avec les adaptations manga que dans les romans. J'ai lu son autre polar The Strange Houses en roman et en adaptation manga. Dans les mangas, ça va vite, mais on suit les personnages, on connecte avec leur peur et leur curiosité aussi. Dans les romans, l'intégration des dessins m'a semblé trop répétitives, alors que dans les mangas, ça semble tout à fait naturel qu'on y apporte une petite modification et qu'on nous présente le dessin légèrement changé.

The Strange Pictures est encore plus tordu que The Strange House. On y parle aussi d'enfants traumatisés par des gestes terribles, mais on aborde la question sous l'angle de la communication par les dessins. C'est un peu tiré par les cheveux (comme le premier polar), mais c'est impossible à arrêter, tellement on veut comprendre. Uketsu et Aiba Kikô réussissent bien à créer la tension, à amener un sentiment d'urgence. Même si on termine ce tome 1 en se demandant ce que les deux personnages principaux pourraient bien faire de plus... Connaissant Uketsu, on n'a pas fini de renverser la situation pour surprendre le lecteur...

[ScarlettAnomalyReads]

This was so freaking cool, I already loved Strange Pictures the book and this was that and somehow more. I loved the artwork and getting to see them actually really added so much to the story, so if you loved Strange Pictures you will like this, even if your not into graphic novels or Manga, trust me this is cool.

A-Ko murdered her mother, which not great yeah? But she had her reasons..Strange pictures lead to even stranger answers. Photos are just a innocent capture of a moment, a memory but if you look too close, the pixels start to show.

There's a blog, a weird pregnancy and some odd drawings, all innocent in their own but together form a... Strange picture

I'm trying to be vague because this is something you really just need to go into, even if you have read Strange Pictures, this is through a different lens..

[Frank Chillura (OhYouRead)]

I’ve read Strange Buildings, but I’ve been wanting to read Uketsu’s other books. Seeing that this follows the first book, it helped me to get more info on how he set it up. Seeing as how his third book is all based around houses and buildings made in order to kill someone, I like that the first one, as the title states, follows pictures that tell a hidden story.

I didn’t know that this would be releasing, because had I known, I would have tried to read the book first so I could see how they differ. Which I still plan to do. There was a bit of a cliffhanger ending, so I’m wondering how the second volume will come about.

This was really interesting and I’ll definitely continue.

Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss for my gifted eARC.

[Katies_bookish_adventure]

Strange Pictures is a really intriguing thriller/horror story. I absolutely loved my read of this manga, the mystery is so well written and the art style looks so neat. Everything is coming together so nicely, this mystery is definitely one that has me hooked in a really solid way. It was very attention grabbing from the beginning, the set up of the blog entries and the pictures were very well done. I enjoyed reading about the characters piecing things together and when the pictures were solved, though it brought even more questions and mystery it felt so satisfying. Then the ending of the volume...wow. I'm so excited to read more from this manga series, I need answers! Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for my complimentary review copy.

[✩｡°⋆ Lala ⋆｡°✩]

✦•┈๑⋅⋯ 𝚂𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎 𝙿𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚜 𝚅𝚘𝚕 𝟷 by 𝚄𝚔𝚎𝚝𝚜𝚞 ⋯⋅๑┈•✦

➝ • 3/5 ☆ •

☆꧁✬◦°˚°◦..◦°˚°◦✬꧂☆

I liked this one, even if it didn’t totally hit the level I was hoping for. The art is genuinely good and fits the tone well, but some of the panel transitions felt a little awkward at times, like the flow wasn’t fully locked in.

The story itself is where it really works. It’s interesting, tense, and has that slow pull that makes you want to keep going. And the cliffhanger absolutely did its job. I enjoyed the read overall, but I expected a bit more from it.

Still excited to get to the novel version, especially now that I’ve seen the world in comic form.

☆꧁✬◦°˚°◦..◦°˚°◦✬꧂☆

If you like:
✔️ 𝙴𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚎 𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚜
✔️ 𝚂𝚕𝚘𝚠 𝚋𝚞𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗
✔️ 𝙿𝚜𝚢𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝚞𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎
✔️ 𝙲𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚟𝚒𝚋𝚎𝚜
✔️ 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕 𝚜𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚘𝚏𝚏
✔️ 𝙲𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚜

📅 Pub Day: 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟷𝟼 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟼 📚
💌 ARC gifted via 𝙴𝚍𝚎𝚕𝚠𝚎𝚒𝚜𝚜 from 𝚃𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚊. All opinions are my own.
🗣 QOTD: Do cliffhanger endings make you excited or irrationally angry?

[Di]

Really enjoyed this volume. It was interesting and mysterious. The concept of reading through a blog that hasn't been updated for a time, looking at the pictures, and trying to piece together what had happened in the blog author's life was intriguing.

There is a character within this volume that is also character in another of the author's works, so I also found that to be interesting as I don't believe this story is considered to be part of that series. Very much interested to see how this story progresses.

Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss for providing me with an advanced reader's copy of this volume in exchange for my honest review. As always, this does not in any way affect my thoughts on this volume.

[Stephanie]

illustrations that were uploaded onto a personal blog. These pictures were drawn by a pregnant woman, who died tragically during child birth, and appears to have left a message to her husband about her murder, hidden in the sketches.

I devoured volume one in an afternoon, and was fully invested in turning the pages to reveal the truth. The way that the manga has been drawn brings Strange Pictures to life, and I can’t wait for Volume 2. I love that the manga series has separated out the interwoven stories into individual strands, with a little hint at how they tie together. The artist Kikou Alba has made the whole thing dynamic, and adds a sense of urgency, so that you feel like time is running out, and you have to solve the puzzle.

[Carly-ann Clements]

[thank you Titan Comics for providing a review copy]

I am a big Uketsu fan and have already read Strange Pictures so I was so excited to experience their clever and unique story through a different medium. And boy, did it not disappoint.

Volume 1. Follows the first mystery in Strange Pictures. The story is exactly the same as Uketsu’s tradition novel but the use of constant images allows the investigation to flow and provide an even speedier read - impressive given the novel is also extraordinarily quick.

The manga is definitely a fun way to experience this murder mystery and I can’t wait to read volumes 2 and 3. It was a great refresher.

[Anna Maria D'Ambrosio]

Seppur io sia a conoscenza del fatto che questa storia non nasca come manga ma come “sketch-mystery”, qualcuno dica ad Uketsu che ha delle bellissime idee, ma che non ha decisamente l’arte della narrazione in forma di romanzo. Infatti, il manga - questo primo numero - mi ha convinta decisamente di più rispetto a come era accaduto con il libro pubblicato da Einaudi.
Non ci sono le ripetizioni a prova di scemə, le ingenuità sono minori e, quindi, ci si può godere la storia entrandoci per davvero, e rabbrividire con lei.

[Christian Luigi]

Meno interessante de "La strana casa" (il concept dell'horror coi disegni è un po' trito e ritrito, soprattutto dopo Teddy, almeno i disegni delle planimetrie di case erano più originali ed "enigmistici"), l'accoppiata scrittore-mangaka funziona molto bene, l'estetica e il ritmo sono giusti, forse troppo breve il volume, probabilmente per motivi editoriali (vorranno farne più possibili per un lavoro che richiederebbe meno pagine?). Generalmente, consigliato. Ma consiglio di più "La strana casa".

[Jonathan Bernal]

Thank you to Titan Comics for the advanced copy. This is the first Manga I’ve ever read. I really enjoyed the Strange Pictures novel, so I was excited to check this out.

It’s been awhile since I read Strange Pictures, so the mystery still felt new to me. I enjoyed the illustrations and being alongside the characters as they put the puzzles together.


It’s a fun, interactive mystery that had me flying through the pages.

Looking forward to checking out the next volume. Good cliffhanger ending.

[Kaycee McKee]

This was a great manga adaptation of the original novel. Since I loved the series, I was excited to see how it would translate into manga, and I think it does a great job capturing the mystery and atmosphere. The characters didn't look anything like I had imagined while reading the novel, but that's pretty common when a story is adapted into a visual format. The artwork is well done, and I thought it brought the eerie tone of the story to life nicely. Overall, I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to seeing the rest of the novel brought to life in the future volumes!

[Bel]

I managed to find this book because the original was always checked out at my local library. This manga version seems to add more depth to the story which I liked. You can see how the clues are pieced together but this is just volume 1 so I feel that this is only a small portion of the original and the story is only get started here. I wish it was a longer book, I finished it in less than an hour.

[Valarie - WoodsyBookworm]

I've been reading this series entirely out of order because I started with Strange Houses, then Strange Buildings, and now here I am reading the manga of Strange Pictures before the actual novel.

The art in this was phenomenal and the cliffhanger ending has me running to the pick up the Strange Pictures novel because like the main character, I just HAVE to know what's going on!

[Sara]

Versione manga del crime, ha piccole differenze ma è bello e sicuramente più veloce ricordare i personaggi guardandoli anche se non confonde mai per l'accuratezza con cui è spiegato ogni caso. Questa versione è perfetta se si vuole fare un regalo particolare a chi legge manga o a chi vuole appassionarsi, una combo per invitare a leggere anche se diviso in più volumetti.

[Imogen Alldred]

Don’t normally read manga, but the strange series was so good I had to! And honestly it was better than I was expecting, I prefer the actually books themselves, but this is an extremely well presented version! Can’t wait for volume 2.