Stuff I Read – The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service vol 4
This fourth volume of manga marks a minor formal change for the series, containing four different stories instead of the more standard three. Really it’s not that noticeable, and this volume works well with the format, sticking once again to rather lighter stories. Or, at least, light in regards to itself. The manga remains rather disturbing at time, and goes to lengths to present the grotesque and twisted. In this it is wholly successful, and if judged solely on the werid and twisted corpses it presents this volume would be a resounding win. And, indeed, I do consider it a bit of a step up from the last volume, though this one definitely doesn’t provide much more in the terms of substance. But the volume settles back into exploring a story and resolving it rather than leaving before everything has been seen to.
It also has some of the funniest situations yet, and the first case is probably the best example of that. The group comes across a supposed alien corpse that turns out to be a monkey corpse with an alien spirit trapped inside of it. This gives Yata (the channeler) and his puppet most of the spotlight. And given that those are my favorite characters, perhaps it is no surprise that I liked this story so much. But really this is just a cute and funny story, a real break from most of the stories involving murder and death. This explores more the idea of aliens and that kind of thing, and is hilarious and has a great ending.
Which sets up the more typical (for this series at least) second story, which is probably the best suspense and horror story of the volume. Reminiscent of the story in the first volume featuring the serial killer hair stylist, this story features a similar urban legend that the group gets caught up in, this one revolving around abductions happening in China. Combine that with a museum that specializes in artistic representations of the dead and you get a rather creepy story that once again puts the group in mortal danger. This also brings back the aspect of the main character’s powers where he can empower corpses to seek vengeance. So it does really echo that story from the first book, where in the end the killer is turned on by what he considered his art.
The third story is unique in that according to the back (or front?) of the manga it is a crossover with another manga. I’m unfamiliar with that manga, but it does not hinge so much on the crossover that it is inaccessible to normal readers of the series. This case involves a dead baby and a rather interesting set of circumstances involving ghosts. That might be the crossover aspect, because ghosts have not played a role in the series before this. So a story about possession and infanticide is new, and was well done. The story also involves whatever force it is that helps the main character, though it really doesn’t shed a whole lot of light as to what is happening with it. And the ending has more to do with the other manga series of the cross over and doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, but it was still a good story overall.
The last story returns to humor but does it in a very strange and grotesque fashion. The group comes across a series of deaths that involve the corpse having had its eyes eaten by birds. The bodies are all found in high places, and the corpses, when questioned, say they want to become birds. So really it is a strange story. Thrown in for the hell of it is a American college student who acts as a very ridiculous but hilarious presence in the story. Together with the American the group tracks down what has been happening to these people, to some incredibly weird results. The scene that reveals what has happened is easily the strangest panel I have seen in manga. So that should say something. And while the story is not that long, it does provide some new ideas, some really odd scenes, and some good laughs.
All together this volume seems to be on the way back up from volume three, but I wouldn’t say that it has gotten back to how good it was in the first two volumes. It is entertaining and funny and suspenseful and well done, but most of the stories end up being without reward. Which would be fine, but part of the fun of the earlier stories was that the dead found inventive ways to pay them. In these last two volumes they really haven’t got much for their troubles, with the exception of the gift from the alien, which was great. But I want that to work its way back in a bit. Otherwise, it is still a good read. I give it a 7.5/10.