Mail

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Story: 9
Mail is based on short stories featuring one recurring caracther trough the series. every chapter is about it's own ghost with it's own past. because of this you never get any real attatchment to the characters, but that's not needed (after all, they are just bait for the ghost :P). the short stories are introduced in a way so that you can easily get into the feal of it and has the engagement to keep you on the edge of your seat for the rest of the chapter.

Art: 7
the art is clean and nothing special, but it's drawn in very good angles so you ... allways know what's going on.

Character: 8
as I said there is only one recurring characther (if you don't count a little girl in the third book, but I wont get too much into that), and he's only there to clean up the mess. as the series progresses you get to know a little more of the main characters story wich gives a meaning to the manga by explaining why he does what he does.

Enjoyment: 10
This is where Mail succsedes. for fans of horror this is a must read. it's the first horror-manga that prevented me from sleeping and I had the lights on for 2 nights after that :P
Mail gives a really good scare.

Overall: 8
a very good short series for horror fans.

This manga follows the episodic adventures of one ghost hunter, while he does his odd line of work and exorcises the ghosts that his clients are bothered by. The story on paper sounds plain and the bland execution of it was quite unsatisfying, and borderline monotonous.

The stories presented in these 3 volumes are standalone, every chapter portrays the interaction of certain person with a ghost, and involves the main character, saving the day. For people with some understanding of the japanese urban ghost stories, the setting will feel familliar. After reading 3-4 of them you know well what's gonna happen ... in general, with a few notable exceptions.

The manga's art is pretty well done, the artstyle is distinct and memorable, a good blend of realistic facial expressions, tho tad same-y as the story goes by. The main character looks bizzare and eccentric, which feels just right. The ghosts are portrayed as distorted, maimed and creepy, which fits right in the narrative.

Character-wise, the manga suffers alot - the episodic 1 dimensional characters doesn't help a bit, and the main character's antics became repetitive quite fast, somewhere along the way the mangaka probably saw that coming, and embraced kind of comedic approach sometimes. We do get a snippets of his dedication to dealing with ghosts, as well as a backstory, told in a few scattered chapters.

Overaly, whether you'd find this manga entertaining is up to you. If you are looking for some horror based on the urban horror stories of Japan, then you'd enjoy this one, if you're not looking for a complex story, you could appreciate the episodic nature of the manga, and if you're looking for a creepy, non-engaging ride, maybe you'd like it.

Mail follows a paranormal detective and occult specialist Akiba as he finds himself investigating lost souls.

His primary purpose is to give these souls a proper send off, so that they can enter the cycle of reincarnation or simply be damned for eternity.

Each chapter is stand alone in it's story telling though in the later half of the series we are given a bit more "lore" so to speak, and Akiba is given a sidekick and his background is explored more thoroughly, though I suppose thoroughly is a pretty generous term here given each instance of this is rather brief, though satisfying.

Each chapter begins the same ... way, and ends the same way, though each time there is slight deviation and changes suited for the story at hand in each chapter.

The author has a very good way of telling you just enough to keep you interested,this sounds like an insult, as if he's doing the bare minimum, but I assure you it's not. So little is said, but the story is so satisfying to read it executes just what it wants to do very well.

It's very succinct, and it's better off for that.

This story is kind of unique in the regard, that it is exactly what you would expect from it and it doesn't ever deviate from that narrative. It's about a dude, who does exorcisms and always arrives just in time to save the soul and the person being haunted.

I think the art is much like the story telling, very basic, but so intrinsic and detailed but beautiful. There really isn't anything special at all about the style but it's just so charming and compliments the story so well.

I think that if the story telling was slightly different, or perhaps the art was done by someone else this series just wouldn't work at all. It just seems so, right? I don't really know how to put it but I just like it a lot, it isn't the best thing in the world or anything but I was just very satisfied by what I read.

Atmosphere, art, writing, the settings, the people, the lore, the set ups, it was all just very solid and I think it's the perfect example of all of these things that aren't all that impressive in their own right building up a very satisfactory story.

I feel like the ending was rather abrupt, it leaves a lot of things left neglected that I feel like were going to be touched on. Like more about the "society" of priestly detectives, as well as the companionship of Akiba and you know who.

I hope that the Corpse Delivery Service delivered on that, but from what it seems this was a very nice story cut short, hence the addition of a sidekick before the abrupt end.

All of that said and done though, I really did enjoy this and I would recommend it to anyone into "horror" manga and light mystery, as well as episodic stories