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死者と会話ができる“いたこ”能力を持つ唐津九郎。黒鷺メンバーの前に現れた、おしゃべりな人面疽の秘密とは? ロングセラー新感覚ホラーコミック!

187 pages, Paperback

First published August 25, 2007

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203 people want to read

About the author

Eiji Otsuka

361 books143 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).

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5 stars
167 (34%)
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238 (48%)
3 stars
79 (16%)
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5 (1%)
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
Profile Image for Mir.
4,976 reviews5,330 followers
September 7, 2019
In addition to the usual off the wall episodes (cloned ears! robots run by stolen brains! murderous movie directors!) we get some progress on the longer story arc that began with the introduction of the Shirosagi Corpse Cleaning Service, who may be affiliated with another group who seems interested in our disorganized quartet. Also, more confirmation of earlier hints that there is something particularly important about Kuro and his attendant ghost.
Profile Image for Hollowspine.
1,489 reviews39 followers
July 28, 2014
I really like this series and this volume brought out the best of Otsuka in my opinion, bringing both the dark humor and the bizarre encounters which I love, to the forefront once again. I'd been reading horror manga for awhile and although I like a good bit of terror, mayhem and stomach churning graphic violence I always felt like I was missing out on something. Then I found Kurosagi. I feel like this series has been tailor made for me, with it's doses of humor, horror and the fact that for the most part it echoes real life, just with a bizarre twist. Also, I'd been searching for a series that not only brought in the horror that I love so well, but also had character development that went beyond one volume or even one story and unlike so many other short horror series Kurosagi delivers. The characters are interesting, unique and realistic. The world that is created around these characters is one that is easily imaginable as well. The way that the supernatural is introduced into the storylines seems so...well natural that it is easy to suspend disbelief in suspended animation and become engrossed in the story. Kurosagi is also much more interesting than other series in that it has a compendium of facts and definitions in the back of each book that entertain as well as inform. It is the best manga series I've read to date and I suspect that it may remain in that position for the remainder of my days.
Profile Image for Charles.
Author 76 books134 followers
May 30, 2012
Stuff I Read – Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Vol 7

Well ask and you shall receive, I guess. After the last volume failed to follow through with developing any of the ongoing story threads in the series, volume seven delves back into things with another appearance from the Shirosagi Corpse Cleaning Service. It’s a nice play off of the main group, especially seeing as how the Cleaning Service actually gets work. But we do get some development, and get to see perhaps the main villain of the series, the apparent mother of the spirit that has been helping the group. The volume also does a nice job of offering some good laughs in the first story and changing things up in the second, longer story, as in that one the main character is out of commission for most of the action. The last story goes back to the rather light hearted and gives a very short take on a movie being shot. Really the first and last stories are quite short, while the middle is the biggest chunk and is taken up with the most important material, so the form of this book seems to be the best since the second volume, really, or maybe out of the entire series. The form does nice to get us in, to give a light story, then a fairly dense one with a lot of things happening, then back to a rather simple story. Each have memorable parts, though the last one is the least memorable in my opinion, but it all works.

The first story panders a bit to nerds, as it revolves around the idea of robots and deals with a set of nerd characters trying to make a robot suit useful. These nerds eventually end up using a human brain to help the robot move, but it ends up going a bit berserk and trying to kill people, to fairly hilarious results. It is nice to see the whole otaku culture come out for this, and it is rather clever on the level that this manga comments on other manga and things like that, characters casting judgments on the losers who devote themselves to things like this series. So it gets points with me for that. The down side is that, as only one part out of five or six, there isn’t a whole lot here. There really is no mystery, and the real story is this robot trying to kill people, which is pretty funny as this nerd now given a robot body fails to succeed in doing anything. Meaning that even undead and given a mech suit, basically, this nerd is still a nerd, still unable to be potent. So the laughs are there, and it also shows the main character use his power to exorcise the spirit, a new skill.

The second story deserve the most time and discussion, though, as it is the longest of the stories in this volume, either three or four long, and deals with the overarching story. In it the group starts coming across these weird faces that are showing up on other people. More precisely, these faces show up on ears that have been transplanted onto people in a plastic surgery promotion where they have licensed the body parts of an old celebrity. It turns out that they killed the celebrity and are working with her daughter to try and lay a trap for the Kurosagi gang and, more importantly it seems, for the main character and his spirit guardian. Which works, at first, and as he goes to talk with the face the two are pulled into a trap by a very vengeful spirit that turns out to be the mother of the spirit that protects the group. The mother is apparently engaged in some campaign to punish every blood relative of a group that killed her, no matter how slight the connection. The Shirosagi pair seem to be working with this spirit, and might be that spirit’s way of punishing the living.

In any event, this switches things up, as it means the rest of the group has to cope without the main character, and the female manager of the group takes a more central role in this story, going as far as to be able to summon the trapped spirit at some point. This opens the possibility that she also possesses some power that has not been explored yet, and means that it might be no accident that she got everyone together. On the whole the story is given enough time to breath and develop, and the various people are given fair time to shine. They delve into the mystery and it is nice to see something a bit different, as much of this series can feel very similar at times. But here we have to development and changes, and the story itself moves at a good pace and turns out to be interesting, full of weird shit, which is always good in this series. And it progresses the larger story, or at least reveals more of it, which is appreciated.

The last story is a short one involving a movie that the group is called into help with, which quickly turns out to involve murder and such. I don’t have a whole lot to say about this story, because while it was fairly entertaining, it really didn’t do anything new. This is sort of the “everything back to normal” story following the one where things actually happen, and it is nice to see that Kurosagi isn’t going to go changing anytime soon, but it doesn’t really do much more than that. It is funny at times, and good throughout. And all told this was a solid addition to the series. It was very nice to see the development, and the humor and weirdness is all still there and nice and does what it needs to do. And so, for the seventh volume of this series, I consider this a step up and give it an 8.5/10.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
646 reviews
July 21, 2018
In Volume 7 of the Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, the storyline goes from robotic to movies in 2 stories combined in one book. The basis of the books are that a group of graduates from a Buddhist University have found out that they have to make their own job market and, due to their unusual talents, are able to find the dead to have them deliver them to their final resting place and let their souls move on. Sometimes the group even gets paid. It's humorous and a readable manga.
Profile Image for Nina.
116 reviews3 followers
June 20, 2022
4.5/5
Much improvement from the last volume! I enjoyed the last story, though I would want to know how one of the people was killed. One thing I want to see more is either a volume or more clarification and details on Komatsu and the spirit attached to him's connection to one another and the story of the spirit's mother.
498 reviews40 followers
August 31, 2017
It was alright. I enjoyed parts of it. The end has translations of some of the sound FX that were pretty amusing.
Profile Image for Nick.
259 reviews21 followers
September 11, 2008
Overall Rating: A
Synopsis: Your body is their business! From writer, Eiji Otsuka, and artist, Housui Yamazaki, Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service is a manga that combines horror, and humor. The surprising thing about the series is that it does a good job at both. The story follows five Buddhist college students as they start up a unique service, one that serves the dead. Using unique skills, like dowsing and speaking to the dead, they find the dead and help them free their souls for reincarnation. Oh, and did I mention one of them speaks to aliens through the puppet on his hand?

Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service follows Kuro Karatsu, an average student at an average Buddhist college. Kuro is trying to find a job, but his grades aren't good enough to get anything good. Fortunately for Kuro, he has a skill the other students don't, he can also speak to the dead. After getting roped into some volunteer service where he meets other specialists like himself, who can find dead bodies using dowsing, speak to aliens, and an embalmer (a rare occupation in Japan), the group forms the Kurosagi (which means black crane) Corpse Delivery Service. Their job is to find dead bodies whose souls cannot move on, and help free them so they can be reincarnated. Unfortunately for Kuro and the others, apparently the reason souls can't move on is because of some fucked up shit.

For example, the first case they get involved in deals with two lovers killed by the girl's father. Apparently, the girl had been a member of the pop group, Dokkiko, and the father had been abusing the girl. When he found out about her relationship, he became jealous and killed her and her boyfriend. Even more disturbingly, he replaces her corpse with a deer's carcass and takes her corpse back to their home to further abuse. Don't worry, the case ends happily enough, with the dead lovers killing the father so their souls can be released.

So, where's the humor? Well, if people speaking to aliens through hand puppets isn't enough to make you smile, I'm fairly sure you're dead inside. Even if that isn't your cup of tea, there is lots of shit to make you giggle in the series. For example, in the same story, Numada, the bad ass Dowser, comments on the pop group the dead girl belonged to, saying that she was a pure idol, and her departure from the group broke the hearts of all her fans. The delivery is fantastic and it's this kind of humor that makes the book great. The characters in the book deal with the horror like normal people. Well, normal people who have special powers and are kind of weird.

You might think that in a book where characters can speak to the dead, that the stories would be more action focused, or at least fast-paced, but the writing is often somber, and spends a lot of time presenting different facets of death and how people deal with it. The series also does an excellent job of juxtaposing real life issues like scrapping up enough money to buy lunch, and the supernatural issues that come along with speaking to the dead. I highly recommend checking this one out, but don't read it alone at night, unless you like creeping yourself out.

For more manga and anime reviews, please check out Hobotaku.
Profile Image for Charles Dee Mitchell.
854 reviews68 followers
June 10, 2012
Otaku culture takes center stage in the first story. "Otaku" are obsessive fans of anything ranging from manga to movie stars to the internet, an obsession that in its most extreme forms keeps those obsessed confined largely to their rooms or certain sites that cater to their obsessions. The KCDS staff meet up with robotics enthusiasts who slip into arcane, for me at least, squabbles about the niceties of robot history. The scene shifts to The Broadband Center, a multi-story emporium catering to otaku needs. This is a thinly veiled version of a real shrine to otaku culture, the Nakano Broadway building. Various plot streams come together when a corpse-powered robot runs berserk. Then we are served up with a tale of plastic surgery designed to transform Japanese ladies into the image of an obscure star. (Apparently there was a period when Japanese women were actually undergoing surgeries to look like Audrey Hepburn.) Again, this being the KCDS, things are not what they seem with these surgeries. Participants become possessed by jimenso, scary little faces of the deceased star that appear behind their new pointy ears. When the source of the ears is discovered, readers are treated to one of Otsuka's most grotesque images to date.

The longest episode in Volume 7 finds the crew employed on a movie set. The elderly, senile director is a parody of the Japanese master filmmaker Kon Ichikawa, who died at the age of 92 a couple years after this was published. Kon made some of the bleakest anti-war films ever, produced Tokyo Olympiad on the 1964 games. This homage to Leni Riefenstahl made some people uncomfortable. His later films became more commercial, but why Otsuka singles him out for this cruel parody is unclear. The plot involves, of course, multiple murders, body parts showing up as props, and reanimated corpses.
Profile Image for #ReadAllTheBooks.
1,219 reviews93 followers
October 29, 2010
While there are other stories in the series I like more (see my review of vol 8), this volume really contained some nice creepy stories. There's a nice mix of humor & horror, which is always a bonus for me.

The stories in this volume are a dead otaku turned work robot, plastic surgery gone horrifically wrong & a murder on the set of a big movie. The movie murder is the biggest story of the volume, but it's the one about plastic surgery that really creeped me out. The surgery episode is about a clinic that advertises that they can make you look exactly like a famous celebrity, starting with her ears. (When you do discover how they're growing the ears, it's pretty creepy looking.)

I really did enjoy this volume overall & it was nice to see more development surrounding a rival/opponent group for the Kurosagi crew. (the Shirosagi group) As always, the volume showed quite a bit of my current favorite character, Numata- who often serves as the comic relief, something that is often needed in this series. The return of Shirosagi really does bring the story level up a bit, making this more than a one-off series & giving the potential for longer story arcs. So far though, the stories are still mostly one-offs with a few threads that loop over the entire series.
Profile Image for Nicole.
1,130 reviews11 followers
July 25, 2010
This series never fails to deliver, as far as I'm concerned. The stories are really interesting and fold in a lot of real-world facts and lore surrounding death and burial in various cultures. There is also at least 2 or 3 mysteries for our Kursagi team to solve in each volume, though the mysteries are more like a vehicle to share more information about really cool cultural practices (some old, some new). In volume 7, we get stories about a modern robot "suit" being animated by a dead body; a series of bad plastic surgeries that result in spirit possessions (as well as the abduction of Karatsu's soul); and a movie director going a little too far to get the best emotional responses from his actors. Additionally, we get another dimension to the relationship between Karatsu and his secret spirit guide, Yaichi. And as always, we get a lot of fun "color" throughout about life in modern Japan thanks to our team of young graduates and their struggles to make ends meet in the real world...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Ikkychann.
272 reviews
March 20, 2016
I'm always surprised of how versatile their concept of walking dead and ghosts is. A real zombie casted to star in a movie to get a realistic fineness? Why not?

at the end of chapter 3: My Happiness Part II, when Sasaki said "I wonder if there's a hatred deep enough to go so far..." my mind immediately retrospect to the similar concept of hatred curse in "Ju-On" and "Ringu". In Ringu, everyone who sees (or even barely watched) the video gets the curse, and in Ju-On the web of curse gets more unavoidable---everyone who sets foot on the house and everyone related to the person who sets foot in the house get the curse. What is it about Japanese and curses?
Profile Image for Susan.
226 reviews22 followers
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:
Profile Image for DJ.
97 reviews4 followers
November 5, 2009
I like this book as it gets more character developments, especially for Kuro Karatsu. I finished this book in a day, and read it right after reading Vol. 6. I think I should spread reading the series out because by the time I was half way with Vol. 7, I was getting a bit bored with the same plots (dead bodies found, and murderer is found/soul is released). Luckily, I love the series enough that I would keep re-reading the stories over and over, much like reading Harry Potter.
1,623 reviews59 followers
November 7, 2008
Maybe my favorite volume of the series so far, because the adventures this time around really played up the insanity of the adventures, using the Otaku Robot as an inspired bit of mayhem, and then following it up with the gristly imagery of the story about the ear transplants. The best of both worlds here: humor and horror.
Profile Image for Julie.
194 reviews10 followers
December 8, 2008
This episode flew by! I think we saw a lot more of Makino, but a little less of Karatsu. I'm ready for 8! By the way, have I mentioned how much I love reading the translator/editor notes in the back? Hilarious, and often very informative.
Profile Image for Roni.
123 reviews15 followers
October 27, 2009
Gee....The stories in this manga involves using of the robot, coming up with innovative organ transplant, holding a soul hostage and making a movie. It really kept me on the toes....turning page to page and not wanting to stop. Really a page-turner!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Susan.
1,321 reviews
March 29, 2010
The robotics story was the first time I felt that Otsuka and Yamazaki had stumbled with the storytelling. It seemed like some important panels were missing here and there.

The Kindaichi tribute at the end was cool though.
Profile Image for Traci Haley.
1,787 reviews25 followers
May 25, 2009
Glad I re-read volume 6 since the storyline was a continuation...still not sure I understand the whole storyline about Yaichi, but it was nice to read more of this series after such a long break.
Profile Image for Charles.
206 reviews5 followers
August 29, 2011
A fun few stories. Some funny, some creepy.
Profile Image for Cristhian.
Author 1 book54 followers
September 27, 2015
Mantiene el paso del último volumen pero sin explicar el cliffhanger del final de ese mismo. Historias interesantes casi autoconclusivas. Menos gore, más fantasmas.
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