October 2024 Issue

I am not quite sure why I am making this into a series (the previous part being the “Action (in) Anime” Article from the March Newsletter), but here we are. Welcome back to the series where I rave about a specific genre of anime and shows that I really like. This time’s contender is pretty niche and a genre most people sleep on, so I assume most of you wouldn’t know the shows I will be discussing. So, here’s to hoping that reading my incoherent ramblings will get you all interested enough to actually watch the shows I mention.

In anime, the music genre is definitely one of the more niche genres, which most people tend to sleep on unless the show is extremely popular. (You can guess what the most popular anime in this genre is, and I will get to that one later…) I am also guilty of this offense, and my palette of musical anime was fairly limited until the summer of 2024.

During my summer holidays, with ample time in my hands and infinite resources for skill-building, I did what any good college student does and wasted it all in playing games and watching anime/movies. Among the plethora of new anime that I watched, there were two genres in particular that I dipped my toes into for the first time (due to the incessant nagging of two of my friends): Mecha and Music anime. The Mecha genre is a whole different beast that I can hopefully write about in the future once I finish the Gundam franchise. But let’s set that aside and look into the Music genre now.

The shows that I watched were some of the best shows I had ever watched in my 6+ years of watching anime, and now I have a strong urge to write an article about them. So, ya, this will basically be a session of me yapping about some of my favorite anime. Why else do you think there is a “music” article in the Science-fiction edition of our Newsletter?
Now that I am done with my excessively long introduction let’s get started.

Love-Live

Love Live is one of the most popular Idol anime, which is evident from the plethora of shows it has under its belt and new seasons or spin-offs that come out every year. It is definitely more popular in Japan compared to the Western anime community, but it still has a decent online presence. I personally have never been a fan of Moe or cutesy shows, so this one never really attracted my attention. I decided to give the show a try since I didn’t have anything better to do. (who needs skill-building, when I can watch high school girls dance and sing idol songs?) And my thoughts on this are pretty much the same as it was before, it was somewhat enjoyable to watch with a friend, but nothing that amazing.

Bocchi the Rock

“Hmmm, another Moe cute girl anime…I wonder if I will enjoy it. Well, since so many people have watched it, I should watch it as well.” is the mindset with which I was going into this show. And then I watched the first episode.

Bocchi the Rock has been one of the most entertaining anime that I have watched in 2023, and what I consider the gold standard for the Moe genre. The experimentative nature of the comedy in the show was exceptional, and was a fun ride from start to end. Oh ya, I was supposed to be discussing the music.

Despite many of its gags and jokes not being derived from the musical aspect of the show, it is the central theme of the show. A goal that brings our characters together and gives objective meaning to the show, other than a slapstick comedy about a high schooler suffering from social anxiety. The music in this show is amazing, with some of the best J-rock music I have heard in any anime, and is a perfect vessel to propel the story forward despite all the goofy shenanigans that take place throughout the show.

Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight

Now, it's time for ‘Niche Underground Anime No #1’. Revue Starlight is the story about…I am not really sure myself (Well, this is a lie, and you will see why later). Girls who go to a theatre school start participating in a competition of sorts where a talking giraffe tells them to out-revue each other while also fighting each other with weapons, all while singing and dancing.

I doubt any of that made any sense to you, and it probably won’t until you watch the anime. The show's main themes revolve around the different characters overcoming their character faults and shortcomings by laying bare their emotions in the underground revues. It was an interesting and novel concept that interested me, but I came out of the anime feeling somewhat dissatisfied, like I didn’t really get the whole package, and this was just a build-up to something grander.

That is where the movie comes in. The movie is a sequel to the TV series and elevates this show from a nice snack to gourmet cuisine. The movie has the advantage of having characters who are relatively fleshed out right from the start, so it doesn’t waste a moment and gets right into the action. The original series revolves around the themes of sacrifice, and so does this movie. Each character has to find their path to the future, and for each of them, it involves sacrificing something dear to them to achieve it. The movie is a non-stop barrage of music, action, character drama, and resolutions, all building up to a singular grand theme. While I would like to go more in-depth into the movie, it is best experienced blind.

Hibike! Euphonium

‘Niche Underground Anime No #2’

Well, Hibike might not be as underground as the previous show, but that can solely be attributed to how much of a powerhouse Kyoto Animation is. If some shows got the KyoAni stamp of approval, you know it’s gonna be peak. But Hibike isn’t just another anime in KyoAni’s collection, to me, it stands out as their best work and should be assigned the status of GOAT.

Looking at Hibike from the perspectives of animation, direction, story, characters, etc, you can easily see that KyoAni has put their heart and soul into this project, but it also has a very emotionally gripping story, which is a make-or-break moment for many high-production shows. Despite having great animation, if a story is not gripping, I gradually lose interest and start finding it boring. There was never a dull moment in Hibike, despite it being a slice-of-life anime. The character dramas and interactions are some of the most gripping conflicts I have seen in any show, and the struggles of characters start feeling like your own struggles, and you end up getting excited when the cast achieves something and disappointed when they fail.

The story is focused on the Kitauji Music Club, which is a concert band/wind ensemble club, so the majority of the music is classical in nature. I never really went out of my way to listen to classical music, but the music in this anime is a treat even to my amateur ears. The background music feels fresh and unique and is fun to listen to. And the concerts held by the band are not only exceptionally well-played but also feel like a culmination of all the effort and work the characters had done throughout the show. And the concert being avenues where they could reveal everything they had learned and how far they had grown from the beginning.

Considering how this is a character drama and is completely built on the characters and their dynamics with one another, I think it is only fitting that we discuss the characters a bit. This show excels at making grounded and believable characters, and there are a lot of likable characters, but for me, one of them shines well above the rest.

Oumae Kumiko is one of the most relatable characters I have seen in any medium, so she holds a soft spot for me among all the other characters in this show. But, despite that, her character growth throughout the 3 seasons of the show has been a treat to watch, and I would highly recommend this show to anyone who enjoys good character dramas. I think it's best that I cut it short here, or else I will never stop talking about how great Hibike is.

Senki Zesshou Symphogear

‘Niche Underground Anime No #3’
I am starting to see a pattern among these Music anime hmmm.

Well, calling Symphogear a music anime is not really an accurate representation of the show, but music is definitely a core theme throughout the show. I will once again try to badly explain the main premise of this show.
Symphogear is about a group of girls using the power of music and friendship to transform into power suits called Symphogear and fight against mindless creatures called “Noise” and other villains trying to take over the world.

Well, if that explanation didn’t help much, hopefully this will

Hopefully, with this, you get a bit of a gist as to what kind of show this is. Do you know how I said that Hibike as a show excelled in all departments and gave a well-constructed and beautifully made show? Well, Symphogear is quite the opposite.

Through its span of five seasons, Symphogear grows from a completely mediocre and forgettable show to one of the most enjoyable shows I have watched. A brief idea of this growth across the seasons can be seen by my scores for the various seasons (for comparison, 85% of my shows have a score above 60)

Symphogear is the story of a series that constantly learns from its mistakes and improves them, and to watch the quality of this series rise from substandard to something exceptional was a unique journey in itself. A similar journey can be seen in the life of the protagonist of this story, Tachibana Hibiki. Hibiki starts off as your average overenthusiastic and overexcited character, but as the series progresses, she goes through many hardships and struggles that harden her and show her many flaws in her personality. The one part that didn’t change from the start is her indomitable spirit and drive to achieve her goals. This, paired with her ever-growing nature, makes her one of the most motivational and, more importantly, badass characters by season 5.

Despite the other aspects being subpar, one aspect of the show was amazing right from the start: the music. The music in this show ranges from J-pop to J-rock to traditional Japanese, and all of it is a treat for the ears. This was probably what made me stick with the show despite its rocky start. (along with the multiple times a friend recommended this show to me) If you want to get an idea as to the kind of music you can expect from this show, do give a listen to this.

Special Recommendations

I would like to give these shows their own sections, but I am running out of space to write (the WebDev Head is looking at me menacingly), I will have a quickfire round of the remaining good shows.

• • Paripi Koumei
• • Vivy: Flourite’s Eye Song
• • Yoru no Kurage wa Oyogenai
• • Girls Band Cry
• • Macross Frontier (not really a music anime, but still falls here)
• • K-On (not much music in it, though)

Well, with that, we can pretty much wrap up this article. My overall experience with this genre has been extremely entertaining, mainly because I only watched the selective shows that my friends recommended, but this experience has opened me up to a different genre of anime, which I would have never explored otherwise.
Moral of the story: watch more shows

PS. Your Lie in April has good music, but the story is mid.

Introduction

This article will cover the anime adaptation of the Visual Novel, Higurashi no naku no koro ni.We will go through the complete structuring of the show as well as elements that elevate it to a level above other shows in the horror genre.

Introduction to the horror genre

The horror genre in the fields of Japanese fiction, mainly in the otaku culture, is an uncharted territory. Even a good amount of veteran watchers may not know more than 2 or 3 works based solely on this genre. Although a plethora of mangas(Junji Ito collection, Mieruko chan) exist in the horror genre, a manga, due to being what it is, falls short of its ability to stimulate the uncanny environment and effects that a visual piece can do wonders in. Most authors rely on creating spooky or violent panels in their work as a substitute for the same. Hence the anime aspect in the horror genre is still underdeveloped. Despite this fact, there are still unspoken masterpieces existing in this genre, one of which will be covered in this article today, i.e., “Higurashi When They Cry,” a TV series based on the Japanese sound novel (a type of visual novel) “Higurashi no naku no koro ni.”

A bit of History

The series initially was a visual novel, specifically a sound novel and the first work of The 7th Expansion. The direction and scenario writing for the series, along with the character illustrations, were done by Ryukishii07.

The first game of the series was released on the 10th of August, 2002, with the last canon issue being released on the 13th of August 2006. The adaptation's first season was aired from April 4 to September 26, 2006, comprising 26 episodes. The animation was done by Studio Deen and the season covered all four of the question arcs and two of the answer arcs of the story.

A continuation of the series produced by the same core staff and based on one new story arc and the final two original answer arcs of the franchise, aired in Japan between July 6 and December 17, 2007

Higurashi When They Cry: A classic for the thirst for horror

A gist of the story.

Keiichi Maebara moves to the quiet village of Hinamizawa in the summer of 1983 and quickly befriends Rena, Mion, Satoko, and Rika. However, beneath the village's idyllic surface lies a dark history of murders and disappearances connected to the annual festival and the patron god, Oyashiro. When Keiichi seeks answers, his friends become eerily silent, fueling his paranoia. As bizarre events unfold, he grapples with mistrust and madness, questioning the true nature of those closest to him. In this unsettling atmosphere, Keiichi confronts the chilling mysteries of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, a story revealed through multiple arcs.

Watch-Order

•  1. When they cry(2006): 26 episodes

•  2. Higurashi When They Cry: Kai(2007): 24 episodes

•  3. Higurashi When They Cry: Gou(2020): 24 episodes

•  4. Higurashi When They Cry Sotsu(2021): 15 episodes

A thing to note is that the Gou and Sotsu series are entirely original and not related to the original VN in any way. These parts feature a new character named “Featherine Augustus Aurora,” who is originally a part of the Visual Novel Series Umineko When They Cry.

These parts are optional to watch but are an extended continuation of the original standalone series. Other than these, the OVAs for the series are listed below

•  1. Higurashi When They Cry: Gaiden(2007): 1 episode- The OVA features a single episode arc, “Nekogoroshi-hen.” The episode is a side story in which Rika and her team brainstorm whether they should check a curious haunted quarry. Nekogoroshi-hen was a light novel released in 2006.

•  2. When they cry: Rei (2009): 5 episodes- This series is also an optional continuation to the first two parts of the main series. It is divided into three arcs, namely-“Hajisarashi-hen,” “Saikoroshi-hen,” and “Hirukowashi-hen.” An interesting fact is that at the end, the show reveals the real identity of Rika Furude as the Witch of Miracles: Bernkastel(another Umineko character)(actually a canon detail).

•  3. Higurashi When They Cry Kira (2011): 4 episodes- A series to depict the slice-of-life aspect of the Hinamizawa village. However, the OVA is mostly fan service. It consists of 4 arcs “Batsukoishi-Hen”, “Ayakashisenshi-hen”,”Musubienshi-hen,” and ”Yumeutsushi-hen.”Batsukoishi-hen was initially released on Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei fan disc that was supposed to be Meakashi-hen's epilogue but was dropped for being too silly and irrelevant, while the rest has original stories.

•  Movie:-

•  1. Higurashi When They Cry: Outbreak(2013): (52-minute episode) -A spin-off episode where an unknown virus infests the Hinamizawa village and depicts the struggles of Rika and her friends as they search for a way to counter this catastrophe.

Characters

(Spoiler Alert !!)

•  1. Furude Rika
  Furude Rika is undoubtedly the true protagonist of the story. She is a seemingly ordinary little girl but is always at the heart of the events throughout the story. She is also referred to as the “Queen Carrier.” Rika, being the only heir daughter of the Furude clan, One of the three great clans of the Hinamizawa village, is assumed as the reincarnation of the local deity “Oyashiro-sama.” Due to specific reasons(watch the anime for it), she lives with his best friend Hojo Satoko.

•  2. Maebara Keiichi
  Maebara Keiichi is initially depicted as the show's protagonist, at least for the entirety of the starting arcs. Throughout various loops, we see his environment devolve from a playful, carefree time to a murder-fest where multiple characters go psychotic.. He is a transfer student in the only school in Hinamizawa, getting cues about the uncanny history of the village. It is from his eyes that we truly experience the horror of behind-the-scenes going on in the village.

•  3. Hojo Satoko
  Hojo Satoko is Rika’s best friend, and her daily life revolves mainly around her. Satoko’s character is depicted as a playful prankster throughout her school. However, being the only member of one of the three great families of the village, she also happens to have a deep backstory behind her tragic past, which is untwined throughout the arcs of the story

•  4. Sonozaki Mion
  Sonozaki Mion is the heir of the Sonozaki family of Hinamizawa. She is also the leader of the Hinamizawa School club, possessing a straightforward and adventurous personality. Throughout the story, we observe her being deeply involved in the insider politics of the village.

•  5. Sonozaki Shion
  Sonozaki Shion is the twin sister of Sonozaki Mion. She possesses a demure personality, living separately from her family in an urban zone and working part-time in a restaurant to earn her living. The reason she lives separately is also of mysterious concern, though throughout the story, we see her relatively less in some arcs. However, she still plays a major role in the murders taking place througout the story.

•  6. Ryugu Rena
  Rena, along with Keiichi, is also a transfer student at the Hinamizawa school, however, unlike him, she has been there for half a year now. Rena’s personality is the most feminine in the show. Her possessiveness to cute things is one of her key features.You may have heard of the famous phrase “omochikaeriii.” Despite all of this, Rena is also a victim of trauma caused due to her parents’ divorce, Which led to her being partially insane and causing a ruckus in her past school. However, she now leads a completely everyday life but isn’t completely free from the tragedy that Hinamizawa has in store for her.

The horror elements of Higurashi When They Cry

(Spoiler Alert !!)

•  1. Hinamizawa Syndrome- The absolute terror of that which is invisible
  100 years….Yes, 100 whole years was the time that Rika Furude, an innocent child, suffered due to the sole existence of this disease, and the one who introduced this into her life, into her village, by the heartless doctor and researcher Takano Miyo. Being thrown into one world from another( referred to as “kakera” in the story). Every try to outlive the fateful day of June 23, 1983, was rendered entirely useless by the ravaging of this disease into her life, into her dear friend’s lives.

  
  Oyashiro-sama and Oyashiro-sama’s curse
  

  This all starts from the Hinamizawa village, originally known as “Onigafuchi village,” named after the swamp “Onigafuchi swamp (referred to as “Onigafuchi marsh” in some translations). The legends dictate that long ago, man-eating demons rose out of that swamp and started murdering and eating the people of the village and terrorizing them. This led to the appearance of a sacred deity named “Oyashiro-sama.” The deity, being displeased by these demons, granted them human form to co-exist with the villagers, and also made it taboo for anyone to leave the village and for outsiders to enter the village.

  
  

  We move to the modern era now, where a “Dam Construction” project is being planned, dividing the villagers into two factions, i.e., the ones supporting it and the ones opposing it. The opposing faction finally manages to nullify the project, and after that, they ostracized all the members of the Supporting Faction. Even the children of the supporting faction ended up as outcasts of the village.

  
  

  This is where the horror of the Oyashiro-sama’s curse begins. The deity, being vindictive of the betrayers, is thought to have cast a curse on such people on the day of the “Watanagashi(cotton drifting) festival,” dictates that one person will die on the night of the festival and the other person will be “spirited-away” on the same night. The horror of inevitability depicted here is also a common theme in its sister work, Umineko. It creates a sense of dread and foreboding in the viewer as they are aware of the eventual gruesome end and anticipate it. It also creates a sense of complacency in the viewer to stop finding hope and to give up as the outcome is determined, irrespective of the loops. The curse starts from the year 1979, failing not a single time in making random victims over the continuous course of 5 years.

  
  Stages of the syndrome
  

  •  1. L1 & L2:
    Nothing unusual here. The victim in this stage is mostly unaffected and can carry out their everyday lifestyle.

  •  2. L3:
    This is where the deterioration starts. The victim’s mental and emotional stability begins to be shaken by the progressing syndrome, and they remain susceptible to worsening.

  •  3. L4:
    Still not the worst possible condition the victim reaches. In this stage, the prominent symptoms are progressing paranoia and hallucinations of a visual and auditory nature. One fantastic point about the presentation of the mystery is that in the question arcs, we see the events unfolding from the perspective of the victims themselves, depicting to us the true horror of these hallucinations and how much they affect their everyday lives after seeing the unfolding mystery in the answer arcs.

  •  4. L5:
    The final and the worst stage of the Hinamizawa syndrome, the accurate depiction of what extreme paranoia and insanity do to a person. The hallucinations, the extreme mistrust in everyone, and the feeling of the uncanny presence of the “Oyashiro-sama” are what lead the lives of a regular group of children to go south. This stage is so much worse that the affected character ends up brutally murdering their friends for reasons only their mind, devoid of the tiniest bit of sanity, can justify.

    
    

    We see in the question arcs how much cruelty this stage of the syndrome can bring forth, as in one of the arcs, Satoko is brutally tortured by the affected Shion just for the sake of her beloved Satoshi(Satoko’s oni-chan). In another arc, Keichi mercilessly murders Mion and Rena with a bat, splitting open their heads.

    
    

    Another Key symptom of this stage is the ever-increasing feeling of the maggots crawling and squirming under the skin, causing the victim to itch and eventually tear out their skin from this feeling. The terminal L5 stage makes them commit suicide out of the dread of the Oyashiro-sama approaching them. The feeling of the maggots entirely filling their throats, to get rid of this feeling, they claw their throat and end up plowing their artery, resulting in death due to blood loss. (i am getting chills remembering all of this).

  The End result
  
  

  The end result of this is nothing short of a catastrophe: a group of innocent kids, destroyed by the insanity of a disease it is, ending up in pure gore and bloodshed, which no one deserves.

  Next, we take up the evil who, in her pursuit of curiosity, lost even the touch of her basic humanity.

•  2. Takano Miyo- The true malice of human curiosity
  Now, we have seen the horror of this biohazard disease, but this “Hinamizawa syndrome” is not that of an infectious nature. Now, you might be wondering how this syndrome manages to barge its way into our story. The culprit at the root of this heinous act is none other than Takano Miyo, the primary antagonist of the entire story.

  
  A bit of backstory
  

  Takano Miyo was originally born under the name “Miyoko Tanashi” and lived joyously with her parents in her early childhood. However, an unexpected car crash occurs, and she is suddenly stripped of her parental bonds. Now, being an orphan, she is taken to an orphanage, but who knew that the children there were so horribly abused by the staff leader? One incident of this was when Miyoko was almost forced to clean a toilet orally…... Together with three girls, she escapes and phone calls a man named Hifumi Takano, who was her father, Takemitsu Tanashi's mentor. Hifumi decided to adopt Miyo, and Miyo changed her name from "Miyoko Tanashi" to "Miyo Takano." Hifumi becomes a sort of grandfather for her, and she cares deeply for him. Since his name can mean "1-2-3," Miyoko decides to take the name "Miyo," which can mean "3-4." He inspires Takano on the path of biological research by allowing her to help him with his study of Hinamizawa Syndrome. When Hifumi dies humiliated and discredited by his superiors, Takano vows to complete his research, whatever the cost may be.

  
  The Crimes
  

  This relentless determination towards her obsession eventually leads to her losing her humanity. The irony behind the fact that she is the character who committed the most murder becomes crystal clear through the story's progression.

  
  

  While being a popular worker at the “Irie Clinic,” her personality, covered by the facade of gentle and tender kindness, is revealed to be that of the most twisted nature. On the surface level, she loves to frighten people with horrifying tales of Hinamizawa’s past( the history of the village being one of her obsessions), the frightening part of her personality being that she sees every person in the village as nothing but a mere guinea pig for her research, and the only thing she looks humanly at, is the memory of her late grandfather.

  
  

  The monster does not hesitate even a bit to go as far as to massacre the entire village in a single night under the name of a natural catastrophe in order to remove the evidence of her research.

  
  

  The tragedy she throws at the village was done through the means of the elite squad of counter-intelligence soldiers termed “The Yamainu,” which handles most of the killing in the backside of the story. However, there are instances where she does not hesitate to perform some of them herself, including the murder of her lover, Jiro, through the dose of the Hinamizawa Syndrome. In one of the arcs, she goes as far as to murder all the children herself.

  
  

  At the end of almost every arc, Rika is forcefully killed by her in the process of dissection just to research the “Queen Factor” that Rika possesses. Driven by pure curiosity, the woman shows no mercy and tries her very hardest to get her hands on Rika’s body, taking no heed of her life in the process. She even openly disposes of her body in just a shrine devoid of respect.

  
  

  Takano Miyo unarguably depicts the sickest of humanity.

Conclusion

Alright, so with this, we conclude the article(the deadline can go to hell). I hope I gave you a taste of the horrors of the Higurashi series. With this, we went through the in-depth structuring of the stories and their dark aspects, too. Welp, I hope you had a good time reading :)

The world of anime has a lot of genres to choose from, like Shounen, Seinen, Isekai, etc. Of course, these are just the popular ones, but countless other genres don’t get the attention they deserve. The genre of Horror is widely assumed to be associated with ghosts and supernatural creatures, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Most people do not know which anime are even classified as horror, so here are a few examples of such:

•  1. Made in Abyss

•  2. Monster

•  3. Elfen Lied

•  4. Attack on Titan

In fact, the Horror genre in anime has hardly anything to do with being scary; rather, it is an expression of tragedy and horrific events that take part in the storytelling. There are a few examples where the essence of Horror, as assumed by the masses is considered, i.e., the presence of ghosts. Ghost Stories and Mieruko-chan are good examples of this, but they are hardly scary.

As mentioned, events that can be considered horror include tragedy and psychological horror will be the focal point of this article using Monster as the core.

The following analysis on Monster will contain heavy spoilers, so read further accordingly.

Monster is an anime series about Dr. Kenzo Tenma, a well-known neurosurgeon with a promising career in a leading German hospital. Tenma puts his reputation and bright future in jeopardy to save the life of Johan, a young kid who is gravely injured. Soon after, a series of odd and enigmatic killings start to happen, with him being the main suspect.

His previous decision plagues Tenma, and becomes persuaded that Johan is the "Monster" he created. He sets out on a mission to expose Johan's criminal history and bring him to justice. As Tenma goes deeper into discovering the truth about Johan, he becomes entangled in a labyrinth of conspiracy, political intrigue, and moral quandaries.

At the start of the series, Dr. Tenma is faced with a pivotal and unprecedented decision to save a little boy of no known significance or the Mayor. He is cornered into a tight situation where every authority present in the hospital, including the Director, wants him to operate on the Mayor. At this moment, Dr. Tenma realizes the weight of the words, “Some lives are more important than others.” From here onwards, Dr. Tenma loses everything he had: his career, social standing, and girlfriend, he is soon left all alone, just him and the boy he saved.

Upon facing this tragedy, Tenma affirms that others were only chasing behind money and not following the Doctor’s duty. He expresses his anger in front of the boy, glorifying his strong conviction of following what’s right according to his belief. Deep down he also had this feeling that he may have been escaping the guilt by creating his pretentions as he could not answer the questions raised at him. While expressing his anger, he said many things like wishing death upon them and considering himself righteous.

After losing everything, he develops a grudge against the people who are the reason for his downfall. Unbeknownst to his surprise, all the people he had a grudge against died simultaneously, while the boy and his twin sister went missing at the same time. A few years later, the event occurs again, and this time he finds Johan, and he is shocked by the fact that it was Johan who was behind the murders. The weight of his decision hits him, and he finds himself in a tragic situation, contemplating if he was right or wrong to save Johan.

Johan explains that he kills anyone who tries to uncover his identity but he feels that Dr. Tenma is like a father to him so he got rid of the people that Dr. Tenma wished death upon as a repayment for saving his life.

Nina Fortner (later revealed to be Anna Liebert) had her fair share of tragedies thanks to Johan. Dr. Tenma, after his encounter with Nina, soon learns about the events Nina has experienced about how a young Johan killed people.

Detectives believed Tenma was responsible for all the killings, so they pursued him, forcing him to work as a doctor on the black market. When he discovers that no one is prepared to leave him alone, he sets out to identify the person responsible and discovers Kinderheim 511, a covert abandoned project.

It is inconceivable how vicious Kinderheim 511 can be.The goal of this orphanage was to produce emotionally-devoid superhuman troops to fight for Soviet East Germany. The youngsters were maintained on a thread for survival and were not even granted the most basic human rights.Johan was one of the test volunteers in this institution. The children were subjected to a number of ludicrously cruel tests, and in these situations, deaths were not unusual. Even with all the other children here, Johan was a threat. He had managed to control everyone in the building, and when the pandemonium turned into a slaughter, people began murdering one another.

Johan only responded, "I threw an oil-soaked cloth into the open fire," when questioned about his activities. He claimed that all factions were already experiencing tremendous tensions and that all he had done was add oil to fan the flames. Kinderheim 511 was quickly shut down, and all of its records were destroyed in the fire, leaving no trace of the horrors that had taken place there.

There are other characters in the series who, like Johan, possess a manipulative nature. For example, Roberto, initially one of Johan’s bodyguards, and also acclaimed to be Johan’s most fervent follower was also one of Kinderheim 511’s alumni. He liked to intimidate people like Johan and use them for his own benefits while leaving them to suffer.Similarly, Heinrich Runge, the officer who was on the tail of Johan from the beginning, believing him to be the ultimate culprit, had a similar code of conduct to those mentioned above. He is ruthless in his dedication to catching criminals no matter at what cost even if it is his life. To predict a killer's motives, method of execution, and his next move, Runge enters a psychological state where he "becomes" the killer. After getting into their mindset, he can reenact the killer's behavior and fully understand why they carried out such actions and what they will do next. When he tries to do this with Johan, he concludes that "I do not exist", because Johan's motives are completely impalpable to him, giving him, in Runge's eyes, a fictitious air.

Miloš was one of the children who used to live with Mikhail Petrov. Mikhail continued his experiments on children as he did in Kinderheim 511, but instead of cruelty and violence, they were being loved and taken care of. He soon encounters a blonde lady (Johan cross-dressing), and Miloš, when asked what he is looking for, replies that he is searching for this mother. Johan gaslights the boy into believing that this world is insignificant and persuades him to go look for his mom in the red-light district. To the boy’s horrors all he experienced there was hell on Earth and it wasn’t until Grimmer’s intervention that he finally escaped it.

Red Rose Mansion was a secluded estate, isolated from the outside world where experiments involved children subjected to extreme psychological and physical conditions with the goal of producing a child who possessed exceptional intelligence and abilities.

The Eugenics Experiment was a project set up by Franz Bonaparta with the help of Peter Capek where men and women Would coincidentally ting and fall in love. Later, they would be separated, and the women would be sent to an isolated facility after giving birth. After breastfeeding was over, the children would be taken away and the women would be brainwashed and would not remember anything about this incident.

Following the birth of the twins, Johan and Anna Liebert, they had participated in the Three Frogs experiment, in which they were both clothed as girls and brought up as such. The objective was to determine whether the mother in this instance exhibited any bias and what she would do if asked to give away one of the children.

This experiment was so deeply enrooted in the twins’ minds that they couldn’t differentiate who experienced what. Nina believes that she was the one who experienced all the atrocities that Johan claims to have experienced and so on. They were practically indistinguishable when dressed identically, so no one is aware as to who was sent away but as we know, Nina feels it’s she who was sent away. It was also said that both of them don’t have any names and their current names are just placeholders. There was also a scene while leaving Czechoslovakia, where both of them refer to each other as Johan since that’s what they believe.

In the final arc, we witness a confrontation between Dr. Tenma and Johan Liebert alongside Nina and Franz Bonnaparta. Nina tells Johan that he will be forgiven but Johan claims that it’s already too late. Finally, Johan gets shot in the head and falls. Similar to what happened in the beginning, Dr. Tenma saves Johan’s life again.

These were a few of the accounts cited in Monster regarding the strange and tragic events witnessed by those who have had a close relation to or even encountered Johan even if for just once. Johan always asserted that “there was a Monster inside me.” The phrase was never made clear as to whether Johan has Dissociative Identity Disorder or not. It could be quite possible as hinted by the Three Frogs event where Anna and Johan are indistinguishable and their thoughts get entangled with one another similarly. In his final moments, before almost dying, he had said “The only thing all humans are equal in… is death.” in quite the tragic sense, in the sense that if Dr. Tenma hadn’t saved his life again, his death would be as ordinary as it gets, proving his point. When Dr. Tenma visits Vera Cerna, the mother of the twins, she asks him if he wants to know the real names of the two kids. She questions herself as to who was the real Monster all along, Franz Bonnaparta for initiating all of this, or Johan for what he did later. When Dr. Tenma passes on the same information to Johan he asks him one and only one question, “Who do you think was unwanted? Was my mother trying to protect me or did she confuse me for my sister?”

The story ends here and we are left with many questions that are simply left unexplained. In my opinion, that keeps it more interesting and open for debate as multiple scenarios could have unfolded. Overall, the Monster is a good read/watch for anyone interested in psychological, tragedy, or horror and is a classic series in the world of anime.

This article concludes here and thank you for reading.

Introduction

What is horror? It is the feeling of great shock or fear, but what causes the fear? Our minds. The sense of horror is a survival adaptation that our brains developed, something to get us away from precarious situations. But can it help to get away from somewhere we can’t escape from? Our very minds.

In this article, we will observe how our minds entrap us. We will discuss the story from the manga Homunculus to analyse the tricks our consciousness plays with us. And, of course, spoilers ahead.

Different Face, Same Person.

The manga follows the journey of a middle-aged man Susumu Nakoshi who spends his days living in a car between a first-class hotel and a homeless park. Nakoshi used to work for a major foreign financial company, but he is homeless now and that’s by choice. Nakoshi had undergone a facial reconstruction surgery which changed his facial appearance to unrecognisable from his earlier face. Nakoshi detested the way he looked, and that is why he burned down all the objects that possessed his resemblance. This act of self-erasure caused more harm to him than good. He started to forget himself.

After the surgery, Nakoshi prospered in his job and landed a good position. He was also successful in going out with women but there was something that was eating him from inside. He knew that he could never have gotten things with his old look. His real self was determined by the way he used to look. What is a real self? Does it remain constant or change with time? These questions haunted him. Nakoshi took a break from his job and started living in a car near the hotel he used to go to. Nakoshi found a connection between himself and the homeless people who put up tents in the park. He thought that if he could understand them, he could understand himself. Since they are the ones who have been through a lot and have also had past lives they have forgotten. Nakoshi had abandoned his love of life before getting the surgery, and he had a tough time remembering her too. He had placed barriers in his mind which stopped him from thinking about his past self. He wanted to break the barriers he had created. For which he took some of the most drastic takes possible.

Trepanation

After being lured by Manabu Ito, a 22-year-old medical student, Nakoshi agrees to let him drill a hole in his skull in exchange for 700,000 yen. Ito presents Nakoshi with the argument that while growing up, our skull fuses and creates pressure inside, which inhibits childlike thinking and curiosity. When it is drilled, the brain is de-pressurised and may function in miraculous ways. Nakoshi is drawn towards this approach and thinks it will solve his problems. He undergoes the process but does not seem to have any changes in his perceptions, but then something happens. Nakoshi when he looks at anyone with his right eye closed sees them as a distorted collection of matter. He terms them as ‘Homunculus’.

Initially, he thinks of these absurdities as hallucinations but later when he talks with one he realises the homunculus he sees is the visual representation of their innermost despair. When Nakoshi talks to a homunculus about their greatest despair, the source of their pain, the homunculus seems to fade away while leaving part of Nakoshi distorted the same way as the homunculus.

Delusions or Reality?

The homunculus that Nakoshi sees raises questions about his state of mind. Is he alright in the head? He first dismisses these visuals as hallucinations. And he is not wrong either; They qualify all the checks for being hallucinations. But when he starts to interact deeply with them, he understands that that's not the case. But how reliable is this? Is his brain playing tricks on him again?

This aspect of the story is what is the most fearful. How real are the things he is seeing? Are the normal-appearing people homunculus, too? How strange it might feel to see this world through your eyes. To accept this reality of morphed people is something only an insane person can endure. And Nakoshi by all means is not sane. When Nakoshi talks to a homunculus, it requires a great deal of knowing that person to see them as humans. And they leave a part of themselves in Nakoshi. How many people can one Nakoshi cure? Won’t he lose the shape of himself if he does this too many times? Not that Nakoshi hasn’t lost himself in the past either. Nakoshi tries to get rid of these by trying to close the hole in his skull but it is to no avail. He keeps seeing them.

Losing Oneself

While trying to find his old self, Nakoshi loses himself. And with his new ‘powers’, he goes too far off the edge. He gets obsessed with these Homunculus. He starts to care more about the inner despairs of others than himself. Nakoshi meets a woman and gets obsessed with her. Since her Homunculus appears to have no face. The woman is an escort, and not knowing her fully, pains Nakoshi far more than expected. His obsession with seeing the homunculus makes him perform another trepanation on himself.

After this, when he meets the woman again, he concludes that she is the woman he used to love once, Nanako. She used to have an ‘unattractive’ face and underwent cosmetic surgery to change her appearance, and turns out she also lost a part of herself after it. She reminds Nakoshi of himself before the trepanation.

Seeing Others

Nakoshi manages to convince her of trepanation and drills a hole into her head. This does not result in the same thing it did for him, instead he sees himself in Nakoshi. He is either enlightened or has gone completely insane. He takes pleasure in the fact that Nanako looks like him now. Nanako passes away after some time. But Nakoshi is unaware of it. He goes outside and he sees himself, his face in everyone, All have become him. He is in everyone. He sees others as he sees himself. Broken. Nakoshi. Maybe this homunculus thing was a big facade put by his mind to make him realise this. He is everyone. With the pleasure of seeing himself in everyone. Nakoshi goes on the loose. He drills more holes in himself and others. And eventually gets arrested.

The journey of Nakoshi forces us to think about whether all the things that transpired were a result of trepanation or just a trigger. We can’t escape from our minds. We can set barriers but barriers are eventually broken and when it does all hell breaks loose. This aspect of psychological horror is far more disturbing than actual horror. We can’t break free from the way we view this world.

In the vast world of horror anime, the most terrifying ones need not always involve carnage, mythical beings, or grotesque monsters. The most horrifying horror is undoubtedly - the horror of backstabbing. This sword called betrayal cuts deeper than any weapon, leaving one questioning whether even the bond they hold close to their heart is true because the most devastating thing a soul can experience is when the person they trusted so much explicitly turns against them.

In this article, we will look into two masterpieces - “The Promised Neverland” and “Summertime Rendering”, where each plot twist pulls you deeper into a world of suspense, horror and mystery.

Summertime Rendering:

Summertime Rendering is one of the best anime published in 2022 for its remarkable story and a cherry on top ending. This show is mainly renowned for one thing - “not screwing up a perfectly good story”, which a lot of anime tend to do. There is no sense of lingering regrets or wasted potential, which makes this anime a satisfying watch. Most horror anime use intensely grotesque scenes and bloodshed to deeply engrave terror in the viewers' hearts. However, that is not the case with this one. Although there are some unpleasant scenes, it is cute for the most part.

It also stands out for its unique take on the horror genre, which is what we will delve deeper into. In this story, the protagonist, Ajiro Junpei, returns to his hometown after several years for the funeral of his childhood best friend, whose death is entangled in a complex web of mysteries. As we progress into the story, the concept of “betrayal” becomes more apparent and vital. The main culprits of this show are the “Shadows”. The “Shadows” in the story can take on any form, which makes the character always be at an edge, constantly doubting every action of everyone dear to them. The feeling that anyone around you could be a “Shadow” always gives you discomfort, which turns trust into an ultimate gamble.

The narrative of this story is elevated even more by introducing a "loop by death" concept, where the protagonist goes back in time every time he dies. Upon his death, he is sent back to the past, allowing him to relive the events leading up to his death with full knowledge of what has happened. With every loop, the stakes become higher, and his understanding of reality begins to blur. This concept further complicates his understanding of reality and trust as he constantly keeps second-guessing what is real and who can be trusted, making the presence of "Shadows" even more menacing and their betrayal more impactful.

Promised Neverland:

This anime is notorious for one thing - screwing up the second season. The first season was so memorable and had so much potential which ultimately was thrown into garbage without hesitation. Setting that aside and while talking solely about the first season, it stands as one of the greatest horror anime ever created to date. This anime is more of a psychological horror, and “Backstabbing and Betrayal” plays an important role.

The “Grace Field House” is a paradise for the orphans residing there. It is a place filled with joy and warmth. The children get everything they want - food, education, and affection. The mama, Isabella, plays the role of the mom who loves everyone and is also loved by everyone. But this “Grace Field House” is definitely not what it seems like on the outside. The truth is much more haunting, and one cannot even imagine what is happening there.

The horrifying truth of this orphanage is that it is a farm where young children are raised like mere livestock to feed demons. But the children are completely unaware of this and have been made to believe for multiple years that they are instead being protected and cared for by the mama, Isabella. But the true face of this loving mother is a well-oiled machine of deception.

This deception extends beyond Isabella to the whole institution that nurtures multiple farms like the Grace Field House, which different mamas take care of. The psychological horror of this anime is the agonising weight of the realisation that the children were never safe from the start. Every act of care and kindness was calculated to ensure that no doubt arose among the children. The crushing weight of this betrayal, combined with the feeling of realisation that they were living in a fake utopia all along, is suffocating. And this scar remained even long after the children found the truth.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, considering “Summertime Rendering” and “The Promised Neverland”, it is clear that the most agonising horror isn't about the monster under your bed but the terror of betrayal from those you hold dear. Ultimately, whether it comes to shape-shifting shadows or the betrayal of a cookie jar filled with a sewing kit instead of cookies, the real horror might be none other than living in a world without anime.

“Fear of the unknown is the greatest fear of all." Yvon Chouinard.

Fear is essential for our survival. Fear is rational sometimes—you should be scared of a truck coming your way while crossing the street (unless you want to get isekaid). It can also be irrational, like fear of being without a phone—nomophobia (seriously?). Fear of the unknown is both rational and irrational. You should definitely not wander in a dark forest at night. But talking to an unknown person won’t kill you (perhaps). Junji Ito’s Uzumaki explores the fear of the unknown through the eyes of our protagonists, Kirie and Shuichi, as their fear of spirals turns from an irrational paranoia to a living nightmare.

Junji Ito’s Uzumaki (Japanese for spiral) manga was published between 1998-99 and has 20 chapters. I would suggest that you read the manga first and then come back. The Uzumaki anime also started airing in October 2024. But it continued the legacy of Ito’s work’s anime adaptation, being a pile of rubbish right after the first episode. Even the storyline of the first episode is all over the place, even if the animation is good. After that, the animation quality plummets to the depths of hell. That being said, let’s venture into the spoiler zone ahead!

Story-Driven Narrative of Uzumaki

The plot can be propelled in two ways: story and character. In story-driven plots, everything revolves around the story rather than the characters. The characters are just the point of view; they don’t affect the plot much, whereas character-driven plots revolve around the journey of the character(s). The characters are not only our point of view but also the ones driving the story. Uzumaki has a story-driven plot. Throughout the manga/anime, our main characters cannot do anything to stop the horror they face. This feeling of helplessness adds to the horror element. The phenomenon is so large that you are a puny ant in front of it—weak and scared.

The Bizzare Nature of Spirals

Generally, one would not associate spirals with horror. That’s just a pattern; what can it do to you? This is where the genius of Junji Ito lies. The seemingly harmless spiral turns into a nightmare that swallows an entire town. This is one of the reasons why Uzumaki is the most famous work of Ito sensei, even though his works, like Gyo, Tomie, and Remina, are at the same level (in my opinion). There’s not much you can do with spirals, but Uzumaki has utilized almost every natural instance of spirals, like snails, cochlea, fingerprints, whirlwinds, whirlpools, etc. When Junji Ito exhausted these references, he created his own spirals, like in the mosquito arc, using the flying pattern of mosquitoes or the spiral engulfing Azami Kurotani. The spirals started as small and harmless, like the tiny snail and the pottery in the first chapter. It rapidly escalates till it ends with the final spiral being a mysterious creature. One of the main characteristics of the spiral is that it draws you towards its center. This property is used by Ito a lot during the manga, the best example being that no one is able to leave the town in the end, and the town pulls everyone towards it. This also meant that you can't escape the horror of the spiral no matter what you do; it will always pull you towards it in every case.

Uzumaki and the Fear of the Unknown

Remember the last time you went to a hospital? If you are like me, then you would feel anxiety in the waiting room. Is it a normal stomachache? Is it a parasite? Is it what Google suggested—cancer? You won't know until the doctor makes the diagnosis. Your condition in the waiting room is unknown to you. It can be anything. It can be something that you can predict or something that you can’t even imagine. This is a typical case of fear of the unknown.

One of the main inspirations for Junji Ito comes from H.P. Lovecraft’s works. H.P. Lovecraft is such an important person in the horror world that an entire horror genre is named after him—Lovecraftian/cosmic horror. It emphasizes the horror of the unknown and incomprehensible rather than gore and disgust. There’s a famous quote by Sun Tzu: “Know your enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.” Fear naturally comes when encountering something unknown, which is why I hate when authors try to explain the horror body/phenomenon in their works. What’s there to fear when you already know the mechanisms of how things are working? It makes the manga bland and boring.

Junji Ito rarely ever explains the horror in his manga. This leaves the reader with a question—what exactly happened right there? Right from the start of Uzumaki, we don’t know the cause of the spiral obsession. We just see it happening. Here lies the element of the unknown. As you go through each chapter, the scale of the disaster and the mystery associated with it increases. But even in the end, there was no explanation for what happened in the town. The final spiral creature is the cause of the spiral disaster. But what was it? When was it created? Who or what made it? We simply have no idea.

The Major Horror Aspects Throughout the Story

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The first person that was affected by the spiral was Shuichi’s father. He did many unsettling things, like rotating his eyeballs, rolling his tongue, and finally stuffing himself in a circular box, making a spiral with his body in his pursuit of the spiral. That’s when we know that things are getting out of hand. We know that normal humans can’t do the stuff he did. How did he do it? I am just as clueless as I am during my exams.

Shuichi’s mother started seeing her husband in every spiral around her. At the end of the chapter, the spiral speaks to her and tells her about the spiral in her ears. Do spirals speak? No. Did she previously know about the cochlea in the ear? No. Then how did she conclude and become so sure she pierced her ear with scissors?

Azami Kurotani’s scar turns into a spiral, engulfing her and another boy. Kirie’s and her classmate’s hair curls into spirals and drains the life of the classmate, killing her. The jack-in-the-box boy rises from the dead. People transform into snails, and other people cook and eat the snails. The lighthouse emits mystical rays. The storm targets Kirie, almost killing her. A row house contains a peculiar disease. Whirlwinds occur from the smallest of movements. Whirlpools swallow rescue ships. People twist and entangle in row houses. The speed of time changes around Kurouzo-cho. The row houses all align themselves in the shape of a spiral.

The reasons for all these events are unknown. No matter how much you rack your brains, the only common thing is the spiral pattern. Each event is unique in other aspects. You can’t predict what’s going to happen based on previous events. Fear of the unknown strikes again.

I think you’ve noticed that I skipped the hospital arc in the above explanation. So, let’s discuss my favorite arc!

The Hospital Arc

This arc is about vampiric pregnant women who behave like mosquitoes; they drink blood to nourish their babies! For some unknown reason, the babies are born normal, even healthier than normal children. However, the cuteness of the babies can’t deceive Kirie. She heard them talking about returning to their mother’s womb. Following this, she bears witness to the horror of the children’s wishes.

This arc contains some of the most bone-chilling illustrations I’ve ever seen. The way Ito involved the spiral here is also unorthodox. He shows the mosquitoes flying in a spiral pattern that hypnotizes a person. No other type of spiral is seen here. This was the weirdest part of a weird story. Why were there so many pregnant women at once? Why were they bloodthirsty? Why does consuming blood lead to women having such exceptionally healthy babies? What kind of babies talk? Mushroom from the placenta? Babies with homesickness? Ito sensei used his creativity to the fullest in this arc. I don't think that anyone would be wary of pregnant women. When the ones that are supposed to be cared for turn into monsters, now that would scare me.

Our emotion of fear can be dated back to the reptilian brains. That’s why fear is so fundamental to us. In the manga medium, the one who can best evoke this emotion is undoubtedly Junji Ito. Uzumaki is popular for a reason; the story, the characters, the setting, and the art were all superb. Uzumaki incorporates the idea of fear of the unknown uniquely and bizarrely. If you are new to manga or even horror, Uzumaki is a must-read! Experience the timeless classic that warps your perception of the abundant and mesmerizing shape-spirals.