Suicide Forest #1

[stolisomancer]

I picked this off the rack at a whim last night, mostly out of curiosity about what the title could possibly mean. Suicide Forest is a four-issue horror comic from IDW, by El Torres and Gabriel Hernandez, about the Aokigahara Forest in Japan.






Ryoko's lived in and around the forest her whole life, and as part of her job now, she follows the old tradition of sleeping next to the corpses overnight, so they don't rise as angry ghosts.

Meanwhile, in Kabuki-cho, Alan and Masami's relationship finally self-destructs.



Given as how the story begins in the second most popular location for suicides in the world, you may guess what Masami sets out to do next.

Ryoko, meanwhile, didn't get to a corpse in time, and it has risen:





It's a really creepy start to a series. Horror is pretty easy to screw up in comics, I've noticed, but I'm glad I picked this one up. I'm interested in seeing where it goes next, and figured I'd spread word in case somebody else might want to check it out.

Comments

[northstarfan]

I picked this one up last week and, yeah, I think it's off to a promising start. I'm interested in seeing if the break-up gets played straight or if there's something more sinister involved.

[stolisomancer]

I kind of hope they stick with playing it straight. There's enough going on without it being supernaturally influenced.

[northstarfan]

I was thinking less of the supernatural and more of Alan having done something to influence Masami's mental state. There was enough of a dismissive, "Japanese women, eh?" tone to the conversations with his friend after that it's going to leave a bad taste in my mouth if it turns out she was just insanely fixated on the guy.

[stolisomancer]

I can definitely empathize with that. The only reason it didn't strike me as weird is because I've dated a girl like that, and had that conversation, minus the Japanese bits; it actually strikes weirdly close to home on my end.

[deleonjh]

My favourite story about Aokigahara is how enterprising sorts have realized that those corpses have wallets and jewelry, so now there are scavengers going through the forest hunting for hidden treasure.

[ephemerides]

Also awesome is how Japanese tv stations will force minor comedians and starlets to go camping there.

They're pretty good at panicked running, it turns out!

[octopedingenue]

I now have the mental image of a Aokigahara cross between The Blair Witch Project and something like this.

[ephemerides]

Not bad. The sign's translation is a bit different from the actual signs in the Sea of Trees (it tells you to take a moment to reflect upon the fact that your life is a gift from your parents--an anti-suicide message that works much better in Confucian cultures). "Ofuda amulet" is a bit redundant, but the spell's not atypical for spells you find in Japanese novels or movies (even if I'm not bothering to check it for accuracy against esoteric Buddhism). Pretty good for a ghost story set in Japan written in the west.

Or any comic set in Japan but written in English. (Looking at you, Morrison. Looooooooking at you.)

Even Alan doesn't strike me as a false note yet. There's a reason I tended to stay away from the white dudes who moved to Japan.

[octopedingenue]

Oh man, I love this art! I'd never heard of this comic but I'll have to check it out.

The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service also has a storyarc (in volume 1?) set in the Aokigahara Forest, among other deeply freaky subjects.

[hamimi_fk]

Gah! Yes! I was trying to remember the name of that manga just now! Though I think it's like volume two? Definitely not one because it was the only volume I read of the series and I remember being a bit tiffed that it wasn't volume one (but it looked so good I had to read it, lol). But yeah, that manga was how I first heard about this forest. Creepy.

Thanks for reminding me (whether you meant to or not). xD

[octopedingenue]

Nope, on second thought it's definitely volume 1, because the website preview has them in Aokigahara on page 1. :)

I need to pick up the rest of Kurosagi eventually! I've gotten slack about reading it promptly since overall it's an episodic case-of-the-week series a la CSI rather than a storyarc-driven one, but even as case-of-the-week stuff it's really good. And reading the curmudgeonly translator's notes at the back of the volumes is as much fun as the comic itself. :D

[lissa_quon]

Hunh interesting, might have to look this one up.

I remember stumbling across a series of photos of the forest once...*shiver* definitely a creepy forest..

[selke]

Well, time to call my LCS. I absolutely love Aokigahara Forest and this art works great with the whole vibe.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Interesting - I thought the 'keeping the undead quiet through bits of paper stuck on their foreheads' thing was Chinese, not Japanese.

[hamimi_fk]

I could be totally wrong, but I think it's just a Buddhist thing. I've seen it done in animes that take place in Japan before.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Or it might be Taoist; I think I read that once, which would also include both countries, I think.

[stolisomancer]

Wikipedia says it's a Shinto thing.

[psychopathicus_rex]

It does also mention, though, that the practice originates from Buddhism, so hamimi_fk may be right.

[octopedingenue]

Shinto and Buddhism have cross-pollinated so much in Japan that prying them apart is pretty much pointless.

[psychopathicus_rex]

True, but Buddhism DOES originate elsewhere, so that allows for the spread of foreign customs.

[hamimi_fk]

Cool, this looks really good. I'm going to try and pick it up when I can. ^_^ Thanks for sharing.