story by Eiji Otsuka art by Housui Yamazaki It’s been a long time — 18 months since the previous volume of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service — but I found no gap in my knowledge of these characters, and I welcomed them and their grotesque misadventures back in volume 12. I was also glad to have back the annotations and endnotes by editor Carl Gustav Horn, as he’s credited for his adaptation. He begins by explaining and apologizing for the […]

story by Eiji Otsuka art by Housui Yamazaki The last corporation I worked at made a priority of installing automated external defibrillators (AEDs) on every floor and in common rooms, due to an unfortunate past incident with a worker who had a heart attack and passed away before emergency services could arrive. The company also provided training to interested employees, in conjunction with CPR instruction. I took it, and I was very impressed at how easy to use AEDs seemed […]

story by Eiji Otsuka art by Housui Yamazaki As this black humor/ghost revenge manga series enters its second “decade” of volumes, we begin with a redesign. In place of the previous “brown paper wrapper” approach, in which a khaki cover gives the feel of reading something to be hidden away from the view of others, now the books have a prominent block of black, symbolizing death and the unknown mystery. In another change from previous books, most of volume 11 […]

As was the case with volume 7, volume 9 starts with an exploration of fandom. A young idol, a girl famous for being cute, is finding creepy possessed dolls in her apartment. She assumes they’re being left by obsessed fans, but when the toys move on their own, that suggests something more. The best part of this story is how involved Kereellis gets. That’s the alien puppet, channeled by Yata, who reacts in a protective fashion toward the dolls. Of […]

Volume 8 is a better starting point, if you’re picking up The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service in the middle, but I thought this installment had some interesting things to say about fame and the movies. The first story in volume 7 is a one-shot, about a robot powered by a zombie with a video game for a brain chip. It’s full of fan humor, making fun of gamers and other obsessive types. I found myself wishing writer Eiji Otsuka had […]

If you’re curious about The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service series, which I recommend, but you can’t find the early volumes in the series, try starting here. Volume 8 begins with that manga classic, the school club recruitment drive. Rei is a new student at the Buddhist College all the Service members attend, and she winds up at the group’s open call for new members. They’re billing themselves as an entrepreneurial “money-makin’ club” to get some kids interested. However, seeing each […]

When I first heard of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, it was well-recommended, but I wasn’t sure it was for me, given that it was classified as horror and the premise involved lovingly depicted dead bodies. I’m glad I went ahead and tried it, because I very much enjoyed it. It reminded me of Pushing Daisies, if that show was more laconic and Japanese. The series stories are by Eiji Otsuka with art by Housui Yamazaki. Five students at a […]

Response is a faithful adaptation of a Harlequin romance novel by Penny Jordan. It was one of the first releases in the Ginger Blossom line published by Dark Horse. Purple means that it’s aimed older, with “more sophisticated” content. The pink books were geared younger (no sex), and both were printed in ink colors that matched their name. (The purple’s not bad to read, if a tad unusual, but I found the hot pink headache-inducing.) Both imprints released three titles […]