PTSD Radio Omnibus 3 (Vol. 5-6)

PTSD Radio #5-6

by Masaaki Nakayama, Adam Hirsch (Translator), Kevin Steinbach (Translator)

Carried into modern Japan from a forgotten past, the being known as Ogushi haunts and tortures humans of all kinds. Little is know about Ogushi's curse, except that it resides in an unexpected human hair.

Like Junji Ito's Uzumaki , PTSD Radio takes something everyday and weaves it into a series of chilling, cryptic, twisted, repellant, and alluring manga stories that become more than what they first seem.

The hit digital series finally comes to print in three 400-page compilations!

Contains volumes 5-6 of PTSD Radio.

An unseen hand tugs at your braid. You find an old box with only a tangled mess of dark hair inside. You open a door in your home only to witness a river of curls slinking away, an ominous lump at its heart.

Ogushi preys on the unprepared. Before it's too late, tune into PTSD Radio.

These episodes and more await in this acclaimed horror series, coming to print after a successful digital run in double-length omnibus editions featuring sickeningly-textured covers. From the gleefully-twisted mind that created Fuan no Tane , PTSD Radio is a necessity for fans of the masters of manga scares such as Junji Ito, Kazuo Umezz, Shintaro Kago, and Suehiro Maruo.

Genres: Manga, Horror, Comics, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Short Stories, Fantasy

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Masaaki Nakayama (中山昌亮) is a horror manga artist, and author of the series Fuan no Tane (Seeds of Anxiety).

Reviews

[Gabby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This manga series is so incredibly creepy. These volumes went in a direction I wasn’t expecting. I love that these read like creepy little short stories, some of them hit harder than others. There were a few that I found to be repetitive in this one and didn’t do much for me, at least not like the first two volumes of this series did. But the visuals in this manga are so unsettling and disturbing, it’s definitely the creepiest manga series I’ve ever read. Even more creepy thinking how writing this has affected the author and his life. I’m curious to know if we’ll get any more volumes of this story in the future!

[KillerBunny · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

The series peters out by just endlessly repeating the same "shocking" endings -- usually big eyes peeking through windows. Ho-hum.

The author also begins appending superstitious "true stories" linking every bad thing that happens to him and the people in his life to a possible curse he came under for leaving clutter in a closet. Hrrm.

Internet rumors say he stopped producing the series because he felt haunted, though I also saw a note that the magazine publishing the serial was canceled. So we are left with an incomplete work due to either superstition or possibly tangled legal publication rights (which, hey, could be part of the curse too, I suppose).

I suppose I'll never know if the author had a plan or was just seeing how long he could do the same thing over and over. So much potential, so little closure.


FOR REFERENCE:

Omnibus. First published in Japan in 2017-2018 by Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo, as Kouishou Radio, volumes 5-6.

Contents: Chapters 65-77 -- PTSD Radio: True Story Edition [3 chapters] -- Chapters 78-97 -- PTSD Radio: More True Horror Stories -- Memories of Hair

[Bill Hsu · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of the art is gorgeous. But there's little here that we haven't seen before in the first volume, and the stories seem more fragmentary and less interesting.

[Collin Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decidedly weak final chunk for this eerie, unusual series. I wasn’t really expecting any sort of resolution to what little plot there was in ptsd radio, but I was let down by the fact that the longest stories in this book were the weakest.

See, Nakayama put three chapters in here of “true ghost stories” that have happened to him and people he knows while he was writing this manga. Jury is out on how real these were but the fact is that the style and tone is just super far off what the rest of this series did. And each one takes up a significant portion of the book.

The rest of the traditionally spooky stories are somewhat hit or miss for me. I think omnibus 2 had the overall best set, but there’s still a lot in here that’ll make your hairs stand up. There’s also a weirdly adorable story about a girl who hears heavy breathing in her room at night. It starts creepy but turns into something emotional and cute, and I did like that.

I’d definitely recommend the series to those who can deal with its extremely disjointed and unconventional structure, but know that this final omnibus is the weakest part.

[Vicente Ribes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buen final a estas extrañas historias pero me temo que nos vamos a quedar sin saber más de las extrañas historias que le sucedieron al autor en la elaboración de las mismas.

[Ariane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somme toute, j’ai bien apprécié cette trilogie. Surtout les chapitres concernant l’ancienne déité qui agit comme sorte de fil conducteur qu’on découvre progressivement dans le premier tome. Toutefois, j’ai trouvé ce dernier volume moyen. Les "vraies" histoires d’horreur du mangaka brisaient l’illusion, en pleins milieu du volume. (Cela sûrement dû au fait qu’il s’agit de 2 mangas regroupés en un livre) De plus, c’est peut-être parce que j’ai lu les trois volumes assez rapprochés, mais certaines histoires sont répétitives entre elle. Les visages difformes, figures qui observent silencieusement, etc. C’est efficace au début, mais rendu à ce dernier tome, ça devient redondant. Il y a définitivement de grosses différences en terme de qualité parmi les différents chapitres.

Le chapitre 89 est définitivement mon préféré! Il se démarque du reste des histoires.

[Vex · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories started to unravel and feel incoherent midway through this volume, but overall I feel like this is a fantastic horror manga series.

There’s an abundance of eerie short stories featuring dark, sinister entities with spine-chilling facial expressions. Anything it lacked in substance story-wise, it made up for by scaring the piss out of me with those nightmarish illustrations.

I’m a sucker for this kind of horror and would absolutely pass away on the spot if any of these things happened to me in real life.

ALSO I love love love the title, cover art, and how radios are used throughout the series. It’s unique to me and adds another layer of reallygoddamncreepy to the whole experience.

[Daniel U. · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.5 stars. it's a shame that the series was left unfinished. the story kind of petered out for me at this point, with a lot of questions raised with nothing resolved. i still recommend this series, but expect less of a coherent story and more just creepy and unsettling ~vibes~ and atmosphere.

[Kate [catching up] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Equally creepy, but a bit disjointed with the true story segments. A fun anecdote considering we know these experiences influenced Nakayama to go on hiatus, but I wish it had been at the end…

[Vicky Fortier · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I really enjoyed the portion of the book that the author is saying is a retelling of real actual things that happened to him. It was again super weird/scary. Had to read in little sections and take breaks.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

VERY interested in the author's strange experiences - definitely the highlight in this one!

[Tabitha (Reading Tabby) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This third Omnibus, while it has its bangers, gets a bit disjointed with the 'true horror story' elements. I think the Omnibus wasn't organized in the best way, and that those pages should've all been collected for the end of the book, rather than interrupt the flow of the horror from the vignettes.

It was disappointing when the fictional stories were so good - though I was hoping for more of the old god connecting the stories. It seemed to have more of a presence in the first two Omnibus than in this one - which, don't get me wrong, the stories are still super spooky, but I really liked the connecting string between all the vignettes and there was less of that sort of thing this time.

I still really enjoyed this though and I'm looking forward to more!

[Mateus Passos · Rating 3 out of 5]

O primeiro volume da série é bem interessante, com fragmentos de histórias que vêm e vão, formando um conjunto de narrativas em mosaico, mas que pouco a pouco vão de desenvolvendo. A partir do volume 2 (que compila os vols. 3 e 4 do Japão) e também neste que conclui a série, temos na maioria fragmentos que não levam a lugar algum, com um ou outro trazendo algo mais interessante ou mesmo desenvolvendo o lore” da série. Poucos realmente valem a pena.

Mesmo os capítulos autobiográficos publicados neste último volume pareciam bem mais interessantes quando algum crítico falava deles do que durante a leitura em si… uma pena.

[Irene ➰ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8/5

Che ansia

[Toni · Rating 4 out of 5]

One word I'd use to describe this whole series as a whole is: Unsettling.

I had a great time reading all the volumes, it was all over the shop and so confusing, but creepy and batshit.

[Pyramids Ubiquitous · Rating 4 out of 5]

PTSD Radio ends on a high note, albeit an abrupt one. The autobiographical content is a bit distracting and I wish it was all put at the end of the omnibus as an extra. The concept of PTSD Radio requires immersion, and lacing that content through it really took me out of the addicting channel-surf nightmare reel.

[Stay Fetters · Rating 3 out of 5]

"My family lives in an apartment on the fourth floor. It’s a regular building. Nothing special. Except that every day, just before my mom usually gets home from work… this weird thing peeks into the apartment through the balcony window."

The start and middle of this series was amazing. It was one that I was desperate to finish because I loved the others so much. It was super eerie and parts sent chills down my spine. Plus the question we all desperately needed answers to. What the heck was up with that huge dick in the woods?

I was excited to start this but I was soon let down after the first twenty pages. This didn't go as I thought it would. It was a really disappointing end to something that I thought was going to give Ito a run for his money. (If you know of any other good horror manga. Let this bitch know)

That eeriness that we have all grown to love just wasn't there. This was ok but nothing like the other two volumes. As a whole, this was a great series. The third volume was just a gentle breeze while the others were tornadoes.

[Urbon Adamsson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up watching all kind of horror movies. Through my life I probably watched hundreds of horror movies, so I'm kinda use to this theme. There are very few movies that manage to get into my head.

That said, I never expected to get that sensation from a book. I never expected that a horror book would get me so unease to the point I had to pause and reflect on it.

I'm not gonna spoil it. I'm just going to say that in this 3rd volume there is something different from the other 2 volumes that got me really unease, and if it managed to do that to me. I can't imagine what can do to the average reader.

Horror manga is definitely going through a great moment. There are lots of creators other than Junji Ito to read from and Masaaki Nakayama is one of those.

Highly recommended for any fan of horror.

[Morgan Thomas]

Feels a bit dull and repetitive by this point, only a couple of stories seemed interesting. As I believe i may have mentioned in my review of the first omnibus, the story could have done better with more backstory and a more firmly explored mythology.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I made the mistake of reading this at bed time and spent the remainder of my time falling asleep, thinking some gibberish ghost is going to drag me off to the mountains.

There are a lot of repetitive stories: It's a monster at your window, a ghost at your bed, an evil spirit following you. I think the general idea is "all those funny feelings? It's something bad." I personally didn't mind it, I enjoy the creepy as hell monsters. This volume, also unfortunately the final volume, introduces good spirits that protect the various characters from the monsters.

Nakayama tells a pretty wild story about how after moving into an apartment/office building, he experienced several unexplainable events like awful smells and water leaking and random shadowy figures. (Unexplainable if you forget about carbon monoxide poisoning.) It's interesting, I'm glad Nakayama survived, especially since the bleeding issue nearly killed him. I personally think he's embellishing some of the more ghostly stories and coincidences. Anyways, still effectively spooky.

I highly recommend reading this series. It doesn't take long to read, the art work is fantastic, and perfect for a good scare.

[Megan Wathen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, this one freaked me out. I’ll credit that mostly to the authors true story he included. This one really plays on a lot of anxieties I have about health and superstitions, so that definitely left me feeling paranoid and creeped out. I’m honestly glad I’m done with this series because now I feel like I need to read something that’s more light and breezy…

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The content is still great although there is some strange repetition in the short stories, and I wouldn’t say I satisfying conclusion, if it really is the end of ptsd, but a fun scary ride with lots of questions to answer in my second read through in the future!

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

4

[Alicia Ceasar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creepy creepy creepy

[Kathryn Grace Loves Horror · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to come.

[Katherine Raines · Rating 5 out of 5]

PTSD Radio is chilling. There's no other way to say it. You read it, and you might be done with it, but it's not done with you. It lingers in the back of your mind, and you find yourself wondering what's behind you when you bend over the sink as you brush your teeth.

[LilBat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this series.

I could see how some of the "jumpscares" could be seen as repetitive, but the story gets scarier when you read about the author's true haunting. Then you start to see how this story itself relates to his actual experience. Also, it is kind of funny that the author gives the message "this story from this point on should not be contagious" followed by a warning to read at your own discretion. Makes the story even scarier because I was almost done with the book and of course cannot unread anything.

5 stars because not many stories make me paranoid like this one.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

pazzesco. geniale.

[Hanna (Hanna.k_draws) · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok. I liked the artwork, but found it a bit repetitive after the first two books.