Posted in: Ablaze Publishing, Comics, Manga, Review | Tagged: Ablaze manga, Gannibal, horror, manga, Masaaki Ninomiya

Gannibal Vol 1: Slow Burn Horror That Cranks Up Existential Dread

Gannibal Vol.1 is the perfect introduction to more adult horror manga from Japan that's all about slow-burning existential dread.

Gannibal is the latest English translation for the under-represented genre of horror manga from Japan that's not about cute, big-eyed teenagers in high school. It's a realistically drawn and naturalistic horror story that has more in common with classic R-rated horror movies than anime or disposable jump-scare soft horror. Creator Masaaki Ninomiya has said that it was his intention to create an adult tale of creeping horror.

Gannibal Begins With Disquiet, Then Escalates to Dread

In Gannibal, Daigo Agawa is a police officer from the city who has been recently assigned to the remote mountain village of Kuge to get away from the stress and a possible incident that has traumatized his young daughter into not talking, and he needs to save his marriage and keep his family from falling apart. Kuge would seem to be the quiet, idyllic place where nothing happens, and you can raise a family in peace… except, of course, it isn't. It wouldn't be a horror tale if it was a nice, happy, open, conflict-free place!

He is initially warmly welcomed by the villagers, except for the, you know, pesky bits about his predecessor's disappearing that nobody wants to talk about. Then, an old woman is found horribly mauled to death in the woods. She's the grandma of the village's founding family, the Gotos, weathered hunters who believe it's a bear that must now be hunted and killed since it's gotten a taste of human flesh and will crave more. Officer Agawa joins the hunt for the bear in what becomes a terrifying ordeal that makes us wonder if the Gotos are trying to murder him in a friendly fire "accident" or if it's just a dangerous hazing ritual for the new cop in town. And that's before the first volume of Gannibal is even over!

The Existential Dread at the Heart of Horror

The nature of the horror in Gannibal is not exactly a big secret – the pun-ridden title tells us exactly what it is before any of it is even revealed in the first volume of the 13-book story. The big question is the "why" and the "how" of it and just how horrific it really might be, and that's the slow burn of the series. There's also a theme of Civilisation versus the Countryside, of "rational order versus pagan savagery," but just how stable is rational order here? Officer Agawa is the perfect hero for this type of horror tale, a man blinded by his own sense of authority who's in denial that he could be in mortal danger from the malice of total chaos and sheer evil. Especially when he doesn't know or care to understand the nature of that evil, which might bring about his downfall; that is the true existential horror at the heart of Gannibal, and why it was a hit in Japan.

Gannibal Vol. 1 is published by ABLAZE.

Gannibal Vol. 1

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Review by Adi Tantimedh

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8/10

A slow-burning adult horror manga that's not about cute, big-eyed cartoon high school students but a serious swim in the waters of creeping existential dread. The actual horror itself is not revealed in the opening chapters but the pun-driven title of the series already tells us everything. The real theme is of civilisation versus the countryside, or Order versus Chaos, but there's no guarantee Order will win. The art is realistic, not cartoonish, conveying the seriousness of the creator's intent.

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