Homunculus 3

ホムンクルス [Homunculus] #3

by Hideo Yamamoto

Susumu, attraverso il bizzarro incontro con lo yakuza, è riuscito a comprendere istintivamente la natura del potere e delle visioni acquisite in seguito alla Trapanazione. Con l’aiuto delle conoscenze e delle ricerche di Manabu, la teoria viene approfondita, rivelando che solo le persone che hanno una qualche affinità con Susumu vengono da lui percepite come homunculus, ovvero proiezioni della propria psiche. Ora l’insolita coppia comincia la ricerca di nuovi homunculus, e si imbatte in una ragazza che a Susumu appare come un informe mostro di sabbia…

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

208 pages, Paperback

First published July 30, 2004

About the author

山本英夫 Yamamoto Hideo , is a Japanese manga artist best known for the manga series "Ichi the Killer" (which was adapted into a live-action film in 2001) and the series, Homunculus (manga).
Recurring themes in his manga are crime, sexual deviations, and psychology.

Reviews

[Keiko, the manga enthusiast ♒︎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Their distortions are my distortions. The human eye does not exist solely to reflect the world in front of it. It also reflects the self upon the outside world.

I friggin knew it! My theory from the previous volume was right, lol. There's a connection with Nakoshi! Otherwise, it'd be like your typical superhero comic, bleugh, I don't know what else to call it—if he ended up helping people relieve themself from the weight of homunculus in their life for nothing.

So, I think, as Nakoshi helps the distorted people, he may get a part of them (like when he acquired the robot arm after helping the yakuza guy) to build his real, scarred self... for him to find out who he really is. Superb! This theory also fits the (was the blond, pierced guy a neurologist? I forgot) anyway, it fits his Freudian theory so well.

This series is a bomb. It was vivid, horrifying, intense, and gripping in a one-rollercoaster ride. The emotive techniques are there that helped it even more, to bloom on its own. And the symbols are spot-on!! I was actually craving for more. Lol, symbols are really my thing and I love that it's overflowing with it. I love how the pierced guy put things together. Lol, he's so imaginative, I can't! Also, the sand girl was so terrifying lol, I had my heart in my mouth. I was so ready to leave and maybe take a breather if I couldn't hold my growing fear any longer.

And, I find this so creepy, but why is the pierced guy's distortion water? I need to know why! I mean water is also a symbol of life, purification, and flow so... All too positive attributes to me but I get a feeling that he's a villain. One way or another, that water will be disturbed. I mean, there's this blub blub going on already. He's gonna shed some skin sooner or later. But, I'd be dead if in the end he's not the villain, lol.

Lol, this is deep and painful to read, but hell, this is good.

[daph pink ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Homunculus had me strapped in for whatever journey it took. The panels were beautiful and grounded, scanning views without using bubbles and picking out eye movements, twitches, winces, squints, smug grins, and a variety of facial emotions that lent weight to the conversation that followed.

[Caro the Helmet Lady · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, now it's getting really, really weird. As if it wasn't weird enough from the beginning.

[Sakib · Rating 4 out of 5]

More depth, more homunculi, more weirdness...

Our two main characters have started investigating the homunculi, and with that comes mysteries and the complex psychology of the human mind, the becoming of a person into what he seems in the plain eyes against the person he/she really is deep down there, and the chain of events in the past that has contributed to it.

Mr. Nakoshi may have solved one mystery, of the Yakuza boss, all on his own, maybe out of the plain eagerness that comes with a new power and the connection between his past and the Yakuza's if we consider that as a subconscious stimuli, but there is now a totally different type of case that, in his first encounter, seemed almost sickening and utterly perplexing, and it is too much to handle on his own.

But we can't leave out Mr. Itoh just because he doesn't have what Mr. Nakoshi has; up until now I didn't think of him as much, but now I think this guy is just brilliant, after all, he is a medical student who doesn't look like a medical student at all, rather someone from a goth club or a member of a cult or a weird band- these facts just point out that you can't take this guy for granted... also he found Mr. Nakoshi in the first place and from that point on it all started...

Also, I'm curious what Mr. Nakoshi "actually" sees when he looks at Itoh.

Eagerly waiting for the result of their investigation of the "sand chameleon" case...

[Met · Rating 4 out of 5]

Si comincia ad approfondire cosa sono questi “homunculus”; caso dopo caso resto sempre più affascinato. E Yamamoto inoltre è bravissimo nel rendere graficamente le assurdità di questi essersi.

[Dhia Nouioui · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Ito's form is water because he feels invisible to his father, has no relationship with him and he lacks a personal identity? He's more fluid than the girl, he also takes the shape of the container, maybe thats the reason why he knows her behavior as well.

[Angie Ospino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ese estudiante de medicina es muy raro.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate the stupid doctor who looks like a pierced avatar, he's so slimey and revolting, no wonder he's literally a fluid. He better redeem himself in the next volume because I'm so mad at his actions in this piece.
Also, he better stop licking his lip, he's disgusting.

[LopaShoqjaIme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sand go wow.

[Miguel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume is phenomenal! It's funny, I didn't expect Yamamoto to express the thesis of his text in the exact same terms that I used to muddle through the second volume (before things are explained). But this brings the manga, in my estimation, to a whole new level of quality. Ito gives an account of the unconscious to Nakoshi and goes on to give a definition for homunculus.

One of the more fascinating aspects is Ito's proposed resolution to the appearance of a homunculus is nearly identical to the therapeutic thesis of Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis. Yamamoto's account of the unconscious, by way of Ito, is spot on. The translation of repressed thoughts into incomprehensible signifiers is replaced by the embodied form of the homunculus, visible only to Nakoshi. But just like on Lacan's couch, Nakoshi seeks to turn the unconscious, repressed, thoughts into some kind of sensible signification. The infernal translating machine of the unconscious, in Yamamoto's word, does not translate repressed thoughts into garbled words but rather embodies them in the form of a homunculus. Nakoshi seeks to make the illegible nonsense of the human psyche into legible, comprehensible, conscious thoughts.

Lacanian psychoanalysis as a productive hermeneutic for Homunculus is nowhere more evident than in this installment.

[✶ marta ✶ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meraviglioso tutto, trama, personaggi, tensione. I testi, anche nella traduzione, sono fantastici, la riflessione sulla coscienza e l'inconscio mi è piaciuta tantissimo. Le tavole sono assurde, grottesca l'interpretazione delle creature. **might be spoilish**
Superbo l'homunculus di sabbia, mi ha ricordato tantissimo Tomie

[IZZIE'S PROPERTY☭ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate this mf, always overly explaining shit and just being a whole ass nepobaby freak he is so fucking annoying i want the main character to beat the ass out of that human pool he pisses me offfffffffff
main character cool tho, so far

[Basmaish · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's getting weirder.

[Yza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Idk if I'm tired or STUPID bc I don't understand ANYTHING 😭

[Alitzel Altamirano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Empecé el tomo 1 porque mi lectura principal me estaba aburriendo y ya llegué hasta aquí.

[Alma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Increíble tomo. Me ha gustado mucho la reflexión de los traumas sin resolver ajenos y la revisión del inconsciente y consciente!

Seguimos con el siguiente!

[Serban Noodle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is the most interesting volume of this manga

[Luis Angel Razo · Rating 5 out of 5]

este tomo no lo lean en público, pero aún así es insano

[Eduardo Duckworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Medio raro el hecho de abusar de una menor para descubrir su trauma pero GOD

[Nicolas]

Questionable maar interesting

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting..

[Sophia Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

this shit is getting so weird but its really good. the idea of what a homunculus is and how they are going to try and "free" and "save" these people. honestly the main two people in the story seem like awful people but its interesting to follow a story with a complex and somewhat shitty guy as the lead. who knows! maybe he is gonna make a huge difference... only time will tell

[Alo ★ · Rating 2 out of 5]

no confío en el morrillo alternativo 🤨 mucho bla bla bla tmb

[shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my cup of tea, it’s very weird but weird in a good way

[Alessandra S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Somos animales asquerosos."

[nomid · Rating 4 out of 5]

i can already tell things are going to get fucked

[Logan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't bother reading this series. It just gets worse.

[Elysa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This manga series is about a recently homeless man named Nakoshi, and a young medical student named Ito. Under Ito's knife, Nakoshi underwent a surgical procedure called trepanation, during which his skull was drilled into to activate his sixth sense. In previous volumes, he had used this power to inadvertently play as amateur therapist to a yakuza boss.

This is the third volume. The feel-goodness from the precious volume is gone and the series begins to get creepy and unsettling. We learn more about the homunculi, what they are and what they represent. It's very philosophical and I've seen reviewers compare the homunculi to Freudian psychoanalysis because of Hideo's (through character Ito) description of the unconscious and conscious.

[47Time · Rating 4 out of 5]

Out of the blue we get a long exposition related to humunculi. Manabu is suddenly an expert. He and Susumu investigate an especially exotic humunculus together.

Manabu explains in (too much) detail what humunculi are. They are the result of internal contradictions that hide themselves in our subconscious. Susumu can see them and thus wants to help the people deal with their trauma. But he worries that the humunculi can see him and affect him. His left arm is already made up of the metal he saw in the Yakuza boss.

Susumu has yet to tell Manabu that he sees him fully transparent. Manabu becomes interested in a girl with a humunculus made of sand. The two follow her and notice she is shoplifting. Manabu uses this to get her to spend some time with him.

[Abdikarim Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m hooked first of all.

And I wonder why the medical student is just water?

I think it might because he also lacks shape like the teen girl but in a different way? Like he is just following the manual his father put together for him and rebelling in a typical way and therefore, he doesn’t know his true self.

But I’m excited for the next volume, I wonder how he is going to help the homunculus or is he even going to help them because it seems like its harmful to him to help and it turn him into one every time he helps them which makes his scars visible to him which is scary to anyone.