Customer Reviews

Category Freaks Volume 1

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I get the impression that I and the person who wrote the first review were reading two different books. Sakurako Gokurakuin is probably best known for JUVENILE ORION: Aquarian Age, and not yaoi/shounen-ai. This is not hentai AT ALL. There is some nudity and allusions to sex, but not enough to be called hentai; not even close. This manga is, however, extremely bloody and violent, so parents should pay attention to the age rating. I, for one, love Sakurako's artwork and recommend this as a thoroughly enjoyable NON-HENTAI, horror manga.

I came to buy this book expecting a decent horror manga, and what I found was a decent horror manga. Attractive illustrations, the premise of a paranormal investigations agency, and Asagi Nanami were some of the best highlights of Category Freaks Vol. 1. I personally found the flow of the storyline and prose to be either too stiff or too loose in a couple of places, but found Category Freaks to be an enjoyable read nonetheless. The story is divided into 'Acts' (sections) and there is no real single protagonist; rather Asagi Nanami (the chief manager of the Nanami Paranormal Investigation Agency) and his assistants are alternately focused on as leading an investigation into a paranormal 'Freak' occurence unique to each 'Act'. I found the character of Asagi Nanami (Who happens to be not-so-human himself. He is a Stand, the natural enemy of a Freak, but the relationship of the two is not one that's ever fully explained in this volume) to be the strongest in development/depth. This is too bad as Asagi is usually not given much more page-time or focus past what's given to the other characters (so far in the series, I have only read book one as of yet). Amano, the general manager/assistant of Asagi, is probably the second most notable of the cast of characters. There are some moments of humor in the story where Asagi Nanami will tease Amano in some way which is amusing when it happens. Otherwise, Tokiko (a little girl who eats...just about anything, shapeshifts and can sense 'freaks') is just odd enough to be cute and a slight asset to the book but most of the other female characters just didn't catch my interest. In fact, most of the female characters had the feel of being simply 'there' and sadly, none were really memorable. By the way of content, there is a good deal of violence/blood as well as a considerable amount of nudity in this manga, mainly of the female variety.

-----Rating Breakdown-----
Storyline: 3/5

Artwork: 3.5/5

Characters (development, etc): 3/5
-----
I am still on the fence whether to buy the second volume or not, but will likely do so, partly to read more about Asagi Nanami's character and partly for the same reason as I purchased volume one; to read a decent horror manga. I would actually give Category Freaks 3.5/5 stars, and the last .5 star mainly for the final 'Act', which was easily the strongest section of Category Freaks present in this volume.

Court

Ignore the reviewer below. Her life is too focused on yaoi and bishounen that she's lost all touch with reality and is very sexist against women. Her review is very misleading because not everyone who is interested in manga are yaoi fans (though I am one myself).

I am not really fond of horror manga, but the cover grabbed my attention. The artwork on the inside is rather mediocre despite the nice cover. The story was hard for me to follow at times, though I can be rather slow at things anyways.

If you're a fan of horror or supernatural stories, I'd say give it a shot.

It's really hard to rate this book, because if you read it by itself, it makes little sense and comes across as a hodgepodge of different stories mashed together that just happens to have the same main characters. It wasn't before reading Volume 2 and 3 that I really came to appreciate the first, because they began to reference the first book. If you look at it in the tradition of Japanese Horror, you'll enjoy it much more for its lack of coherence, and after reading the other books, you'll begin to wonder what else will have significance later.
This manga is not, in any way, appropriate for younger readers, especially in the next volumes.
It is, most certanly, a beautifully twisted story.

In my mid to late teens I devoured manga on a level that bordered obsession. As time went on, college loamed, and I began to pay my own bills I could only afford to buy manga that was truly sensational.

Sakurako Gokurakuin was a name I respected very highly. She has a lovely style and a beautiful, airy, quality to her line work. Sakurako Gokurakuin doesn't rightfully fall into the category of most other modern manga-ka, or at least not with those widely published in the American market. I have always felt her illustrations have more heart and more care put into technical aspects such as perspective and proportion. Her work always looks finished, light, and professional. She mixes shoujo style seamlessly with super deformed (a manga term which wrongly gets substituted with "chibi") where most artists simply use their super deformed style to save time and skimp on detail.

While Category: Freaks does have some characteristics of Sakurako Gokurakuin's work it isn't a shining example of what this artist is capable of. Horror just doesn't seem to be her strong suit. This manga is good in comparison to most horror titles but the themes are a little overused, the characters aren't strongly developed and the atmosphere needed to create a good horror manga just isn't there.

For instance, compared to the horror atmosphere created in the older works of Narumi Kakinouchi, Sakurako Gokurakuin's attempt just falls short.

I will say Category: Freaks is better than most manga titles available on the American market but it should be taken with a grain of salt. It has horror, it has quality (but not excellent) illustration, it has a passable story line (if not a bit tired), it has pretty boy protagonists, and cute chibi nurses. It's a giant hodge podge of themes and classic manga stereotypes that will please the standard mass audience. But there are better works out there.

I picked up this book, hearing some wonderful stories about it, and I have not picked it up since. The story is okay, I think the artwork could have been better (my book felt like it was printed on newspaper paper; was that only mine?) and when it says 18+, it MEANS 18+. I would not recommend this for anyone younger than 18, for sure. The author even joked in the back (I don't remember if it was this book or the sequel) about how much nudity there was.

I think it would have been nice to know just what the rating was before I bought it!!

You know how some Yaoi mangas are wrapped in shrinkwrap? This book should be in shrink wrap too. I love GOKURAKUIN-sama's artstlye and currently am looking for Seikirei to come out in US! I remember opening it and seeing this girl get molested by someone while the white haired guy watched. Its sorta ecchi but considering it's Gokurakuin-sama ,who is a ecchi artist, what do you expect. Its sorta funny to read Orion now and look at Kirihara-chan.. XD
Its a ok manga if you like Ecchi and cute girls. I'll probably buy it to add to the shelf next to Orion.

i love this manga ^_^ its like a horror mystery kind of thing. there is a little bit of adult content and its not made for lil kids but any one who liked 'The Wanderer' or 'Vampire Princess Miyu' could like this. in fact it reminds me of 'The Wanderer' if nothing else flip through it and dont let the lil brother get it :D

The author of this Graphic Novel is famous for her work on Yaoi and Shonen Ai/BL Manga. DO NOT BUY THIS MANGA ON THIS FACT!

IT IS NOT YAOI OR SHONEN AI/BL. IT IS HENTAI!

There is ALOT of female nudity in this Manga, that is NOT censored, meanwhile alot of male nudity is censored. There are a few sex scenes. None male-to-male. All female-to-male.

It has no Yaoi elements at all except the one quote at the end of the book where the main character says "It would be worse loving another man."

There is some blood and gore. But not enough to forgive for the lies I was told about this book that were saying.

Listen to someone who bought this book looking for slash at least and was bombaded with Hentai instead.