Horror is so interesting. Monster horror can make us think about how society “others,” or they can stand in for real world destructive forces. Gore and body horror makes us think about mortality, suffering, pain and fear. And ghost stories may make us delve into the lingering ties, unfinished tasks, resentments, and loves that have not been released when a life is over.

As we begin Two A.M. at the Dining Table, Volume 1, Maria’s mother is dead, but every morning, when Maria comes out of her bedroom, there her mother stands, in the kitchen making food. The food is crowding the table, there’s no more room, but Maria cannot eat any of it.  She’s trying to hold everything together. No one really knows her mother died, so she’s just hiding from her mother’s ghost and doing her best to be home as little as possible. 

One day, while eating something from the convenience store in the park, Maria meets a cute girl, Tamami, who looks very hungry. She shares her food with Tamami. From that point on, everywhere she goes, Tamami seems to follow her. Maria, who has been on edge for weeks ignoring the increasing problem of her not-dead-enough mother, snaps. 

Eventually Tamami and she have a confrontation during which Maria learns Tamami is a literal hungry ghost. Maria brings her home, and Tamami is able to eat all of the food her mother is making! But still, Maria has no chance to really process her loss, because…now she sees ghosts. And they all seem to want something from her.

With Tamami, Maria will work to resolve the lingering issues in this paranormal ghost story, that plumbs the unresolved urges that keep the dead in our world. By turns Two A.M. at the Dining Table, Volume 1 is terrifying, incredibly sad, and more than once very cute. Maria and Tamami do begin to care about one another very much, but who has time to deal with that either, as there are angry ghosts at the door? 

I tend to equally like and dislike stories like this, where paranormal investigators resolve the unresolved emotions, solve banal mysteries of lives that have been cut short and force us to reckon with human suffering- often caused by people who should be protectors and loved ones. I found this series to be an interesting, if forlorn, approach to the story.

Here, we are given protagonists who are clearly going to become more than merely partners, which adds another dimension of grief to their story. When Maria learns how Tamami died, will she be able to let her new friend go? Maria still hasn’t had much time to exist on her own, to feel the loneliness of loss and we begin this partnership with the unspoken understanding that it cannot last.  

Ratings: 

Art – 7
Story – 8 We know where this is going, but we want to see how it gets there
Characters – 8 Significant discomfort leads to intimacy
Service – Not really
Yuri – 4 Maria is only just  beginning to come to see her feelings when someone else points them out.

Overall – 8

I’ll be interested to see how it all develops – Volume 2 is slated for a February release.