Reviews

It's been a while since I saw a good horror story. You know, something that would actually make me feel uneasy. At some point I got bored of pretty much the same looking jump scares, or agregiosu body horror. What was shocking and intriguing at first, with time, became dull and repetitive. I wanted to see a horror story that would be not only thrilling to experience, but also original and unique enough to not make me automatically think about the horrors I saw or read in the past. "PTSD Radio" has met my expectations.

I can easily call this manga as a breath of fresh air among horror stories, not only when we are talking about mangas. It mixes elements such as traditional Japanese folklore, mystery, rituals of the past, curses, unexpected encounters of supernatural entities. It might not sound special at all, but "PTSD Radio" perfectly combines all these various elements into one, making readers mesmerized by the story with each new thing appearing in it. Sometimes using well-known elements in a fine way might lead to creating an original work of art, and in my opinion this is the case of "PTSD Radio".

When I started reading this manga, after completing few chapters I thought it'd be just a pack of many short stories about certain themes. Collection of spooky tales, but without any relation to each other. I was wrong. The more chapters I read, the more I saw how they were connected with each other not only with themes present in them, but also with their plots. I'm a fan of such concepts used in literature, so it was a huge plus to me. Even the numbering of chapters, while feeling random and messy at first glance, starts making more sense once you read more chapters and pay attention to small, subtle details.

Some people might find the fact that the stories start to follow a certain pattern as a con, making them feel predictable. Of course, it's up for everyone to decide whether that kind of format is entertaining for them or not. As for me, in the vast majority of them it wasn't a problem at all. However, for the sake of this review, I felt it was worth of mentioning this aspect.

As for the art, it is great. Characters are drawn in a very nice way, the backgrounds are beautiful, and all scary, mysterious creatures have decent looking designs. I like how detailed are facial expressions. It is important for that kind of comics to have this particular element polished as well as it is possible.

"Kouishou Radio" by Masaaki Nakayama is definitely worthy of recommending, especially if you like good horrors, capable of having you on the edge of your seat.