Creative Staff
Adaptation/Art: HeeEun Kim
Original: JiEun Ha
Translation: HyeYoung Im
What They Say
What if your greatest wish could be granted?
The enigmatic mansion on 6 Roland Street belongs to one Mr. Void, who resides on the seventh floor. Unbeknownst to the rest of the tenants in Void’s mansion, their greatest wishes could be granted. And as the stories of the residents intertwine, they soon learn that what they desire is not always what is best…
Technical:
The front cover here is a rather grey image of the mysterious nobleman gripping a tiny Louise, with the title in the center. It’s not a bad cover, though something about the contrast of the colors feels just a tad off. The back cover fares better though, offering a classy image of the nobleman facing away from the reader over a plain white background next to a synopsis. There are no real bonuses to speak of, the text reads smoothly, honorifics are not used, sound effects are left in their original form and subtitled, and the paper is a fantastic, slightly glossy material.
The art here is solid, with well differentiated characters and backgrounds that appear constantly and look great. Emotions could afford to come across a bit stronger, but they still look nice enough. Ultimately though, the real draw of this book is the color. With the whole book being done in color it stands apart from the competition, and takes a book that really wouldn’t stand out visually otherwise and makes it pop. Ultimately, it results in a pleasant, almost painting-like appearance and definitely gives the volume a nice added push. It may not be a top tier release visually, but that doesn’t mean it’s not nice to look at.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Thanks to a quick and unwitting demonstration by Mr. Juist, we learn from a mysterious young man named Lavelle that the residents of the seven-story mansion on 6 Roland Street, owned by the enigmatic Mr. Void, all receive a single wish. With that we join the main story and our first protagonist, an old taxidermist by the name of Staff. When his client, an eerie and girly nobleman, comes to pick up a stuffed cat, the man ends up asking creepily if a bigger animal can be stuffed. Lavelle sees the exchange, and worried that he may have put things together Staff goes to meet with him. Though the young man invites him in for dinner, when he lets on all he knows about Staff and offers a warning not to take the next job, our protagonist storms off.
When the nobleman returns, it is with the corpse of a young girl. Staff of course tries to object, but as his job (apparently) isn’t legal, he’s blackmailed into following through. It’s then that he essentially goes crazy and becomes obsessed with his “masterpiece.” When he panics and tries to claim she isn’t done, trying to figure out how to keep her as his own, he ends up accidentally burning her, making her truly incomplete once again. Labelle then visits the broken man, and admits the girl’s name was Louise, at which point Staff wishes he could fix her again, even at the cost of personal dismemberment and death. When the nobleman returns, the Louise that awaits him is a patchwork creature, now able to move once again, but created at the cost of Staff’s life and body.
When our next protagonist, a penniless poet named Dante, has a chance run in with a woman of the night, will his wish turn out better? Or is every resident of the mansion doomed to meet a tragic end?
In Summary
This book brings the series to a start with potential, yet it doesn’t quite feel fulfilled just yet. The mysterious horror feel of the series fits well with the theme of wishes, and the choice to go with vignettes seems to be a good one. Though the main story here hits on some solid horror tropes, it feels to lack just a bit of the punch needed to really follow through, perhaps because the madness that occurs seems a tad sudden. Fortunately the second story seems to have a bit more going on, though it seems to be heading in a similar direction. There are also of course a number of mysterious characters floating around, but they’re little more than enigmas for the duration of the book. It will definitely be interesting to see where the series goes and if it can live up to its potential, but for now this at least remains a decent enough book for some subtle horror.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: September 23rd, 2014
MSRP: $17.99