manga recommendation

[mvrdrk]

If you haven't checked out Mushishi, you should. The first volume is out in English and it's quite promising in it's own way. It puts me strongly in mind of Ima Ichiko's work.

Oh yes, and you all do know that the 1st 12 Kingdoms novel is out? Turns out the author was a Buddhist studies major ... which explains why some of the information in the novels was so detailed. link to interview

Comments

[mvrdrk.livejournal.com]

Hundred Ghosts is in some ways better but not available in English.

Mushishi is the same as Hundred Ghosts in that it is a view of how the supernatural intersects with the human that's distinctly Japanese/non-western. Not horror a la western notions of evil, but a twilight zone kind of weird intersecting of worlds with sometimes strange consequences.

[tammylee.livejournal.com]

I've recently read translations of Uzumaki and Gyo and really enjoyed them. (There is a short comic that accompanied Gyo that had to do with a section of mountain with mysterious people shaped holes in the side of it. Freakiest story I've read yet.) I like how there doesn't have to be a rationale or explanation for why things happen. They just happened and they're wierd and you either accept that or you don't.

Western horror tends to overanalyze wierd happenings. There HAS to be a backstory and it HAS to be explained by the end of the story or your reader is unhappy. IMO, not all mysteries need to be resolved and the Western explanations all tend to fall along the same lines anyways; a human died and their death has left a mark.