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WARNING: THIS MANGA CONTAINS NUDITY, GRAPHIC IMAGES OF VIOLENCE, AND CONTENT THAT MAY BE TRIGGERING. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Summary:

               Written and drawn by Hirohisa Sato, Shigahime is the story of Osamu Hirota, a boy who loses his ability to live a normal life thanks to an immortal vampire woman, Miwako, and her underling, Souichi Tachibana. Cursed with a monstrous form and the need to hunt for blood to maintain a human form, Osamu deals with his own inner turmoil and his relationship with his girlfriend, Chika Murase.

Genre(s): Horror, Psychological, Seinen

Thoughts:

               I was scrolling through a list of manga, looking for something short so that I could get started on writing about manga for all my lovely visitors, when I stumbled across this lovely title. Honestly, I went in completely and totally blind. I didn’t read the synopsis or know anything about the work at all. Oooh boy was I in for some shit.

               If you mix Parasyte and Tokyo Ghoul together and add in a splash of nudity (assuming neither of those two have nudity because I can’t quite recall), you get something like what Shigahime is. The story centers around three sixteen-year-old students who end up in this twisted game orchestrated by a few immortal vampires, only to come out of the entire ordeal far worse than I could’ve ever foreseen. These kids get abused, tortured, bullied, killed (a few times), toyed with, and just straight up used.

               The characters are interesting enough. They each have their own personalities and, even though this manga is short, you can clearly see how their situations have changed them by the end of the manga. I find that the three characters the story focuses on are relatable in a way, but, sometimes, the changes to them are a little drastic.

               I love the art here. The gory bits are detailed, the nudity feels appropriate and not at all gratuitous, and sometimes the facial expressions are downright disturbing. The character designs are good, if a little generic. All in all, I’d say that the art drew me in more than the story itself.

Verdict:

               If you have a few hours to kill and are looking for something short and sweet to read, Shigahime may just be your speed.