La Femme-Serpent

by Kazuo Umezu

Dans ce recueil de trois histoires courtes reliées entre elles, Kazuo Umezu met en scène la terrifiante femme-serpent. Si cette créature imaginaire peuple la mythologie et les légendes folkloriques aux quatre coins du monde, la femme-serpent d’Umezu est une belle femme avide de vengeance, capable d’hypnotiser ses victimes et de manipuler son entourage. Publiées dans la revue pour filles Shôjo Friend entre 1965 et 1966, ces histoires a priori enfantines, proches du conte, surprennent par leurs scènes de violence soudaine et de cruauté. Dans cet incontournable classique d’Umezu, d’adorables fillettes sont plongées dans un décor fascinant de noirceur, et certaines images, qui ont probablement traumatisé plus d’une jeune lectrice à l’époque, resteront longtemps gravées dans les esprits.

Genres: Manga, Horror, Comics, Fiction

323 pages, Paperback

First published December 5, 2007

About the author

Kazuo Umezu or Kazuo Umezz was a Japanese manga artist, musician and actor. Starting his career in the 1950s, he is among the most famous artists of horror manga and has been vital for its development, considered the "god of horror manga". In 1960s shōjo manga like Reptilia, he broke the industry's conventions by combining the aesthetics of the commercial manga industry with gruesome visual imagery inspired by Japanese folktales, which created a boom of horror manga and influenced manga artists of following generations. He created successful manga series such as The Drifting Classroom, Makoto-chan and My Name Is Shingo, until he retired from drawing manga in the mid 1990s. He was a public figure in Japan, known for wearing red-and-white-striped shirts and doing his signature "Gwash" hand gesture.

Reviews

[Aeroyou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loin d’être mon fav et en plus la postface par Hitomi Kanehara est trop bizarre (sur les femmes qui pleurent en excrétant???)🧍🏻‍♀️

[Vex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think Snake Lady is just misunderstood. I could fix her.

This was a little cheesy at times but it’s still a solid 60s horror manga with AMAZING illustrations. I love how twinkly the characters’ eyes were in this one.

[Ahmado · Rating 5 out of 5]

when I started reading the first ten pages the narrative was a bit slow, but when the snake lady entered the the horror did not stop. My body was shivering though it was summer and I couldn't sleep with the lights off, I had to light a scented candle so that I could sleep at night.
When I recall the story I cannot stop laughing at myself, the story's kind of funny in itself, no one recognizes the snake lady replaced the protagonist's mother except the protagonist herself , and they told her to go to a festival with her so called mother, every chase the protagonist can out run the snake lady, and the most hilarious event I recall is that everyone turned into snake monsters surrounded the and she escaped the scene.
Despite that the story is a masterpiece of it's genre no one can deny it.
We crossed so many horror works on tv and in movies and you as a reader in this generation will say this story is for kids, after reading stepbut that does not change the fact that Kazuo Umezu is the king of horror manga.
Ask Isao Takahata

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is classic old school Japanese horror in manga form. The ideas are interesting and the images visceral but the writing is typical Shatner quality (telling rather than showing). The book is better as a historical and cultural perspective than as a contemporary story.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as addictively engaging as more recent horror manga, but definitely amazing for the time period it was written. It starts out slow, but gets better as it progresses on.

[Liliana M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: ⭐️4.5 / 5
A fascinating trilogy and an absolute staple of vintage Japanese horror. The opening story (ママが怖い / Mother is scary) is hands down the best-crafted of the bunch—a masterclass in claustrophobic, domestic paranoia that relies on pure psychological dread. The second story( まだらの少女/ The Mottled Girl ) suffers a bit from middle-child syndrome; it’s easily the weakest link, bogged down by abrupt twists that don't make much sense at first.
The final and longest installment (へび少女/ Snake Girl) leans heavily into charmingly campy melodrama, plot conveniences, and the kind of naive, over-the-top tropes you'd expect from a 1960s weekly magazine, but it’s an absolute blast to read.
What truly elevates the entire work, however, is the payoff. The way the final story relates with the first one is brilliant. I was hovering around a 3 or 3.5 due to some of the dated absurdities, but that chilling, cohesive final punch catapults the collection straight into a well-deserved 4.5/5.

[Kenzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ stars

I was looking for a horror fast paced manga beginning with the letter R and this was the one I found and I pleasantly enjoyed it , I was surprised at how long it was everytime I was like is it done ? There was more ! Lol

This manga feels like it’s targeted towards a younger audience like middle grade ish but nevertheless I liked the plot line and the drawings were so creepy I’m sure it’s based on a folklore about “the snake lady” at times I was stressed lol

I would recommend if you like school based horror but some also takes place on the countryside not sure if I’ll continues reading this series if there is one.

Note: I read this for the wonderthon

[Anunay Sharma · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading this book, and the complete THE DISAPPEARING CLASSROOM, I came to realize that Kazuo Umezu is great at coming up with great premises, but he doesn't know how to expand those ideas. Hence, most of his stories feel unnecessarily stretched without any rhythm or sense. REPTILIA has great artwork like every other work of his, but the stories are mid at best.

[Noelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was originally written in the 1960s, but the horror is timeless. Some of the close-up drawings of the Snake lady are extremely haunting and horrible. Overall, quite a decent amount of suspense-with some overlapping storylines.

[Lord · Rating 5 out of 5]

The godfather of japanese horror manga at his best and a must for any horror manga fan.

[Scribe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classically paced horror story, would make a great late night film showing. Some scenes truly scary, in that psychologically Japanese way. Overall fun to read though, no real surprises along the way.

[melesbienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

jsp si c'est la traduction ou si c'est censé être destiné à des enfants mais la narration... svp y'a pas besoin de tout décrire comme ça on comprend très bien