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The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service #14
The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, Volume 14
The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service is back...only to find they've got competition from an evil rival version of themselves, not to mention an...American cartoon version of themselves? But don't fear the reaper, because our original corpse-carrying crew is still ready for any gruesome weirdness, classical or modern--from a headless stiff who only does his séances in binary, to a good old-fashioned iron maiden! Excellent!
208 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 4, 2010
9 people are currently reading
136 people want to read
About the author
Eiji Otsuka
361 books142 followers大塚英志
Social anthropologist and novelist. Graduated from college with degree in anthropology, women's folklore, human sacrifice and post-war manga. In addition to his work with manga he is a critic, essayist, and author of several successful non-fiction books on Japanese popular and “otaku” sub-cultures. One of his first animation script works was Maho no Rouge Lipstick, an adult lolicon OVA. Otsuka was the editor for the bishojo lolicon manga series Petit Apple Pie.
In the 80s, Otsuka was editor-in-chief of Manga Burikko, a leading women's manga magazine where he pioneered research on the “otaku” sub-culture in modern Japan. In 1988 he published "Manga no Koro" (The Structure of Comics), a serious study of Japanese comics and their social significance. Also as critic, Otsuka Eiji, summarized the case of the Japanese red army's 1972 murders as a conflict between the masculine and the feminine principles as they were both embodied by women and against women (Otsuka,1994).
Social anthropologist and novelist. Graduated from college with degree in anthropology, women's folklore, human sacrifice and post-war manga. In addition to his work with manga he is a critic, essayist, and author of several successful non-fiction books on Japanese popular and “otaku” sub-cultures. One of his first animation script works was Maho no Rouge Lipstick, an adult lolicon OVA. Otsuka was the editor for the bishojo lolicon manga series Petit Apple Pie.
In the 80s, Otsuka was editor-in-chief of Manga Burikko, a leading women's manga magazine where he pioneered research on the “otaku” sub-culture in modern Japan. In 1988 he published "Manga no Koro" (The Structure of Comics), a serious study of Japanese comics and their social significance. Also as critic, Otsuka Eiji, summarized the case of the Japanese red army's 1972 murders as a conflict between the masculine and the feminine principles as they were both embodied by women and against women (Otsuka,1994).
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 22, 2020
If you reached this point, congrats you have read
🔥💥EXACTLY 3.032 PAGES💥🔥of this series.
As far as im aware, Dark Horse stopped translating them because of the sales. Also, in Japan 2 years ago, another two volumes were published, reaching volume 23. Hopefully Dark Horse will restart translating them.
This volume was truly one of the best, it was very saddening to find out it was the last one translated.
🔥💥EXACTLY 3.032 PAGES💥🔥of this series.
As far as im aware, Dark Horse stopped translating them because of the sales. Also, in Japan 2 years ago, another two volumes were published, reaching volume 23. Hopefully Dark Horse will restart translating them.
This volume was truly one of the best, it was very saddening to find out it was the last one translated.
April 7, 2019
As far as I can tell this is the last in the series. Too bad, because I really enjoyed this one and it seemed to have more that it could have done. Nevertheless, it was a good series and this edition kept up the good work. The characters were interesting and the stories moved along well.
September 30, 2019
Evil politicians, urban legend imposters, supernatural tech, and a zombie invasion.
An American version of this story that is both hilarious and slightly racist... so be warned.
A museum all about the art of torture, execution, and the advancement thereof. Also more evil politicians.
An American version of this story that is both hilarious and slightly racist... so be warned.
A museum all about the art of torture, execution, and the advancement thereof. Also more evil politicians.
July 7, 2025
I can’t believe I’ve reached the end of this series, at least the ones translated to English, it’s such a niche concept that I hope gains some recognition today. Will be looking if there are any unofficial translations of the other volumes as I just can’t get enough of this group.
August 30, 2018
This series is so great. I really want the next volume, please.
October 23, 2015
It’s finally out! To recap for newer readers, the Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service is five students at a Buddhist college that each have skills or talents related to the dead. They form a small firm that fulfills the last requests of corpses, resulting in creepy yet funny stories often focused around odd bits of Japanese culture.
This volume has three stories; the first has our heroes going up against a fake Kurosagi team of corpse disposal workers who are actually making a profit. It unfolds into a conspiracy involving a completely unnecessary dam project that has been claiming lives for three generations. The story also introduces a mysterious man named Nishi who manipulates social media and may communicate with the dead via smartphone app.
The second story is a one-shot breather about an Americanized cartoon version of the series, where the boys are all pizza delivery workers (with special talents) who wind up employed by the FBI’s Black Heron division identifying corpses that died in bizarre circumstances. There are interesting touches, like making one of the delivery guys a former rescue worker who discovered his powers on 9/11, and the diminutive embalmer an actual child prodigy. But it would never fly as an actual American cartoon due to the morbid bits. (At the end we learn it’s a bootleg DVD Numata picked up…along with a leather jacket with a really cool design…which turns out to be made by the bad guys in the cartoon!)
And the volume wraps up with another political story, as a museum of execution devices is abruptly closed by the government agency that controls it just before an investigation into its funding is about to take place. It seems that more than one person is losing their head over bureaucracy. The villain uses a gender-based slur.
As usual, the art and writing are excellent, with the “cartoon” section allowing the artist (and assistants) to show off some range. There’s an extensive endnotes section with all the cultural references and in-jokes, which Kurosagi is rich with. It’s been about two years since the last volume due to undeservedly poor sales; the problem is that this series, while of superior quality, is very niche in its appeal. Dark Horse will be releasing the early volumes in “omnibus” editions, so I urge readers to purchase those to increase the chances we’ll see volume 15 this decade.
This particular volume doesn’t have any appreciable nudity, but there is some nasty violence and dismembered corpses, so the mature readers warning still applies.
This volume has three stories; the first has our heroes going up against a fake Kurosagi team of corpse disposal workers who are actually making a profit. It unfolds into a conspiracy involving a completely unnecessary dam project that has been claiming lives for three generations. The story also introduces a mysterious man named Nishi who manipulates social media and may communicate with the dead via smartphone app.
The second story is a one-shot breather about an Americanized cartoon version of the series, where the boys are all pizza delivery workers (with special talents) who wind up employed by the FBI’s Black Heron division identifying corpses that died in bizarre circumstances. There are interesting touches, like making one of the delivery guys a former rescue worker who discovered his powers on 9/11, and the diminutive embalmer an actual child prodigy. But it would never fly as an actual American cartoon due to the morbid bits. (At the end we learn it’s a bootleg DVD Numata picked up…along with a leather jacket with a really cool design…which turns out to be made by the bad guys in the cartoon!)
And the volume wraps up with another political story, as a museum of execution devices is abruptly closed by the government agency that controls it just before an investigation into its funding is about to take place. It seems that more than one person is losing their head over bureaucracy. The villain uses a gender-based slur.
As usual, the art and writing are excellent, with the “cartoon” section allowing the artist (and assistants) to show off some range. There’s an extensive endnotes section with all the cultural references and in-jokes, which Kurosagi is rich with. It’s been about two years since the last volume due to undeservedly poor sales; the problem is that this series, while of superior quality, is very niche in its appeal. Dark Horse will be releasing the early volumes in “omnibus” editions, so I urge readers to purchase those to increase the chances we’ll see volume 15 this decade.
This particular volume doesn’t have any appreciable nudity, but there is some nasty violence and dismembered corpses, so the mature readers warning still applies.
November 1, 2019
I reviewed volumes 1-14 for Lady Business, but the long and short of it is that it's one of my favourite horror series, and when it wants to do political commentary, it goes HARD. It just also has some storylines that I side-eye INTENSELY.
Caution warnings for the series:
Caution warnings for the series:
August 14, 2015
Kind of a frustrating to wait two and a half years for a new volume, and I think it's just "okay". Still, I'd buy the next six volumes if they were released in English as some of the earlier ones were great.
July 6, 2015
Rly kewl xD
Arigatou! To another 14 issues!
Arigatou! To another 14 issues!
June 28, 2015
This is a brutally comedic and violently hilarious manga • the copious end notes and excellent translation make this a must for horror fans
July 15, 2015
Best collection of the series to date. Unfortunately, if sales of the soon-to-be-released collection of the first three volumes aren't great, this is likely to be the last book published in the USA.
August 2, 2015
3.5 stars
April 18, 2017
This series is 10/10. Would recommend to anyone alive
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews