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The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service #10
黒鷺死体宅配便 10
死者の声を聞くことができる“いたこ”能力を持つ主人公・唐津九郎ら、「黒鷺死体宅配便」メンバー。今回、彼らの前にライバル・AED男が登場! ロングセラー・ホラーコミック、待望の第10巻!
209 pages, Paperback
First published November 5, 2008
11 people are currently reading
167 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).
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 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 30, 2012
Stuff I Read – Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Vol 10
So here is the second of my birthday haul of manga, and volume 10 takes a rather large departure from most of the previous volumes, or at least from volumes 8 and 9, which were made up of at least three stories a piece. Instead, volume 10 breaks up into only two stories, each fairly long but the second story definitely being the main star of the book. The first story has to do with a man who can bring people back to life so that they can get revenge, and the second involves the group helping another film-type group, this time involving a missing body and Numata’s past. It is a rather refreshing change to have only two stories, and the volume does its best to share importance between the two, but the first one is a whole lot more ridiculous than the second, which relies on the traditional tropes for the series. Not saying that the first story is bad, but it does some rather interesting things. The ending is also a bit corny, though the twist towards the end is good. In any event, it was rather nice to get the space to explore these two stories in this volume.
The first story, as stated before, was kind of ridiculous, as the group starts to encounter instances where dead bodies disappear before they can reach them. So, in effect, Numata senses a corpse but then it goes away. The premise for this is that there is a man with a modified AED that he can use to bring people back from the dead, but only really to a state of half death so that they can get revenge of the people who killed them. It is an interesting concept, because this is much more about revenge than anything else. And it does seem rather hypocritical that the group would turn down such work, as they do in this story, because so much of their work is getting back at murderers by animating their corpse. So it seems rather odd that they would turn their noses up at it, but so it goes, I guess. There is a new guy in town, though, that seems to work solely so that the dead can get revenge on the living. His story isn’t that heavily explored, but it does seem like his idea of how to do things is to bring people back long enough for them to murder their killers. Which I guess is much more specific than the Kurosagi group, who take on any final request from the dead.
What ends up being more interesting about this story is the part with the father whose son was put into a coma and who wants revenge so badly that he kills his son in order for the AED man to bring him back. Which is rather twisted, because it means that the father is the real killer. And so the twist comes that if it hadn’t been for the accident that put him in a coma, the son would have killed his father for being too controlling, which is a rather interesting message, because we do see that the father is really the one in the wrong here, The ending comes as a bit of a let down, though, as the father and son manage to reconcile and all is well. Except that, you know, the guy who has been bringing back corpses to murder people is pretty much unfazed and is out to do it some more. Which, you would think, would be a bad idea seeing as how people brought back from the dead might want to kill people other than their murderers. And, really, that idea really isn’t dealt with, which is unfortunate. It remains a good story, but it could have been better.
The second, slightly longer story, involves Numata’s back story, though not really much of it. We get to see how Numata learns to dowse, and we get to find out that his family was murdered and buried under a building. So, like most everyone else, he lost his family at a young age, and by that seems to have been touched by death, which in turn gave him the special affinity for finding dead bodies. But that is something that is slowly revealed throughout the story, that is teased out little by little instead of simply handed out like Yata and Makino’s story in the previous volume. So this one comes out as being relevant to the story, which is a bit more satisfying, more like Sasaki’s back story and how it was revealed way back in volume 2. In any event, the story involves the group being attached to a show that is looking for the body of a missing person. The production calls in Numata’s master, the man who taught him how to dowse, to find it. Only his master is killed and it becomes up to Numata and the rest of the gang to figure out what happened.
Really this is much more an excuse to get more Numata, and have him more central to the story, and building the mystery more around that. Because the mystery aspect of the story is a bit light. This is much more a character piece, which is nice as I’ve been waiting to learn more about Numata for quite some time. Which is not to say the mystery is bad, though it does become rather predictable. Still, it builds nicely towards the ending, which is rather par for the course. But the seeing Numata as a child, seeing the origins of the sunglasses and things like that, make this story stand out. The rest of the story could have been stronger, but this was the Numata story, and it worked for that.
And, all told, the two stories worked quite well. They weren’t the finest stories in the series, but they were satisfying and, again, gave more insight into some of the characters, something that has been called for. And the stories were paced well and had room for some twists. Which is a bit preferable to very short stories that are over before they can get complicated. I mean, having only two stories in a volume is rather rare for this series, but I’m not complaining. Indeed, I like that these are given extra space, because I can settle a bit more, get a bit more into the stories. So it was a good volume, and continues the positive trend the series has had over the last few volumes. So I give this volume an 8.5/10.
So here is the second of my birthday haul of manga, and volume 10 takes a rather large departure from most of the previous volumes, or at least from volumes 8 and 9, which were made up of at least three stories a piece. Instead, volume 10 breaks up into only two stories, each fairly long but the second story definitely being the main star of the book. The first story has to do with a man who can bring people back to life so that they can get revenge, and the second involves the group helping another film-type group, this time involving a missing body and Numata’s past. It is a rather refreshing change to have only two stories, and the volume does its best to share importance between the two, but the first one is a whole lot more ridiculous than the second, which relies on the traditional tropes for the series. Not saying that the first story is bad, but it does some rather interesting things. The ending is also a bit corny, though the twist towards the end is good. In any event, it was rather nice to get the space to explore these two stories in this volume.
The first story, as stated before, was kind of ridiculous, as the group starts to encounter instances where dead bodies disappear before they can reach them. So, in effect, Numata senses a corpse but then it goes away. The premise for this is that there is a man with a modified AED that he can use to bring people back from the dead, but only really to a state of half death so that they can get revenge of the people who killed them. It is an interesting concept, because this is much more about revenge than anything else. And it does seem rather hypocritical that the group would turn down such work, as they do in this story, because so much of their work is getting back at murderers by animating their corpse. So it seems rather odd that they would turn their noses up at it, but so it goes, I guess. There is a new guy in town, though, that seems to work solely so that the dead can get revenge on the living. His story isn’t that heavily explored, but it does seem like his idea of how to do things is to bring people back long enough for them to murder their killers. Which I guess is much more specific than the Kurosagi group, who take on any final request from the dead.
What ends up being more interesting about this story is the part with the father whose son was put into a coma and who wants revenge so badly that he kills his son in order for the AED man to bring him back. Which is rather twisted, because it means that the father is the real killer. And so the twist comes that if it hadn’t been for the accident that put him in a coma, the son would have killed his father for being too controlling, which is a rather interesting message, because we do see that the father is really the one in the wrong here, The ending comes as a bit of a let down, though, as the father and son manage to reconcile and all is well. Except that, you know, the guy who has been bringing back corpses to murder people is pretty much unfazed and is out to do it some more. Which, you would think, would be a bad idea seeing as how people brought back from the dead might want to kill people other than their murderers. And, really, that idea really isn’t dealt with, which is unfortunate. It remains a good story, but it could have been better.
The second, slightly longer story, involves Numata’s back story, though not really much of it. We get to see how Numata learns to dowse, and we get to find out that his family was murdered and buried under a building. So, like most everyone else, he lost his family at a young age, and by that seems to have been touched by death, which in turn gave him the special affinity for finding dead bodies. But that is something that is slowly revealed throughout the story, that is teased out little by little instead of simply handed out like Yata and Makino’s story in the previous volume. So this one comes out as being relevant to the story, which is a bit more satisfying, more like Sasaki’s back story and how it was revealed way back in volume 2. In any event, the story involves the group being attached to a show that is looking for the body of a missing person. The production calls in Numata’s master, the man who taught him how to dowse, to find it. Only his master is killed and it becomes up to Numata and the rest of the gang to figure out what happened.
Really this is much more an excuse to get more Numata, and have him more central to the story, and building the mystery more around that. Because the mystery aspect of the story is a bit light. This is much more a character piece, which is nice as I’ve been waiting to learn more about Numata for quite some time. Which is not to say the mystery is bad, though it does become rather predictable. Still, it builds nicely towards the ending, which is rather par for the course. But the seeing Numata as a child, seeing the origins of the sunglasses and things like that, make this story stand out. The rest of the story could have been stronger, but this was the Numata story, and it worked for that.
And, all told, the two stories worked quite well. They weren’t the finest stories in the series, but they were satisfying and, again, gave more insight into some of the characters, something that has been called for. And the stories were paced well and had room for some twists. Which is a bit preferable to very short stories that are over before they can get complicated. I mean, having only two stories in a volume is rather rare for this series, but I’m not complaining. Indeed, I like that these are given extra space, because I can settle a bit more, get a bit more into the stories. So it was a good volume, and continues the positive trend the series has had over the last few volumes. So I give this volume an 8.5/10.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 12, 2019
This series is just the right amount of story, spooky and japanese urban folktales.
October 31, 2018
The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service is a terrific series. The 10th volume starts with them finding someone with similar abilities to work with the dead. Then it finds them working on a movie/TV set again. This time the Dowser meets someone from his past as well. This one makes the reader look forward to their next adventure as well. Without giving up it too much information, it is one of the better manga that I've come across.
June 23, 2022
4.5/5
3 stories and one more character background. More Japanese period legend, science fiction and more background on a protagonist and their "power". Again with the unnecessary naked female body corpse.
3 stories and one more character background. More Japanese period legend, science fiction and more background on a protagonist and their "power". Again with the unnecessary naked female body corpse.
August 29, 2018
Great.
October 29, 2010
I'll have to be honest that while I've always adored the series, I've kind of lost a little interest in the series so far. I'm collecting them for sure, but it isn't one of those series that I must buy as soon as the latest volume comes out. This volume has freshened up my interest in the series, even though it is admittedly mostly filler.
The stories in this volume involve a guy bringing people back from the dead to fulfill their dark vengeance as well as a wonderful background story on Numata. (Ok, I admit that I'm a Numata fangirl!) For me, the best story was easily the one surrounding Numata, as it explained how he got his diving powers & like the blurb promised, you get to see him without his trademark sunglasses on! There's also a nice story concerning a dog & an urban legend about a monk's curse.
Overall I enjoyed this volume, but I will admit that this was pretty much filler. There's no resolution or progress on the group's mysterious rivals & other than Numata, there's really not any true character development. I almost have a feeling that if Numata wasn't one of my favorite characters in the book, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed this volume as much as I did. Luckily for me, I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Fans of the series will enjoy this volume while new fans will probably want to start with the first volume or an earlier volume. This probably won't draw them in, as the manga assumes that you've been following along. (The stories can be read as a standalone, but the readers will probably be lost as to the other parts of the book. )
The stories in this volume involve a guy bringing people back from the dead to fulfill their dark vengeance as well as a wonderful background story on Numata. (Ok, I admit that I'm a Numata fangirl!) For me, the best story was easily the one surrounding Numata, as it explained how he got his diving powers & like the blurb promised, you get to see him without his trademark sunglasses on! There's also a nice story concerning a dog & an urban legend about a monk's curse.
Overall I enjoyed this volume, but I will admit that this was pretty much filler. There's no resolution or progress on the group's mysterious rivals & other than Numata, there's really not any true character development. I almost have a feeling that if Numata wasn't one of my favorite characters in the book, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed this volume as much as I did. Luckily for me, I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Fans of the series will enjoy this volume while new fans will probably want to start with the first volume or an earlier volume. This probably won't draw them in, as the manga assumes that you've been following along. (The stories can be read as a standalone, but the readers will probably be lost as to the other parts of the book. )
March 11, 2010
Consistently one of the best comics out there. KCDS is always a great read - weird and disturbing enough to be entertaining, but funny and quirky enough to show it doesn't take itself so seriously and that it's aware of how silly it can be. The art is always great, as well. My only complaint (if you'd call it one) would be that it looks like the translated editions have more or less caught up with the episodes that are currently appering (since this is still a live series), so the wait between volumes is getting longer. This and MPD Psycho make me wish I read Japanese, so I could stay totally current.
As may have been previously mentioned, the endnotes (Disjecta Membra - which mostly comment on and clarify the FX used throughout the series, with some additional commentary on cultural references) are a big part of what makes the books great. Aside from the fact that I truly love to know what the "sound of a body twitching" is in Japanese, you also get some interesting insight on some of the subtle gags and references which you might otherwise not even notice as a non-native reader of the series. Without this, I think you lose a lot of the hip and contemporary feel that the series otherwise really pulls off.
As may have been previously mentioned, the endnotes (Disjecta Membra - which mostly comment on and clarify the FX used throughout the series, with some additional commentary on cultural references) are a big part of what makes the books great. Aside from the fact that I truly love to know what the "sound of a body twitching" is in Japanese, you also get some interesting insight on some of the subtle gags and references which you might otherwise not even notice as a non-native reader of the series. Without this, I think you lose a lot of the hip and contemporary feel that the series otherwise really pulls off.
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:
May 10, 2010
Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service is currently my favorite manga series. The concept itself - a group of students in "buddhist school" earn money "delivering" the last requests of the recently deceased (sort of like Ghost Whisperer but cooler and hipper). My only concern is that sometimes the conclusions to the individual stories are too convenient or seem formulaic. However, overall the characters are likable and develop well with each story.
August 2, 2010
This was a great volume - not so much for the stories told within the series framework, but because we really get a good look at Numata (one of my fave team members). We learn something about his own traumatic childhood, as well as a good deal about how his "dowsing" actually works (and how he learned his skill). Though I did really enjoy the story that involved the ex-police dog named Passive and the way our team helps him get his final "say"...
March 22, 2016
A peek on Numata's past (it's about time! hoho). In reference to Sasaki's scientific explanation on dowsing and Numata's brief description on his method, I could see the line of how Numata ended up become Corpse Dowser rather than treasure seeker...
April 26, 2010
At the C2E2 con, they said new volumes will be slow to come now, since the US series is now caught up to the Japan releases.
May 22, 2010
There's really not a lot new to say about this series... I continue to really enjoy it and believe it's one of the best manga series out there.
December 31, 2010
All I can can say is I love the series!
September 1, 2011
I really liked the end story that gives us some insight into Numata.
September 30, 2015
Numata :C
December 27, 2015
Enjoyable but reading mid series as I am looking to expand my manga knowledge.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews