DARK GATHERING Vol. 1-3
Writer: Kenichi Kondo
Translator: Christine Dashiell
Lettering: Evan Waldinger
Publisher: Shonen Jump/ VIZ Media
(print and digital)
CONTENT WARNING: Dark Gathering commonly options plot factors and discussions involving demise, homicide, bullying, and suicide. If any of those subjects hassle you in any means, please proceed with warning.
When it involves literature, I imagine that some of the underrated features a sequence can possess is “atmosphere”. To me, atmosphere refers back to the general feeling it provides the reader all through their expertise with the sequence. This will be one thing that’s each constructive, (corresponding to an uplifting or inspiring feeling within the sequence), or detrimental, (as in a creepy or suspenseful air within the story). Personally, I are likely to want watching and studying sequence with a extra lighthearted, comedic, or romantic atmosphere, or inspiring sports activities or motion sequence quite than the darker and heavier atmosphere of drama or horror manga. When it got here to Dark Gathering although, there was simply one thing about it that caught my eye and made me need to give a darker, horror sequence like this a shot. I’m glad it did.
Dark Gathering is a newer addition to the Jump household (it was initially serialized in Shueisha’s Jump SQ journal). It’s a sequence that I used to be shocked to search out was completely loaded with “atmosphere” proper from the very begin, to the purpose you may nearly really feel the uneasy creepiness of this sequence weighing on you on each web page. This heavy vibe in Dark Gathering is just additional accentuated by the creepiness that bleeds out of the art work into each panel all through the sequence. The fashion is akin to one thing you’d see within the in style horror manga sequence Mieruko-chan, or in lots of Junji Ito works. The panels function plenty of inky, black tones to the characters and the backgrounds, even in the course of the daytime.
You can get a style of it from VIZ Media’s manga trailer for Dark Gathering:
As for what to anticipate in Dark Gathering, the story opens as we observe three central characters as they go about on quite a few ghost-hunting adventures: Kei Gentoga, a school freshman and grade-school tutor to the younger Yayoi Hozuki, a ghost-obsessed middle-school woman that mysteriously has skulls for irises, and her older cousin Eiko Hozuki, Kei’s chaotic and energetic childhood good friend. There’s only one small downside… Kei is a scaredy-cat who desires completely nothing to do with ghosts and coping with the useless after a traumatizing childhood encounter. This is the place Yayoi, a ghost-hunting fanatic and the youngest of our trio, is available in. Despite being the youngest, Yayoi is essentially the most calm, cool, and picked up member of the trio, which fortunately rubs off on the cowardly Kei, in addition to Eiko however to a lesser diploma.
Our first occasion of our trio at work can be our first actual expertise with the darkish and foreboding atmosphere. In this occasion, Yayoi and Eiko excitedly drag the cowardly Kei out to go to an city legend of a cellphone sales space that’s haunted by the stressed soul of a in style escort who was murdered by a group of her many suitors. At first, there appears to be no supernatural presence, that’s till it totally reveals its terrifying presence as soon as Kei steps foot contained in the cellphone sales space. She makes an attempt to entice Kei inside and manages to almost strangle Kei to demise with the cellphone wire. This scene is completely arrange by the pitch-black background to the panel, the bloody footprints and handprints everywhere in the sales space, and the smokey, ethereal depiction of the girl, with out going too overboard into the world of pure physique horror. After all, that is solely our first introduction to what’s in retailer for us readers with this sequence, and let me inform you it solely will get darker and extra grotesque.
From right here, Dark Gathering solely builds up increasingly momentum because it continues its “monster of the week” formulation, or on this case, its “ghost of the week” formulation, all of the whereas regularly introducing readers to the primary plot thread of the sequence, new obstacles, and new horrifying and psychological components. This shift largely begins to happen in Volume 2, which I should give a warning about for now as this quantity will get into some very darkish and graphic territory, with storylines predominantly involving bullying and suicide. That darkish and heavy tone continues effectively into Volume 3 as effectively, however with a far more dominant give attention to the supernatural with the introduction of a new, main menace.
Now, one facet of Dark Gathering’s atmospheric horror that I wasn’t anticipating to take pleasure in as a lot as I did was how the sequence is ready to correctly stability the extraordinarily darkish art work and themes with some charming and comedic moments sprinkled all through. This reveals some skillful writing from Kenichi Kondo, as there have been too many cases of darkish or highly effective story writing ruined by pointless comedy or fanservice. The moments that must be taken severely are achieved so with the respect they deserve, and the time for lighthearted comedic banter or emotional moments solely occurs when the group is winding down from a lengthy day’s journey, within the non-canonical rewrites of sure scenes which are a part of the chapter covers, or Kenichi Kondo’s writer notes on the finish of every quantity.
For these fascinated with an alternate strategy to expertise the sequence, Dark Gathering additionally lately obtained an anime adaptation that did a excellent job of nailing the darkish atmosphere of the sequence. It is at the moment accessible to look at on HiDive.
Dark Gathering is a supernatural horror sequence by Kenichi Kondo. 3 volumes can be found now from VIZ Media. It’s additionally accessible as a part of their Shonen Jump app/subscription service.
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