Presents 2

Man, I can’t believe I haven’t posted in a week.  I’ve been a combination of ill, very, VERY cold (I had to work at a warehouse this week, which is just like working outdoors in your bare hands in 12 degree weather), and just busy at work.  I’ve got some stuff I need to talk about here, though.

So I’m totally sold on the fact that Kanako Inuki can write a good horror story.  Presents has totally erased School Zone from my memory, which I didn’t think was possible.  All it took, really, was the first few chapters of this book, which features, among other things, Santa Claus beating a little boy with a bat and a woman who continually kills the illegitimate children she has.

The first section of stories all involved Santa Claus explaining why the kids who deserved his presents (kids who really sincerely wanted something, kids who truly believed in him, or kids who’s parents were too poor to buy them things) also deserved to die.  This was accomplished by flashing forward and showing how Santa’s present would lead to the child turning into an evil person, in some cases destroying the world.  These were honestly very disturbing, mostly because at the end of the story, it would flash back to a little kid that was happy to see Santa who would be promptly killed.  Also, Santa is just drawn super-creepy.

Those stories alone are worth the price of admission, but there are some other highlights.  Some of the stories, while still being horror stories, managed to be very sweet and contain a message.  One little boy gives all his luck to his brother in order to win a telescope powerful enough so that his brother could discover a star.  Lots of other really horrible things happened, but instead of being way over-the-top (which is how most of the stories are), it stays fairly grounded because there really isn’t anything silly about the love the little boy has for his brother.   Another story has Kurumi trying to thwart Death, who is an actual character, and Death explains why what he does is necessary.  That one, while extremely heavy-handed, was pretty good as well.  Another bittersweet one is about an old man who pretends to be santa and gives presents to kids he runs across on the street.  Since he can’t afford to give out presents any more, the boxes are empty, and that puts him firmly in the realm of “crazy old man.”  There’s a sad story that goes with what he does though, and there really isn’t anything horror-themed in this story.  Just sad.

There’s a really, really silly one that would have fit better in Octopus Girl about how a fairy-tale prince needs to pick a bride, but he wants to do it how the stories say he should.  Girls who wish to be wed to him must have small feet, dainty necks, and be able to hold up a lot of jewelry.  While most of the build-up is pretty dark, the ending is just a joke, and this was one of the more memorable stories in the volume.

I could keep going.  The short length of the stories means that there’s a lot crammed into each volume, and while I wouldn’t have believed it possible, almost all of the ones I’ve read so far are really, really great.  They switch themes from horror to (dark) comedy to emotional pretty well, Kurumi’s hand isn’t necessarily always obvious in the stories, and the plots stay reasonably free of repetition.  It’s also only three volumes long, which is just about the right length, too.  I don’t know if the overarching plot will go anywhere (will Kurumi ever find her present), but it doesn’t really have to.  It works well as a series of really bizarre one-shots.