The truth behind the historic murders at Tenjin Academy finally revealed!
Creative Staff
Story: Makoto Kedouin
Art: Toshimi Shinomiya
Translation: Alethea and Athena Nibley
What They Say
“We’ll be together forever…in death.”
As the body count rises, after tearful reunions mark the only bright spots in the hellscape that is Tenjin Elementary School. The child ghosts from the gruesome murders thirty years ago have a tight grip on the school, but if the remaining students of Kisaragi Academy’s Class 2-9 can put those souls to rest, they might have a chance of escaping this death trap.
When hope is hanging by a thread, what will it take to make it snap…?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The introduction of the mysterious ghost Naho from the last volume completely changes things for the kids trapped in the ghost strewn hell of Tenjin Elementary School. Naho seems alive, but she is a more recently deceased student. But what makes her unique, is her somewhat questionable desire to help the living and her ability to warp between the different dimensions of Tenjin Elementary. Naho was very much into the occult and communing with the dead before getting trapped in Tenjin herself. So, she is quite knowledgeable about how to deal with ghosts and on more than one occasion has appeared to spray holy water on ghosts attacking the living. However, she has also asked some of the students to attempt experiments that ultimately got them killed by the ghosts. Thus, Naho is a wildcard in this world of death and despair.
Whereas Naho seems to be playing the students for her own ends and doesn’t care if they live or die, the ghost of the teacher that killed the elementary kid’s decades ago should be nothing but evil. So far, he has separately knocked out both Satoshi and Yoshiki before locking them in separate rooms. But why would he just lock them up and not kill them immediately?
Naho continues to play the main roll in this volume. First, she finds the trapped Satoshi and transports him to another dimension. This leads him to reunite with Naomi but forces him out of the dimension where his little sister was. It is bad for Satoshi’s little sister but good for Naomi as she repeatedly falls back on Satoshi to save her from the ghosts out to kill her.
Later Naho appears before Yoshiki and Ayumi in their dimension. She explains that the three original children that were kidnapped and killed by the Tenjin Elementary teacher are the reason everyone is trapped. Those three children were dismembered and have been wandering the school in search of the missing body parts. Even killing the students that become trapped and ripping apart their bodies in the same way the children were killed. Naho explains that the living must find and returned the children’s missing body parts so they can move on to the afterlife; thus destroying the Tenjin Elementary School ghost dimension and releasing any of the trapped living along with all the trapped ghosts.
Personally, after Naho’s last plan failed and got people killed, I would not trust Naho. However, I’ve watched enough ghost genre horror stories to know that her theory has merit. Will Yoshiki and Ayumi go along with Naho’s plan to appease the original Tenjin Elementary students killed by their former teacher? Even if they succeed, will it actually free anyone from this hell of a dimension?
In Summary:
With a mediocre start, this Corpse Party series has really hit its stride with this latest volume. The mangaka admits this is the midway part of the series, and it shows as half of the biggest mystery behind this cursed dimension at Tenjin Elementary is revealed. However, that revelation only manages to raise more questions than it put to bed. So for fans of horror, especially those into ghost stories, Corpse Party has turned into a must pick up. After being lukewarm to the first volume, I am now counting the days until I can read the next and 4th volume of this series.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: C
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A-
Age Rating: Mature
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: November 22, 2016
MSRP: $20.00