Manga Review: The Dreaming Volume 2

[Floating_Sakura]

Title: The Dreaming Volume 2
Art and Story by: Queenie Chan
Publisher: Tokyopop
Genre: OEL, Horror, Mystery
Price: $9,99US; $12.99CAD; £6.99

Have you ever read manga that persuades you into flipping through the pages from front cover to end cover? The Dreaming does exactly that to me. After a year-long wait, Volume Two has finally been published.

The Dreaming is a creepy horror story about Greenwich Private College, an old fashioned, Australian all-girls boarding school surrounded by nothing but wilderness. The school has a strict policy, forbidding the enrollment of twin girls. It is for this reason that Jeannie and Amber have to lie to get into the school. Nonetheless, strange things have started happening since they joined the school: they've been getting the same nightmare -- dreams of being in Victorian styled gowns, in the woods, being chased by people with knives and axes. On top of that, Millie, one of their friends, vanishes one night.

Volume two follows on after Millie's corpse has been found. Most students and teachers have left -- that is, those who can. Jeannie is determined to investigate the history of the school, from which twenty-three girls in total have disappeared throughout the decades since its opening, while her twin sister, Amber, spends most of the day and night locking herself up in their room sleeping. One night, Amber's dream changes: she is no longer being chased outside by people with knives and axes, she is inside the school, with the girls who were chasing her with axes and knives now surrounding the coffin.

That very night, girls with nightgowns stood outside the school, girls that no one knew. Jeannie could have sworn that one of the girls was Miss Anu's friend from when she was a student in the school, a girl who had disappeared...

The Dreaming is one of the most effective horror manga series I've ever read. It's like those horror movies where, despite having your eyes half covered, you look out to see what's happening next. It has an extremely captivating and mysterious narrative; it keeps me guessing and wondering, impatient for more after I finished the volume.

In terms of artwork, Queenie Chan's art is one of the most appealing amongst the Tokyopop's OEL manga series that I've read. She manages to capture the moods and details marvelously, with proper toning and inking throughout. Expression of the characters, features of the old-fashioned school and costumes are all properly captured. Dreams and reality are also well segregated so the readers are not confused about what's happening. In terms of frame dividing, Queenie uses some very unusual techniques, where characters are occasionally put in strange angles, advancing the horror mood as a whole.

For those who are afraid to try out new OEL (Original English Language)manga titles, The Dreaming is definitely the place to start. Despite some very disappointing OEL manga that I've read from Tokyopop, I keep getting myself to try out new titles because of how impressed I was with The Dreaming. It's definitely a must-read for those who like the horror and mystery genre.

Reviewed by: Floating_Sakura
Proofed by: Iliana
Edited by: Firedog

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