Sensei and Me, First Half comments

(Image from amazon.co.jp, used for review purposes only.)

Sensei to Watashi (Sensei and Me), First Half, by Yousuke Takahashi, Grade A
I like Yousuke Takahashi's character designs, and I've long been a fan of his series Mugen Shinshi (Gentleman Mugen), but that ended a while back, and his High School Horror Stories series was just a bit too intense for me (the characters die in gruesome, ironic ways in every chapter, only to come back again to face new terror in the next chapter. I gave up after just one volume). So, I kind of had mixed emotions when I saw books one and two for Sensei and Me show up at the bookstore last month. They're in a larger format, 188 pages, for 1,300 yen each ($12 USD). A bit pricey, but I had 100 yen worth of points built up on my points card, and I'd lose some of them if I didn't use them up before the end of April. So I figured I'd be saving close to a dollar on the cover price if I bought book one right now, and that would let me see what the story was like. Then, if I did like it I could always get the second book later.

The story revolves around a young boy who has one big eye, and a horn in the middle of his forehead. Initially, he starts out unnamed, and isn't assigned a name until almost halfway through the book. His mother wants to get rid of him, so she takes him to a priest that controls spirits by writing commands or drawing pictures in ink on paper. The priest, later identified as Mumyou (no name) Sensei, touches the boy on the head and two demons fly out, turning him back to normal. The boy's mother leaves the mansion, and Sensei shows the boy around the grounds. There's a dead body ceaselessly drinking from a murky pond, little ghouls that need to be fed like chickens in a pen in the morning, and various strange customers that visit for bizarre requests. The boy tends to these matters as Sensei's student, and while doing so, spots the cyclops and horned demon watching him from the trees at the edge of the grounds. One customer, an older man, wants Sensei to draw him a new lover, since the magic for the last one ran out. The boy watches Sensei use his brush to create this fabrication, and then tries to do the same thing himself when he's alone in the room. He's really bad at drawing, and when the squiggly dogs, cats and people start emerging from the sheets, he panics. Sensei arrives and banishes the magic away. But, rather than getting angry he comments that the sketch of one woman must have been the boy's attempt to draw his mother. Shortly after this, the boy allows Sensei to return the two demons to him, and he suddenly has a cyclops eye and a horn again. Now, though, the eye won't stop crying.

The later stories go from supporting the weird customer/weird monsters theme to more of a comedic battle between Mumyou and his older sister (Mumei), and the boy (Muten) against Mumei's young female assistant (Yuka). In this facet, Sensei and Me is a LOT like the later books for Mugen Shinshi. There's still horror, but it's more gentle and atmospheric than outright shocking. Muten makes friends with a girl zombie that passes on to the afterlife after struggling to reach his side. Muten's own sister attempts to pass a death curse she's picked up on to her little brother, but that backfires. Mumei shows up as a soul-sucking cat monster that wants to eat Muten, but Mumyou interferes with her plans. And finally, Mumei transfers the faces of stalkers onto the breasts of their female obsessions, until Mumyou reflects those stalker faces back onto Mumei and Yuka. The volume ends with Mumyou cackling over the wretched fates of Mumei and Yuka in a way that scares Muten.

Summary: These stories originally ran in Manga Grim Stories magazine from 2017 to 2018. They are mostly lighthearted with weird overtones, but are pretty fun overall. I really like the artwork, backgrounds and character designs, which are very similar to Mugen Shinshi. The dialog is fast-paced, making it an easy read, and the story ideas are original. I am going to get book two in the near future. Highly recommended if you like older-school Japanese horror.