Customer Reviews

Scary Book Volume 1: Reflections

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Kazuo Umezu, Scary Book vol. 1: Reflections (Dark Horse, 2003)

Why is it that every Asian artist working in horror is automatically compared to Stephen King when he reaches this shore? It never fails. In some press release, somewhere, the artist will be compared to Stephen King. Hideo Nakata. Koji Suzuki. Kazuo Umezu. All compared by some publicist somewhere to Stephen King.

Umezu gets the worst of it, with the comparison branded right there on the cover of the book. Any comparison like this is sure to build up expectations, many of which the book is probably not going to be able to fulfill. In this case, you're comparing someone to a master of characterization, perhaps the best author currently writing at drawing characters with a few strokes. Who's going to be able to live up to that?

Umezu, however, does rival King in one respect: they both have a thing for outmoded storylines. In "Mirror," the opening tale here, Umezu gives us the old tale of your mirror image coming to life (with the usual ending) and terrorizing the family, etc., etc. I'm probably going a little easier on it than I should, for reasons that would constitute a spoiler if revealed here, but let's say that the real twist in the tale does not appear until later in the Scary Book series. If you continue on, you might end up understanding some of what Umezu was doing here.

The book's second tale, "Demon of Vengeance," is a bit more fun, though "old" in the storyline is more literal here. The time is pre-Tokugawa. Mitsutada, the son of Shogun Uda and a spoiled, incorrigible brat, is spirited away to live with Muso, one of Uda's most trusted advisors. While in Muso's care, Mitsutada suffers a fatal accident, and Uda will make sure Muso spends the rest of his life paying for it... and taking any possible chance to get revenge. It's a faster-paced and more amusing tale than "Mirror," and may make the volume worth checking out if the avalanche of ambivalent "Mirror" reviews has you on the fence. ***

Kazuo Umezo, the "Stephen King" of Japanese manga has a unique and engaging style unlike the "traditional" look we associate with Japanese manga and anime. Initially from looking at the art of Scary Book, I expected the original to have been published in Japan a few decades ago. The cherub-cheeked characters reminded me of children from Chinese herbal medicine advertisements. They seem to hark from a more innocent time, which makes the sinister images that much more unsettling. (It turns out these stories were originally published in 2003.)

Scary Book Volume I contains two complete stories, but the title story, "Reflections" takes up over 3/4 of the whole book. "Reflections" tells the tale of Emi, a doll-faced beauty of a young girl who grows up in a house known as the "Mirror Mansion", named for its giant mirror, a mirror Emi has been gazing into for years. But as time goes on Emi starts getting the paranoid feeling that she is being watched. One night Emi searches for the source of the paranoia, and finds it staring back at her in the reflection in the mirror. And her reflection is not happy with her...

Emi's reflection has built up resentment for her vanity, and a crack in the mirror seems to allow the reflection to escape from the mirror, and into the real world. Her reflection takes over Emi's life, and is always one step ahead of Emi while she attempts to replace the real girl, leaving Emi without a home, friends, or family.

It is at this time we are introduced to Emi's love-stricken classmate, Wakatano, and his younger sister, Mitsuko. The brother and sister are constantly bickering for Emi's attention, and they seem to be the only people that acknowledge the real Emi's existence. Their competitive nature escalates to violent levels as they try to help and distract Emi. Wakatano and Mitsuko are a kind of comic relief, and their gestures and actions recall the humorous violence of comics and cartoons of previous generations. This brother and sister are probably the most bizarre pair of characters seen in comics, and their introduction in this story gives the reader an insight to Umezu's way-out way of thinking.

The creepiness in "Reflections" comes from extreme contrasts of beautiful versus ugly, and vanity versus humility, in a world that is more than a bit off-center. Its frantic nature keeps the reader's blood pumping and the story's pages turning.

"Demon of Vengeance" is also a story of conflict, a good versus evil tale. However, the story is a more of a fast-paced downward spiral. Just when you think things can't get worse for our hero, Muso Kondo, another gate to Hell seems to open up and a whole new world of pain it introduced.

Like some of the other Dark Horse manga we have looked at (ex. Lone Wolf and Cub and Samurai Executioner), "Demon of Vengeance" is a revenge tale set in the days of the samurai. A vassal of shogun Uda is assigned to protect the shogun's son, Mitsutada, during a raid on Uda Castle. Muso's son, Shogo, accompanies him on the mission. Food is scarce and tempers short as the spoiled Mitsutada harasses the young, but stoic, Shogo (who might remind the reader of another quiet but steel-eyed youngster, Daigoro from Lone Wolf and Cub). Muso tries to be patient with Mitsutada, but a father can watch only so much abuse of his son, and one day he snaps...

This is actually a tale of double revenge, as the shogun dedicates his life to making Muso's and Shogo's lives a living hell, after what happened to his son. In turn, Muso does everything he can to destroy the shogun and free his son. Powerful Uda makes things harder and harder for Muso in some rather gruesome scenes, and although usually in samurai stories good defeats evil, we must remember this isn't a samurai story, it's a horror story, and the surprising ending is sure to shock and satisfy.

If Volume I is any indication of the rest of the Scary Books, then it will certainly an exciting series. Umezu's drawing style is unique, and like a traditional Japanese doll, it is scary in its seemingly innocent surface.

SCARY BOOK 1: REFLECTIONS is your average "doppelganger" story and completely lacks any originality. A girl's reflection escapes from her mirror and causes all kinds of mischief in reality. None of it is in the least bit thrilling or scary and since this story comes in at almost 200 pages it can become dull reading. The "bonus" short story at the end of the book is about a samurai who seeks revenge and lacks any horror elements whatsoever, which makes me wonder why it was included in this book.

It's a really odd decision to publish KOWAI HON / SCARY BOOK in America. Kazuo Umezu is not (yet) well known in the English speaking world and it makes no sense to me to start with a third-tier series like this instead of licensing one of the works he is most famous for like maybe SENREI / BAPTISM OF BLOOD or GOD'S LEFT HAND, DEVIL'S RIGHT HAND. It speaks of either cluelessness, stupidity or a self-destructive desire to fail in the marketplace.

The good news is that the second volume of the SCARY BOOK series - titled INSECTS - is slightly better than this. Still, we should have gotten Umezu's masterpieces instead.

Boring.

But I got the japanese version.

It was girly and bland for me. like if sailor moon got attacked by her twin.

About a girl who'd been staring into a mirror since childhood and is really pretty. But one day her reflection jumps out and wreaks havoc on her life and people start calling her ugly and she learns not to be a snob anymore. and there's, like, a showdown between the two or something.

maybe some other of umezu's books'd be better. i'd stick to the english versions, but i'm a japanesey-learner reader person and it's actually a billion cheaper by amazon.

get junji's uzumaki though, if you think this is good, you'd be awed by the awesomeness of uzumaki to no end. if you think it's boring, you'd be impressed by the awesomeness probably even more.