Ura Baito: Toubou Kinshi - Vol. 5 Ch. 53 - Funeral Hall Staff ③

[MangaDex]

 

[lapizzasol]

I'm a big fan of how unresolved this series frequently is.

 

[Choo]

Ending really reminds of Koji Shiraishi's movie

Spoiler

Occult

 

[VegaObscura]

thank you for more chapters. actually like how this one went. had horror and supernatural elements, and of course yet another sign the afterlife is out to get you. it's neat how you can at least group together the various craziness they get into during their jobs, even in the really out there arcs

 

[1412]

this one is pretty easy to understand

 

[cromat]

Pretty surface level this one ?

Buddha statue is actually a troll making people think u go to heaven when u die but actually it's hell

Anything interesting I missed?

 

[farranpoison]

Well, seems pretty standard for this one, some kind of entity is tricking a village into killing themselves.

 

[taesu]

Pretty surface level this one ?

Buddha statue is actually a troll making people think u go to heaven when u die but actually it's hell

Anything interesting I missed?

I don't think that was Buddha statue, more a god of good fortune, Daikokuten.

 

[MamaPanther]

I've joked (to myself) before about how they're like the more shadily paid, privately employed MIB for supernatural shenanigans at this point in their careers... But wearing the funeral parlor suits really helps sell their professional image when things go quite this catastrophically wrong. Pity they couldn't save their coworker, but considering the circumstances... Well, they're probably just lucky she didn't try to kill them as well.

Speaking of "catastrophically wrong", looking at all of those people jumping off the cliff... Have they witnessed anything else on this scale before, outside of Nature Conservationist? The other jobs they've done that carried such a toll, like Personal Delivery or Shrine Maiden, I don't think they ever saw the consequences... I wonder if we're going to get another chapter with the pressure becoming too much for one of them after this. Neither of them like abandoning people, and while they saved the kid... This was a particularly blood-stained case. Or ash-coated, as the case may be.

Anything interesting I missed?

It's a minor detail that might just be my misinterpretation, but the statue flying away on the jet-black slab appears to be holding a fishing rod instead of a more conventional staff. Fitting, for a figure luring them to their deaths with such a bait.

 

[cromat]

Also not sure of the symbolism of the statue turning into a slab or what the slab means

 

[gundulgondrong]

living is pain? just die lol

 

[Hikineet]

Thanks for the chapters.

 

[nodamnbrakes]

I'm a big fan of how unresolved this series frequently is.

I was just going to comment on this; love how so many of the jobs come down to getting in, getting paid, and getting out alive.

 

[zawarudo]

I don't think that was Buddha statue, more a god of good fortune, Daikokuten.

from the fishing rod, it's actually ebisu aka hiruko, whose imagery do somewhat resemble daikokuten's. daikokuten's trademark piece of gear is a sack. both daikokuten and ebisu are considered gods of prosperity among the seven gods of fortune, but ebisu is the only one who is thoroughly japanese in origin.

It's a minor detail that might just be my misinterpretation, but the statue flying away on the jet-black slab appears to be holding a fishing rod instead of a more conventional staff. Fitting, for a figure luring them to their deaths with such a bait.

 

[Sonaldo]

I'm a big fan of how unresolved this series frequently is.

Same man. Like 90% of the time I'll be asking myself what the fuck is going on and I love it. Horror fiction always tries to explain themselves so the audiences can be scared but this manga is different. It'll do the bare minimum to explain the stuff going on and most of the time, our two mc are literally just passengers. They have no power to change things because these things are way way beyond our comprehension

 

[beep_repair]

from the fishing rod, it's actually ebisu aka hiruko, whose imagery do somewhat resemble daikokuten's. daikokuten's trademark piece of gear is a sack. both daikokuten and ebisu are considered gods of prosperity among the seven gods of fortune, but ebisu is the only one who is thoroughly japanese in origin.

The black stone idol is clearly supposed to be Ebisu. In chapter 51, the mayor (who resembles it) says everyone is smiling because it's "an Ebisu funeral". But why is Ebisu evil in this case? He's supposed to be a benevolent god of good fortune.

As usual, like @lapizzasol says, nothing is resolved. The black stone from the river turned into an evil Ebisu and sent everyone to hell just because. It's one of the best things about Ura Baito. Horror is always spookier when it's unexplained.

 

[zawarudo]

The black stone idol is clearly supposed to be Ebisu. In chapter 51, the mayor (who resembles it) says everyone is smiling because it's "an Ebisu funeral". But why is Ebisu evil in this case? He's supposed to be a benevolent god of good fortune.

As usual, like @lapizzasol says, nothing is resolved. The black stone from the river turned into an evil Ebisu and sent everyone to hell just because. It's one of the best things about Ura Baito. Horror is always spookier when it's unexplained.

I've seen several discussions on this style of horror writing. Essentially the consensus is, the more mundane or familiar something is, the creepier it is when it does something horrific. This is most likely what the author was going for. Similarly, his trademark jumpscare faces always have this uncanny valley feel to them: they look a lot like normal human faces, just with exaggerated expressions, but at the same time your senses also tell you that they certainly aren't.

 

[LupusVir]

I don't think the afterlife in general is bad. I think the bad afterlife is where people tricked by or sacrificed to this entity go. Probably its own personal soul prison.

And there definitely were sacrifices. They kept talking about "the promised number of people".

 

[friendly]

Wheeewwwww. That shot of the long line of people gleefully jumping off to their death.... the black Ebisu statue laughing. And that final shot of the mom...

Genuinely chill inspiring.

Seems like his parents were killed for this god too... and the god wants people to go to the special afterlife he provides. But his mom was able to keep from being forced to call out to him...

I really like the detail how when we see his dream, it looks like pages of the book have been torn away, showing that flat, black surface...

 

[silverpetricof]

Really good arc. I love the author's approach to author. Ura Baito is is one of the only good horror-focused mangas I've read in awhile (Dark Gathering is another).

Thank you for the translation.