Kamakiri Onna
Mantis Woman

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Esta review también está en español.

Kamakiri Onna (Mantis Woman) is a collection of short stories (usually less than thirty pages) made by Senno Knife, an artist specialized in horror manga. This anthology is composed by six chapters:

Mantis Woman, the main title, and the one that gives the name to this collection, is about the arrival of a new teacher, that not only brings education, but also a lot of disappearances and deaths. The title refers to the affinity of the creepy teacher for her two sickles.
The Zenda Family's Hell is about the new family in town, the Zenda. One of their hobbies is to kidnap ... and judge their neighbors, with nasty results.
Koala is Watching is about a violent stalker, that happens to be a marsupial (I'm not kidding. And this isn't the weirder story in this collection...).
The Water Beckongs teach us that learning how to swim, at night, in a closed building and with a girl you don't know that well may not be the brightest idea.
Hell's Gumball Machine is about a strange gumball machine that grants wishes to the person that, well... buy some gum. That is not your regular gum either... Yes, this one is the weirder story here.
Snake's Boy tells us that no matter how important and rich your family is, it's never okay to mistreat the servants, especially when snake demons are involved.

Six independent stories, that shares lot of elements: the protagonist is always a girl (in most cases, a high school student). She's always timid, naive, and victim of some form of abuse. The rest of the characters range between unpleasant douches to evil psychos (Really, except for the main girl, no one deserves much sympathy...). And every single one (except Hell's Gumball, that is the different in most ways) end up the same. It's true: you read one, you read two, and by the third one you know how it will end (and develop, actually).

That's the biggest problem in Kamakiri Onna: the repetition of patterns is so notorious, that the stories become tedious and very, very predictable. Yes, the drawing is ok (not mindblowing, but the characters in story are very different from each other, and the action can be followed easily) and the violence is... acceptable (no gore, but there are some severed parts, and a good amount of blood), but the monotony of the development ruin the final product. Separately the chapters would be acceptable, is the fact that they're all together which makes them less spectacular. So, I recommend reading Mantis Woman (this one is the most representative of them all), Hell's Gumball Machine (which is different from the rest) and then... it's on you. Don't say I didn't warn you.

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Kamakiri Onna (la mujer mantis) es una colección de historias cortas (no más de treinta hojas) creado por Senno Knife, un artista especializado en mangas de terror. Seis capítulos componen esta antología:

Mantis Woman, el titulo principal y la que da nombre a esta colección, trata sobre la llegada de una nueva maestra a la escuela, y de la obvia ola de desapariciones y muertes asociada a ella. El título hace referencia a la afinidad de la docente por las guadañas.
The Zenda Family's Hell, es sobre la llegada de una nueva familia al barrio, los Zenda. Uno de sus pasatiempos es secuestrar y juzgar a sus nuevos vecinos, con resultados siempre escabrosos.
Koala is Watching es sobre un marsupial violento y acechador (En serio. Y ni siquiera es la historia más rara de esta antología…).
The Water Beckongs trata sobre como aprender a nadar de noche, en un edificio cerrado y con una chica a la que no conoces es mala idea.
Hell's Gumball Machine es sobre una extraña maquina de chicles que concede deseos a la persona que…. Bueno, compre un chicle. Que en realidad no son chicles… si, esta es la más rara de todas.
Snake's Boy nos cuenta que no importa que tan importante y rica sea una familia, nunca está bien maltratar a la servidumbre, especialmente si hay un demonio serpiente involucrado.

Seis historias independientes, pero, que a la vez, tienen mucho en común: siempre la protagonista es mujer (estudiante de secundaria, en la mayoría de los casos). Siempre es ingenua y víctima de algún tipo de abuso. Todos los demás personajes oscilan entre muy desagradables y malignos (en serio, excepto por la protagonista, no hay nadie más que merezca simpatía…). Y todas, todas (bueno, excepto Hell's Gumball, que es algo así como la excepción en todo) terminan igual. Es cierto: lees una, lees dos, y ya para la tercera ya sabes cómo va a terminar (y desarrollarse, la verdad).

Ese es el problema más grande y lapidario de Kamakiri Onna: la repetición de esquemas es tan grande que las historias se vuelven tediosas y muy, muy predecibles. Si, el dibujo no está mal (no es brillante, pero los personajes son fácilmente diferenciables y la acción se puede seguir con facilidad) y la violencia es aceptable (no hay gore ni demasiados desmembramientos, pero si hay varios muertos y una cantidad de sangre decente), pero lo monótono del desarrollo como que arruina el producto final. Por separado los capítulos serian aceptables, es el hecho de que están todas juntas los que les resta espectacularidad. Por eso, recomiendo leer Mantis Woman (que muestra todo lo que el mangaka puede ofrecer), Hell's Gumball Machine (que es bastante diferente de sus hermanos de colección) y después… esta en ustedes. No digan que no se los dije.

So this is a rather interesting manga but sadly the stories were just cut short. Each one did give you a small scar but in the end, none of them really stood out all that well. The horror was supposed to build up and in two or three they did but then seemed to lay flat during the middle of their story or made no sense even in horror logic. I guess the one I did like was the Koala is Watching because it did give me a small chill up my back (But then it fell flat again).

What I liked about the stories ... that they all seemed to be made up of Urban Legends, they had that same feeling that the story was just going to keep repeating over and over again. Some would live from the tale and would keep retelling the tale and others would die right on the spot. But in the end, since they were so short, I had to ask where the full build up was going to come from.

The artwork is so-so, not that great but also not bad either. Again, nothing really stood out as each had the same style of artwork.

And the characters are hard to pick out because they look so similar. Many times I thought that a character was from another story only to find that her name was supposed to be different. They were more like no named actors on a horror set just waiting to be killed off and even the main characters sadly were like that.

All in all, I liked it but it lacked a lot. I could think of many others that are better to read then this one if you want Horror. If you don't care, then go ahead and try it out for yourself.