kuromochi

Ah...childhood.




This cute little vignette comes courtesy of my current source of nightmare fuel, Kazuo Umezu's jaw-dropping classic Hyoori Kyoshitsu "The Drifting Classroom". For those unfamiliar with the name Kazuo Umezu, he's perhaps the most influential horror mangaka of all time. The legendary Pee-Wee Herman of horror. With well over several decades worth of stunning material, this title is even meant to be one of his lesser creations,and yet this is the kind of work that would make the career of many a comics legend. To describe just what happens in this manga, let alone even explain it would nary do it a grain of justice. Ok well I'll at least try and give everyone a brief peep...

Lesse... 800+ kids in Elementary School are thought to be killed in a freak explosion, only to have mysteriously been transported to a barren wasteland of a world with no connection whatsoever to the world they grew up in. All the while, the families left behind tend to believe that their loved ones have perished. Faced with the challenges of not only keeping the peace, maintaining food, and collective sanity, these poor little ones are subject to a relentless onslaught of paranoia, parrallel worlds, distrust, animosity, and even the supernatural. Not only do they have to fear starvation, mutiny, and even illness, they have to contend with monsters from other dimensions, not to mention murderous adults determined to save their own hides.-And all of this is done in unflinching detail and utter fearlessness. We see adults lose it, kill each other, themselves, very well spilling over unto the children who can only do what they can to survive.

I'm not kidding...Everytime you think our story won't go there-IT GOES THERE,and doesn't hold back. We're talking about a tale that is unafraid of taking our heroes and us into the blackest recesses of our childhood fears. I cannot recommend this title enough, despite the fact that I know that it isn't for everyone.