Yotsuya-senpai's Horror Story

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Written by Lorenzo Sean Riccò

So here we are, ready to present Haikyū... oops, wrong article. We're actually here to introduce a different work from Haikyū's author, Haruichi Furudate. Actually, her very first work, serialized on famous magazine Shōnen Jump in 2010: Kiben Gakuha, Yotsuya-senpai no Kaidan (Il Diario Oscuro in Italian, literally Yotsuya-senpai's Ghost Stories). A very different story from Haikyū: this is a thriller-horror manga, set in a school. One of the best in the genre, in my opinion.

The story opens with the disappearance of protagonist Makoto Nakashima's best friend, who vanishes without a trace. Makoto sees a connection between the friend's vanishing and the many horrible events taking place around his school: girls are killed, buildings are infested, youkai from legend seem to take a life of their own. Yet, the best known legend is the one surrounding Yotsuya-senpai, whose desk is always empty in spite of everyone saying he's always at school. Makoto, desperate to save his friend Hinano, seeks him out to enlist his help in unraveling the mystery. And he does find him: Yotsuya-senpai lives on the roof of the school. That's the beginning of the strange partnership between Makoto and Yotsuya, as the former tries to lure out the mystery by forcing the latter to act out the school's best known horror legends.

The manga is structured as a series of shorter stories: each could be read on its own, yet they all channel that feeling of dread typical of ghost stories told around a campfire. The strong point of the manga – which predates Haikyū – is the excellent visual aspect, especially in the way it matches the manga's genre. There is great attention to shades and contrasts, anatomical distortion is wisely used to enhance the horror aspect and each character's psychological and moral flaws. It is, in short, a subarashii すばらしい (perfect) manga, whose only flaw is the very short run of each story, and the series in general (only three volumes). Being the author's first work, however, the choice is more than justified. A successful experiment!