Manga Review: Mail Volume 1

[Floating_Sakura]

Title: Mail vol. 1
Mangaka: Housui Yamazaki
Published by: Kadakawa Shoten in: Shonen Ace
Genre: shounen, horror, drama, supernatural
N. American license: Dark Horse

Reiji Akiba calls himself a "detective", but what he really does is solve various problems with hauntings and ghosts. He calls all the creepy and scary effects of hauntings, ("a whispering voice on a cassette tape...or a phantom face on the ceiling...bloody writing on your bedroom wall") mail, being sent to the living by the dead. When his special eyes catch sight of the spirit, he uses a pistol named "Kagutsuchi" with which he shoots special bullets that are harmless to living humans, but sends ghosts to where they belong.

We see Akiba only in glimpses, as the reader spends more time with the characters of each chapter: a nudie magazine producer and photographer, a single college student, a little girl whose twin died, a young wife who bought a used car, a schoolgirl, and a nearly blind boy. Perhaps even more interesting are the ghosts' stories: a serial killer who took the heads and kept them, an unfortunate little girl accidentally entombed in concrete, a little girl who died of a fever, a little boy who was locked in the trunk of a car by a mother gone mad, a girl with a grotesque facial deformity, and a woman who slashed her own throat.

The character of Akiba remains enigmatic, revealed slowly, each chapter rather focusing on the people whom he helps out. I found this sort of characterization refreshing, allowing the reader to get involved with different people in each chapter, in widely varying walks of life, it all being tied together by both some sort of haunting and Akiba himself.

The artwork is very competent, with the exteriors and architecture very well done, though the faces of characters are perhaps a bit weak and odd-looking at times. Nevertheless, Yamazaki does not fall prey to the problem of many mangaka where too many of the characters look too alike to tell them apart. His characters are definitely unique, each one, and his slightly grotesque style with faces is extremely effective when it comes to the truly grotesque -- the ghosts.

Dark Horse's production of the volume certainly shows their long experience in the publishing game, the printing and binding are excellent, without some of the little flaws that more fledgling houses put out sometimes. However, Dark Horse made the decision to leave the sound effects unedited, with a guide at the back of the book. I must re-iterate Floating_Sakura’s comment in her KUROSAGI corpse delivery service review that this tends to leave out information from the story that the readers miss, especially in a horror story such as this one.

Although the artwork is not quite what I like and look for in manga, Mail is the perfect example of the range and flexibility of manga's (and comic's) ability to appeal to an audience. While I can't unreservedly recommend the artwork of Mail, I can enthusiastically recommend the story. This is an interesting, involving set of ghost stories, and although Akiba's method of solving the problems seems a bit "deus ex machina"-ish, it remains suspenseful and exciting in all the right places.

Trivia notes: Mail was made into a live-action Japanese horror movie starring Chiaki Kuriyama (Go-Go Yubari from Kill Bill).
Akiba's pistol is designed along a Nambu, a WWII-era automatic which disappeared when the Occupation banned weapons. Instead of the usual kanji stamped on it, Akiba's says "kagustuchi", meaning "'ka' tool ground" or "a tool for burying the 'ka'", 'ka' being the Egyptian word for the soul.

Reviewed by: Jiji
Proofed by: Highlord
Edited by: Firedog

[b]Order Mail, Volume 1 from Amazon.com!