Horror Aficionados discussion

My kid has gotten hugely into anime and manga lately. The format generally isn't super-interesting to me, but some of them have a fun spooky/goth art style and content that is appealing (she really likes Princess Resurrection, about a demon princess and werewolves and vampires and all kinds of monsters). Are there any more hard-core horror manga out there I should take a look at? (Me, not my kid -- she scares WAY too easy). I bought one volume of the Scary Book, Vol. 2: Insects series, but it wasn't that scary and the utterly wimpy, whiny heroine was a major turn-off -- I was out $13 for maybe 40 minutes of reading material that I didn't think was very good, so now I'm leery of buying stuff blind. I'm kind of intrigued by Pet Shop of Horrors ...

Check out mpd psycho, dragon head and arm of kannon

If you like zombies, check out High School of the Dead.

It all starts and ends with BERSERK. I've tried times and times again to like mangas but this one is the only title I'm still excited about. Highly recommended if you like your mangas full of spooky lovecraftian demons, rape, torture and big ass swords.

Yes on the Lovecraftian demons, not so much on the rape and torture. Are there tentacles? I bet there are tentacles.

I can't think of any myself, but if you go here, they have a pretty decent search where you can select all kinds of different options about genre, level of objectionable content, and other things and it'll bring up mangas that fit, you can also search anime. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyc...

Cathy wrote: "Yes on the Lovecraftian demons, not so much on the rape and torture. Are there tentacles? I bet there are tentacles."

Of course there are! Seriousy the rape and torture is tough stuff but the story is just really good.

The Enigma of Amigara Fault by Junji Ito. He's probably the best horror manga writer in Japan.

But Berserk is also an excellent choice. Ito has the advantage of not being as rapey, which is nice.

If spirals trip you out, read Uzumaki, Vol. 1 or watch "Pi".

I second "Uzumaki". I own all three books.

I've seen the movie version of Uzumaki, and really liked it. It's just so beautiful to look at.

Wasn't aware of the Uzumaki movie and must check that out. Thanks!

Netflix has it, if you have Netflix.

Cathy wrote: "I've seen the movie version of Uzumaki, and really liked it. It's just so beautiful to look at."

I watched it today. Not bad for a $1m budget film. Spirals always make me think of the song Lateralus by Tool. Its gotta be the most mathematically challenging song I ever heard. There are so many time signature changes it seems like it can't make any sense but it actually makes perfect sense. The song isn't just about the spiral; it IS a spiral. A true work of art if ever there was one. A numerologist wet dream.

Check out this video that explains how Tool made a musical version of the Fibonacci sequence. It even sounds almost the same played backward. Brilliant, trippy, creepy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS7CZI...

Uzimaki was definitely better as a manga although the movie was not that bad.

I would have to recommend Gyo for horror manga, Tomie, Battle Royale, Innocent W, Arm of Kannon, MPD Psycho, Deadman Wonderland, High School of the Dead, Bride of Deimos, Another (which is great as an anime too, find it on Hulu), 7 Billion Needles, Parasyte and Higurashi When They Cry.....just for a start :)

Junji Ito is the greatest thing to happen to manga.

I have a collection of rarer stuff I found translated on the internet if anyone is interested.

@Christian----- I came across some Junji Ito online myself the other day. It was great to read some of his work I wasn't familiar with. I was on www.justmegawatt.com and found more than several of Ito's works that I fell in love with.
Word of warning: Alone with You has errors, so if anyone knows where I can get a copy, I would appreciate that. :)

I've scoured the internet and have been trying to collect everything I can. I keep finding new stuff.

Also, I've found as many works of film influenced by him as I could, some of it is very rare stuff, other stuff is impossible to find.

I haven't bought anything by him yet; however I'm definitely planning on it. I've been planning on writing a screenplay based on an Americanized Tomei (japanese exchange student... which could easily be viable "Tomei Comes to 'Merica")

All of his stuff is pure brutal mindfuck without diving into the "guro" garbage all over the internet that... apparently gives some people boners. *shrugs*

Been working on a website to upload stuff like this, if anyone isn't interested enough to want me to send them a dropbox sync or whatever to share my digital collection. Not sure when it will be up, but eventually I imagine, lmao.

It's interesting there's not more horror manga; I mean, there's some essential and popular series; Monster, Hellsing, Elfen Lied, GANTZ, etc. But it's either sexually extreme guro or lolita-goth bullshit.

GANTZ is probably one of my favorite manga series of all time, it's such a perfect balance of action, sci-fi, horror, brutality, tits, and mindfuck.

A new Tomie would be interesting. Having her stay Japanese would be good, interacting with American men and bringing the story stateside. If you finish it, let me know. :)

I plan on it. :D Not sure if showing random people would be a good idea, because I would like to actually sell it and get the ball rolling on Tomie in America. She's not that popular here, but her films and story seem quite popular in Japan. (She's been considered... like a second-rate Ringu.)

She doesn't always HAVE to be Japanese though... I have some interesting ideas to put her in the bodies of some VERY American women, lmao. BECOMING Tomei is almost as easy as a man's desire to murder her.

I also recommend you try Mail and The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service. Great reads! Also Fuan no Tane and Fuan no Tane Plus.

I recommend Arm of Kannon. It's less sexually-themed than most mature manga but also involves gratuitous disassembly, space-time and many insects, if that's your thing.

If anyone is still looking for recommendations, I feel the need to plug Berserk and everything by Junji Ito again. They're very good and everyone should read them (who wants to).

My roommate was watching Highschool of the Dead, but when I asked her what it was about she said boobs. So I wasn't interested. Based on all the volume covers boobs do seem to be the main characters. Is it worth reading despite that? MPD Pyscho doesn't look like it'll be fully translated anytime soon, but Arm of Kannon and Dragon Head look good.

@Rhea---- High School of the Dead is more than boobs, but I can see where your friend would get the idea. I do recommend it and if you get a chance to actually watch the anime series, it's worth it. There's only the first season out, about 12 episodes, but it's still good. I agree that Ito is first in horror manga, the man is a genius. Arm of Kannon is excellent, although I haven't read Dragon Head. I'll have to check that one out.

On a side note, MPD Psycho is out in English. I have the complete series in manga and loved it. I haven't seen the movie yet, but that's on my to do list.

I've heard good things about MPD Psycho, it has been on my read list.

HSOTD is alright, I haven't had a chance to read the manga yet, but I've watched a handful of episodes of the Anime. It started getting a little stale, but for the most part it was good. There's surprisingly not a lot of horror anime that's not Hentai/Guro (much like Manga); so it's good to have something like HSOTD.

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Here's a list of Japanese artists that are known for their macabre/mindfuck art. I suggest looking into all of them.

Junji Ito - The most known, been posted here. Tomie, Uzumaki, Gyo, Hellstar Remina, Black Paradox; basically try to find everything you can by him. I have a decent digital collection, if you're interested I can send you some stuff or links; but everything is pretty easy to find on the net.

Shintaro Kago - Careful, you might find some savage guro and scat manga, but A LOT of his stuff is AMAZING. Super-Conductive Brains Parataxis (超伝脳パラタクシス Choutennou Paratakushisu) is his most NON-horror/guro stuff, but is very trippy. The Collection is very good. I would say his most known is Fetus Collection and Abstraction.

Hideshi Hino - One of Ito's main influences. He has a horror anthology.

Kazuo Umezu - Ito's other main influence. His stuff is on the lighter side, with less body horror, and more mindfucks.

Suehiro Maruo - More known for his contemporary art than for his manga. One of his most famous pictures is of a Japanese officer licking a schoolgirl's eyeball whilst ripping her face off. His art is VERY well done and VERY disturbing.

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Now, I don't suggest we start talking Guro here, because it might not be allowed on Goodreads for one... and for two, it's disturbing. (People actually masturbate to that shit?) But there's SOME actually GOOD Guro, if you can see past the tits and... possible penises. Kago is the only one I listed that has done guro or anything sexual, but if anyone is interested in me pursuing further with suggestions, let me know?

@Christian. Thank you for such a detailed post. I can back you up with Kago Shintaro, despite the genre his work is intelligent and has substance behind it. I'm a little loth to admit I've read it though.

The drawing in this meme is by Kago Shintaro. The caption says f*** in big bold letters but the drawing itself is from the cover of a mainstream magazine (Vice) and is otherwise safe for work.

I enjoy Junji Ito very much, he is a very good horror manga writer. I may also suggest Higurashi, When they Cry for manga and anime. In my opinion, the manga isn't as scary as the anime, but it does it justice. :) It does start out a bit confusing, but it very enticing, as it keeps you wanting to read and find out more about what is going on in the village.

Dragon Head was decent. I liked the art style and it was worth reading, but I wasn't blown away.

I also watched the High School of the Dead anime, which was also so-so. The animation was beautiful, one of the best I've seen (I don't watch a lot of anime). If only the characters weren't just so stupid. (view spoiler)[The zombies walk at a snail's pace, and only react to loud noises. A pipe banging will attract them, but people talking will not. An obvious solution seems to be to set up a siren away from people so the zombies are lured away. No one tries this, and characters choose to zombie hunt with loud guns rather than throw a kitchen alarm the other away and go hide. (hide spoiler)]

Rhea wrote: "Dragon Head was decent. I liked the art style and it was worth reading, but I wasn't blown away.

I also watched the High School of the Dead anime, which was also so-so. The animation was beautifu..."

Well... if everyone followed Zombie Survival Guide-esque rules on survival in an outbreak... it wouldn't be very interesting to watch, lmao.

The Walking Dead comic gets as close as possible to following basic standards and rules; but the majority of the entertainment comes from character interaction and drama. The zombies are just a plot point and usually have nothing to do with the current situation. (Like right now, Negan and his huge group of deviants.)

I must watch The Walking Dead. I didn't realize this one was about zombies either, I thought it was a Western. I'm not really on top of things.

I liked how High School of the Dead (view spoiler)[explained why most of the public quickly became zombies. The public didn't take the threat seriously, and their denial got them converted. I wouldn't believe in a zombie apocalypse either, so I'd get myself killed just like them.

My issue was more with the main characters, who figure out the rules yet fail to take advantage of them. Highlight of the show was when Takashi leaves that multi-terrain vehicle running in the fountain so the zombies are distracted. Maybe in the later chapters they get their act together. (hide spoiler)]

Has anyone finished Arm of Kannon? I started the volumes, but could never find vol 5. I know Im going to have to go to Amazon for the rest, but I wanted an overall opinion. I thought it was great myself and I'm anxious to finish.

You should read gantz, mpd psycho, kurosagi corpse delivery, high school of the dead, oldboy, elfen lied, hell girl, goth. Some of these manga comics are graphically violent, you have been warned.

I once worked an anime convention, and my friends stuck me selling horror manga. I will have to say Uzumaki and Tomie are both great.

I also liked Priest and Island. And for some odd reason, and I know it is for teen girls, Vampire Miyu is strangely compelling.

Right now I'm reading Devilman Lady. I never read Devilman, but that will be next on the reading list. It can get sexually explicit at times, so I'm warning you now if you decide to read Devilman Lady.

Have you read Hellsing,Gyo,Tokyo Red hood? All very graphic, strange and one of a kind stories. You might get sick from reading them...especially the last two lol but if you want to be adventurous with your reading I would recommend those :).

Gyo will definitely make you want to give up seafood! I have both volumes on my shelf, ha :)

Lol wait till you see the anime...that is, if you havent seen it. They change the storyline a bit but it's still worth it!!! I never thought they would ever adapt it into an anime movie but they did. :)

That is awesome. I did not know that. I have to track that one down. That would be great for my blog :)

check out Deadman Wonderland and Shiki...If you cant already tell Im an anime horror geek lol

Same! I loved Deadman too. I think I like the manga better than the anime tho. I haven't seen Shiki. Another for the list!

Its a vampire anime. Vampire family takes over a rural Japanese town.It's very long but still entertaining. These are the rest on my list: Claymore,Blood-C,Le Portrait de Petite Cossette, Kurozuka, Kemonozume,Requiem from the Darkness

http://www.mangahere.com/manga/claymore/
try this site :)

Blood-C? So much yes. Saya is just the cutest thing. I love Le Portrait as well. I still need to finish Claymore. I have some manga volumes but not all and I didn't finish the anime either. I got to get on that. Thanks for the manga site. I'll definitely be reading on my break. ;)

No prob :). Glad I could help..love Saya too :D

I really enjoyed Blood Sucker, and I'm pretty picky about manga. It might be a guilty pleasure, not sure, but I really liked it. Kind of like an action horror with vampires and excellent action sequences. I think I recall coarse language and nudity too so just be aware of that.

Despite the title of this graphic novel, The Record of a Fallen Vampire, Volume 1, it's really fantasy rather than horror - with the eponymous character presented as the victim. There's lots of combat action (involving swordcraft and spell-casting) with some backgrounding for the main characters but little else. However, it's the first in a series, so perhaps more horror elements can be found in later volumes.

Junji Ito is definitely highly recommended by me. It warms my heart to hear his work is so praised in this topic.

I enjoyed Tomie and Gyo, but I think Uzumaki is his best work so far.

I enjoyed the Gantz manga but didn't like the anime so much. Too much filler for my tastes.

The Gantz live action was pretty awesome too. The anime was just crazy, but I enjoyed it.