We finished up Volume 3 with a distinctly uncomfortable feeling although why, exactly would be hard to pin down. Shiori’s smile is ingenuous and Miko is ingratiating. Hinako, the subject of their constant attention, apparently longs for the grave, but just can’t quite bring herself to end it. In This Monster Wants To Eat Me, Volume 4 Hinako’s resolve will be put to the test. Miko asks Hinako to help her at the basketball  team summer retreat, and Shiori tags along to Miko’s chagrin.

Both Miko and Shiori spend their time  running interference for Hinako, who still takes them both very much for granted and maybe even resents them a little. Until we meet yet another yokai, one that will bring with it a lot of emotional baggage for Hinako.  Faced with the chance to die, Hinako flinches. Like Sir Gawain before her, that flinch causes her to questions everything she believes about herself. Then the yokai asks her something that will make Hinako question everything she believes about Shiori. 

This was one of my favorite volumes in Japanese where I called it “was one of the skin-crawlingest creepy manga I have ever read.” In English it still hits hard.It is also, at this point, impossible to name almost any of the emotions felt by Hinako, because words like disappointment or desire are not complex enough. What will become of Hinako now that she has had to face her own fear and discovered that she doesn’t even know what she wants anymore? Well, if you’ve read the Japanese manga, you know that that answer is still far off in the future. 

Reading this series of a gloomy, rainy night, surrounded by the sound of water, is the perfect accompaniment to Hinako who is kept from drowning in the depths of her grief only by the collateral kindness of two monsters who want her alive.

I love this story.

Ratings: 

Art – 8
Story – 8 Excellently creepy and ominous
Characters – 8 We’re walking through a world of hungry spirits
Service – Blood. Violence. Monsters. Secrets. More Monsters.
Yuri – Shiori’s interest in Hinako is feeling less like protecting one’s food this time. Miko’s love is honest, to an extent.

Volume 5 is already out and Volume 6 is on the way this spring from Yen Press! And that reminds me to go read Watashi o Tabetai, Hito de Nashi, Volume 11 (私を喰べたい、ひとでなし) . ^_^