Review by Frank Plowright
If you believe multiple online sources, “Eko Eko Azarak” is the start of a chant witches use. Whether true or not, it makes for a good title covering the activities of Misa Kouri, a witch reborn in the 21st century when the old home beneath which she’s buried is demolished for new construction. Essentially she’s a weapon of vengeance for those who’ve been wronged by others with demonic powers, her magical abilities seemingly without limit.
She’s introduced via meeting a young woman we eventually learn has an abusive father. Theirs is a strange disjointed conversation, and there’s an uncertainty about whether that’s intended to be the case or it’s a loss in translation. Misa says how much fun the conversation has been, yet there’s barely been any beyond introductions at that point. Given how her life is, though, the young woman is extremely grateful by the story’s end.
It’s the first of half a dozen pithy horror stories attractively drawn by J-ta Yamada. Shinichi Koga is also credited for “original story”, which may mean Yamada’s adapting someone else’s work. They’re all disturbing, featuring people already of poor character or obsessed, whose behaviour is amplified by contact with the demonic. It’s best exemplified in two connected tales of painters. The first begins with a disgraced tutor committing suicide and one of his students searching for a missing painting featuring a specific shade of red she’s unable to reproduce. Misa is her classmate and reveals how the shade was created. The following story then jumps back in time with Misa modelling for the original disgraced teacher and cleverly recontexualises events of the previous story.
Yamada’s art plays with innocence, but there’s always a knowing look to Misa, and what at first seemed to be individual stories are revisited and the connections made apparent. It’s strange, it’s smart and it’s disturbing. Horror fans shouldn’t miss out.
