The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Volume 13

The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Volume 13 cover

It’s never a good sign when a creepy girl says, early on, “Loving someone or hating them… it’s the exact same thing.” I’d forgotten just how spooky this series can be, but the lead story here in The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service volume 13 rams it home in spades. The story is by Eiji Otsuka and art by Housui Yamazaki.

A vengeful young woman is taking control of men who prey on runaway young women new to Tokyo — by having them wear hats with mouse ears based on a popular cartoon character that take control of their motor functions. The cliffhanger to the first chapter points out just how mean and disturbing this could be.

The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Volume 13 cover

Unfortunately, this story turns into mostly a chase, as the team attempts to stop the woman running rampant at a deserted theme park. There are some very neat suspenseful images as a result, but some of the potential of the premise seems to get lost.

The next story shows us Sasaki participating in the Japanese justice system. She’s one of the lay judges, kind of like a jury member but with more interaction with the case, which is about sentencing a man who’s confessed to killing the woman he was stalking. It’s a fascinating example of a more straightforward mystery, solvable without the talking dead bodies, but more dramatic with their presence. Fans of TV procedurals will enjoy this segment, I think.

Followers of the series will enjoy some of the revelations about relationships among the characters. There’s also a story about a guy who decides to bring back fertility sacrifice rituals; that one has the expected nude girl that shows up in the series every so often. The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service remains my favorite horror series, because there’s so much more to it than just the scares, and even the gross bits are so beautifully illustrated.



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