Seeds of Anxiety*
- Thread starter MangaDex
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Masaaki Nakayama does more Masaaki Nakayama things. Gaping mouths, strange visages, people whose eyes you should not meet. The shock panels are pretty good, but what I find interesting in this collecting seems to be the interest in stories without shock panels, the strange and bizarre things that happen and which have no explanation. Nakayama pushes back in some parts on the effort by readers to explain or narrativize his horror, declaring that some things simply have no explanation and attempting to find one is folly. It is, perhaps, an older view of horror on his end, one that clashes with a more modern American aesthetic. In addition, Nakayama here also seems willing to extend empathy towards the monsters, with more framings of their "need" and the repeating motif of a monster saying "help me". Taken in this way the stories become more darkly cynical—that there are things in this world which may desire or need our help but which do not deserve it.
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I recommend this one and the prequels too. It's short, light and it's also the kind of series that makes me slightly grateful, for living in the Christian part of South America~
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I left this on the comments of Chapter 87, but I'll put it here too. Some of the chapters seem to be linked, and there's a lot of locations (and years) that are recurring.
So because I like to over-analyze the most random things, I went ahead and made a Google spreadsheet noting every single chapter's location and year so far. So, here we go! Still have to fill in chapter titles, but... eh. Note, I used "XX" to note basically "nationwide" areas, and "??" for unknown. Also, I have zero idea where Ishiyama is.
Some interesting takeaways: Most of the series takes place in Tokyo and Hokkaido, with a particular focus on Sapporo and the Suginami Wards. 28 are in Hokkaido for sure, with four more (Yamahana and the Chuou Line Overpass) being maybe Hokkaido. (There's a Chuou Ward in Tokyo, so that could go either way I think?) 25 are in the greater Tokyo area, with 14 specifically in Suginami Ward. Otherwise, most locations appear at least twice...
Except Kouchi City, which is the only city that's specified from a totally unconnected prefecture. Like seriously, just feels out of place. Even Saitama and Kanagawa, the other one-shots, are just listing the prefectures instead of cities?? I dunno, feels weirdly specific.
Meanwhile: there's 13 chapters set in 1998. 8 are set in 2013, so that's the next most common year. The earliest year is 1970, but not much happens in that (it's a kid who says he sees ghosts when he closes his eyes). However, 1975 is from Chapter 30, which ties into Chapter 7 of the very original series. (On that note, I think "Doutou" is the name for the east side of Hokkaido rather than a specific city.)
And then there's the year 2020... Two stories use it. And 67, "Venom Drinker", features a mask that grins when bad things happen. So it could be a reference to some nebulous event... Or it could be a reference to Covid in 2020. The old man mentions an earthquake, and the first story with the mask was in 2011, so that could've been the 2011 earthquake/tsunami. And this volume seems to have been published near the start of Covid, so... it's possible.
Anyways, the spreadsheet has the dates/locations listed. Anyone who wants to use this to analyze for connections, be my guest! I set it so anyone can edit it, so feel free to add notes.
So because I like to over-analyze the most random things, I went ahead and made a Google spreadsheet noting every single chapter's location and year so far. So, here we go! Still have to fill in chapter titles, but... eh. Note, I used "XX" to note basically "nationwide" areas, and "??" for unknown. Also, I have zero idea where Ishiyama is.
Some interesting takeaways: Most of the series takes place in Tokyo and Hokkaido, with a particular focus on Sapporo and the Suginami Wards. 28 are in Hokkaido for sure, with four more (Yamahana and the Chuou Line Overpass) being maybe Hokkaido. (There's a Chuou Ward in Tokyo, so that could go either way I think?) 25 are in the greater Tokyo area, with 14 specifically in Suginami Ward. Otherwise, most locations appear at least twice...
Except Kouchi City, which is the only city that's specified from a totally unconnected prefecture. Like seriously, just feels out of place. Even Saitama and Kanagawa, the other one-shots, are just listing the prefectures instead of cities?? I dunno, feels weirdly specific.
Meanwhile: there's 13 chapters set in 1998. 8 are set in 2013, so that's the next most common year. The earliest year is 1970, but not much happens in that (it's a kid who says he sees ghosts when he closes his eyes). However, 1975 is from Chapter 30, which ties into Chapter 7 of the very original series. (On that note, I think "Doutou" is the name for the east side of Hokkaido rather than a specific city.)
And then there's the year 2020... Two stories use it. And 67, "Venom Drinker", features a mask that grins when bad things happen. So it could be a reference to some nebulous event... Or it could be a reference to Covid in 2020. The old man mentions an earthquake, and the first story with the mask was in 2011, so that could've been the 2011 earthquake/tsunami. And this volume seems to have been published near the start of Covid, so... it's possible.
Anyways, the spreadsheet has the dates/locations listed. Anyone who wants to use this to analyze for connections, be my guest! I set it so anyone can edit it, so feel free to add notes.
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