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In looking for some new horror manga (that isn't Junji Ito--terrible I know, but I've at this point consumed pretty much everything that's been translated by now @3@), I stumbled across a pretty good lead for those looking for new horror manga authors, Anime News Network had an article on 7 horror manga author to check out, which Ito-sensei of course leading the pack. Also noteworthy authors in the article--that I've also personally enjoyed--are Kazuo Umezu, author of Cat-Eyed Boy and the epic The Drifting Classroom, and Masaaki Nakayama, author of Fuan no Tane.
On this list was Jun Abe, who wrote the manga Portus, which is about a cursed video game, appearing to be like a Famicom game. When Asami's best friend becomes obsessed with the game, and she later is found dead, the young student and 2 of her teachers try to get to the bottom of the urban legend the game has about it: that a secret level shows you a boy who will ask you if you want to "come to his side" (sound familiar?), and if you say yes, he'll kill you. Typical creepy story for an urban legend, and within the story it kind of takes your expectations for the genre (if you can call it that), and shows you a different approach to what you think you've seen before. Click pic, or here for mangatown's upload of the manga to read in full.
SPOILERS AHEAD IN REVIEW, you have been warned.
The story takes its time ramping up the action, but the horrifying images and artstyle keep you in this world, guessing about what trips and turns you might have. I wouldn't say this is the moe-est manga you will read; hell no, this is wonderfully grotesque and sometimes outright terrifying most of your ride through the manga. It has its ugly bits, it has its scary bits, and that's all for the mood and atmosphere. There are a few humorous bits in the beginning before the shit fantastically hits the fan, like at right, when one of the teachers is getting information about the game devs for the game Portus.
On that note, there are a few things peppered throughout the story that really were kind of nice little references for those who know them. If they
were intentional, of course, though I have no way of knowing for sure. Such as the teacher's search for answers on message boards that were laid out, tagged, and formatted like real sites such as 2chan (the way the anonymous users were called "behind" is I think the designation of users on some paranormal 2chan boards). Another is the title itself, which is very close to the name of another infamous, if urban legend, game called Polybius. Names aside, the connections of a game that causes their users to go crazy or even kill themselves aren't lost to the casual reader. Decon's look at retro horror games in this similar vein made me choose this manga when reading the above article on horror manga-ka. Portus is on a Famicom, for heaven's sake, it can't get anymore retro than that. On the left, one of the game devs explains his wish to have "the game world and the real world intermingle, and the rumors fly" to create the "interactive horror experience". AR games, especially horror ones aren't as uncommon as they might have been when the manga was released (2006, if you can believe it) but these kinds of intermingling are now pretty common, and some of the more memorable attempts make the games stand out, even if their gameplay may not be as technically strong. Now of course, the dev's idea to steal a kokeshi and then make a game in the game to have someone find it may be a tich unethical (and by a tich I mean ABSOLUTELY COMPLETELY, THIS IS GOD, YOU'RE TREADING INTO HERESY, WATCH YOUR STEP, BITCHES unethical), and is probably the worst thing you can do in a video game, excepting the fiasco of Star Citizen. In any case, where would our urban legend be if he hadn't desecrated something and started the curse in the first place.
Another reference for those reading along is the sort of homage to the massacre of Sugisawa Village, wherein one man lays waste to everyone in a village by himself. This same legend in Japan was also the basis for the ending to Siren for those following along at home. Its that tiny touch of homage that you just have to like about it. The way folklore seeps into all entertainment.
Now the manga does have its message to deliver, and while some may feel it reaches too hard for its theme, you have to give it credit when it changes the angle a bit. For example, Asami can see--and has graphically not only witnessed but also experienced--the maltreatment of the vengeful spirit Takashi's father and grandmother, but also endured his terrible bullying and sexual assault by other members of the village. You can't completely blame his father, or even Takashi for going on this crusade of pain and torture for their treatment. Rage and helplessness can fuel terrible darkness from any human being with empathy. What is a yuurei if not for their feelings of vengence for sometimes the more horrific trials any ones has to endure. Still, Asami wants to face the spirit with compassion. Even in the face of Takashi's victims, who tell her to discard her sympathy. That what he has done and what he continues to do doesn't make Takashi feel better or help: it merely makes him stronger. She even at once point shouts at him to stop being so selfish. Its not a message unlike Paranorman: replying to hate and ignorance with more hate and ignorance from a power trip doesn't solve anything. Yeah, he had a shit life, but that doesn't mean he can take it out on helpless people who have nothing to do with it. Yes, humans can be right fucking assholes for little to no reason; there is no explanation as to why the village hates Takashi's family, and really, in reality, there isn't an answer for why humans behave so terribly to one another. Its a fact of life. When Asami, in Takashi's mind, being chased by the villagers, begins to question the beautiful things in her life (falling in love, being with friends), she thinks that such beautiful things doesn't belong in a life of hatred and pain; or rather Takashi MAKES her think that beautiful things are the aborrent part of life and suffering is all there is.
How twisted is that, for a child to force his undying suffering onto those who didn't share his terrible life, to make innocent people question the good things by showing them only evil? Perhaps that's the true horror in the manga: that there are those who will rewrite their own reality and others' because they had a terrible time, and that humans are the terrifying creature deep down inside. Humans have no proportional reactions to anything, and will fly off the handle for the minutest reasons....or for the most logical reasons when pushed to the limit.
The artstyle never lets up in its hard line, hard contrast style, with brutally hard lines, use of tone, and sometimes grotesque facial expressions. The imagery is powerful, with lots of motifs of kokeshi dolls and butterflies, signifying rituals or traditions that may be unfamiliar with japanese culture. Presumably the discussion of what "kokeshi" means would have been about the kanji reading of the word, where a japanese reader would have been familiar with different ways of making a word that sounds the same but means wildly different meanings. The translation of the manga is well done by Viz, though the fonts used may be a little jarring,
though it adds to the atmosphere. There's a lot of good play with shadows and light in the manga, through tone and blocks of blacks and whites, and the almost symbolic imagery makes for a dream/nightmare-like experience. Most manga that can make this blur are some of my favorites, and this didn't disappoint. As stated, the pace is a little uneven, sometimes slowing to a crawl for effect of the mood and then suddenly the plot spills open quickly like an unregulated tap that you have to wonder how long its all really taking in real-time. Its a bit of a stretch for some stuff, but for a horror mystery manga, it makes enough sense if you're not boggled down by minutia like some folks are. Let the story go at its pace and enjoy the wild ride. Even for its graphic violence and nature, the story weaves it all together to show that sometimes even people can make the more heinous of monsters for little reason. The video game part of the story falls away quickly to the meat of the curse, which is par for the coarse for many horror stories just like this, and its not a bad ride for one tankobon.
High recommendations, warnings for some sexual violence.
--Dio (10/16/17)
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