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I was first introduced to Mihara-san's manga through her seminal series Doll, which explores the relationship between man and robot. Its a pretty powerful work, touching on painful subjects of robots being treated like objects (even people being treated as objects), love between people and robots, and where such creatures lie on the spectrum of humanity. Sometimes, predictably, its the humans who often lie on the side of inhuman.
Mihara-san's style is steeped deep in the Gothic-lolita style, with willowy tall figures, and abundance of lace, leather, taffeta, heels and the macabre and the cute and elegant. Doll was jam-packed with style, and Haunted House follows the goth-loli path to its logical extreme of a morbid, beautiful fixation on death and horror…with a little love mixed in.
Sabato Obiga (named for "sabbath") has an "unusual" family. He just wants a long term girlfriend. His family's idea of a grand day out is wearing clothing that's at home in an Anne Rice novel, drinking tomato juice, and mortifying their poor son. He wants normal. They want amusement at his expense. What's a poor guy with nowhere to go to do?
Its hard not to sympathize with Sabato; his family is eccentric, at the very least, and downright sadistic at their extreme (or so we're lead to believe). If its not his mother making altar shrines to her still living son and keeping deadly--or just DEAD--plants around for fang shui, its his sisters tormenting him by drawing on his face, making voodoo dolls, and changing a romantic ringtone to the theme song to Jaws. Papa seems to encourage the behavior, all in the name of "looking out for his happiness". Its
no wonder girls end up jumping and running when they meet the Addams Family in the Land of the Rising Sun. Most of the chapters involve Sabato complaining of his family--often to his friend who tells him he's just overreacting--then falling head over heels in love with the first pretty girl he sees. His family notwithstanding, you begin to see Sabato's other relationship failings, which mainly are: he doesn't look for true love, just the idea of it.
When each chapter ends with his inevitable dumping, the last page shows the front door of his home slamming shut, a symbol of his inability to escape from his family and their horror themed antics. Its not until the last few chapters where that door begins to swing open. Sabato begins to try to understand his own hangups, especially after being told bluntly to his face by his goth-loli-literally cousin; she doesn't mince words either, accusing him of being so hung up on having a girlfriend that he neglects to start trying to have the "relationship" part first, blaming others for his troubles when he has to turn inward for answers. When his childhood friend Megu shows back up, Sabato begins to think that maybe its best to start getting to know her better instead of outright asking her out before he's ready.
While on the outside the whole story is humorous in the same vein as the Addams Family or The Munsters, there's a lot of heart in a boy trying to find his way on the path of true love. A lot
of physical and comical violence occurs to/at/on him, and while you can see his side of the story, you have to laugh at his attempts to control things out of his control. From accidentally getting a job with a yakuza boss with an impressive tattoo beneath her kimonos, to getting a job at a video store and falling for the slightly older female owner, to even watching Sabato flip out when he finds a girl--only to discover she's hardcore into the goth-horror genre, its hard not to laugh at the improbable yet amusing situations he finds himself into. Its definitely a different, more lighthearted tone from Doll.
The art style is very much what you would expect from a gothic-lolita style, with elongated limbs, sharp facial features, scads of ruffles, lace, straps and flamboyant hairstyles, but there's also a lot of great gag moments with Sabato, and plenty of dynamic poses of anguish. If you're not chuckling, you've got to smile a few times at the great panels. Don't forget, if you grab the Tokyopop version, to check out the epilogue after the ads for a little peek of the family's hidden secret.
The line work is hard and sharp, with the curves relegated to things like hair or other objects needing roundness. Blocks of tones or black make for high contrast images. Its very much in the style of goth-loli, so if your taste isn't quite there, it may not appeal to you. If you're into that or high fashion, this is a great manga-ka.
If you're looking for a single volume in time for the halloween season, check out Haunted House. Its stylish, funny and heartfelt.
--Dio (10/12/15)
Art belongs to Mitsukazu Mihara, Tokyopop, and Shodensha.
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