Fuan no Tane: Inside, Outside, Upside Down.
What follows is (for now) our last look at the ghosts and ghoulies from the second volume of Fuan no Tane.
Most of these stories below are ones that people had requested and that I hadn't ever posted on scans_daily before. Since someone asked, you'll also find that one about the haunted hospital.
In these stories you'll see that ghostly horrors can attack us at any time, and from any direction...
...and at, uh, any angle. Yep, those are ghost feet all right!
First up, one of my fellow Fuan no Tane aficionados mentioned an appreciation for this story a long time ago. It isn't one of my personal favorites but I agree that it does have a certain charm.
"BAM": definitely one sound you don't want to hear in what's supposed to be a deserted office building.
There's something very horror-movie-esque about the way this particular story is drawn. The weird "camera" angles, the banging getting louder and louder, the ominous silhouettes, the close-ups of the bat trailing menacingly along the ground...
"Oh, it was just the boss's freaky-looking illegitimate son, Billy. I fucking hate that kid."
But no, seriously, the "kid" is obviously supposed to be a ghost or a monster or whatever. As is so often the case in Fuan no Tane, he just isn't drawn in a particularly scary fashion. But let me say this about Masaaki Nakayama: the man CAN DRAW SCARY FACES. I think that he mostly, honestly prefers to go for an "eerie" vibe more than shooting for standard horror.
Again, some of you will say, "That wasn't scary at all. Ghost Kid didn't even do anything to the man. He just messed up his office a little and then walked away!" And that's certainly one perspective. But I think that the office worker man's reaction is telling. Look at him in the far right panel of page 14. He has the same reaction that many of us might have upon first reading this story: "Wut?"
But then look at him in the last three panels, as what he has just witnessed slowly begins to sink in. THERE WAS A GHOST KID FUCKING UP MY OFFICE, MAN! HE LOOKED RIGHT AT ME! You've got to admit, that's some spooky shit. Wait until something like that happens to you and then tell me it isn't scary.
Next up, to prove my point about the scary faces, and because someone demanded it, it's that famous Fuan no Tane hospital story! Yes, again!
AAAIIEEEE! Oh wait, that wasn't the scary face, yet. That was just a regular baby.
Wait for it... wait for it...
You see? A genuinely horrible-looking monster. I told you that Masaaki can draw them.
DO NOT HUG BIG-TEETH BABY. That is all.
Next up, and also by request, the terrifying story of the most dangerous kind of supernatural entity ever: Upside-Down Ghosts! That Grab People!
I like the guy's very bored reaction to the sight of an upside-down shadow creature reaching horribly for some unsuspecting victim.
D: You see that, you "Fuan no Tane is not scary" people? You SEE!?
Ghost: "I must go! My home planet needs me!"
And that is why we all should fear the Upside-Down Ghosts. Those suckers are DEATH INCARNATE!
Unless, of course, they're bad at grabbing people.
I mean really, really bad at grabbing people.
Um... yeah. That's right, Slow-Grabbing Ghost! Never give up!
Finally, yet another story that I had yet to post to scans_daily, but which I think is kind of neat. This one takes us right to the limit for volume 2.
"Are there any ghosts?" Ha, ha! What a superstitious jackass!
Oh, wait. Fuan no Tane. Somebody is going to suffer for this hubris...
Now here's where I'm getting a little confused about the story. I'm guessing that mumbling guy is the guy who was worried about ghosts; apparently, since moving into his cheap new apartment, he's become depressed and decided to move out again. His jerkass brother has come over to help him clean up the apartment before the move.
At this point, two observations.
1) Everyone wants to beat up mumbling guy.
2) "When my brother comes back from the hospital, I'm going to give him a good beating! Which is ironic, because it was the last beating I gave him that put him in the hospital in the first place."
Despite having come to clean up the apartment in order to help his brother, this guy seems determined to be the biggest possible douchebag about it that he possibly can. First whining about it before even seeing the mess, then threatening violence, then laughing about the possibility of his clinically depressed brother trying to kill himself...
Speaking of which, remember how we heard the last owner of this apartment had committed suicide?
Christ, that last panel. Gives me a shudder every time.
Next up, our last and final installment of Fuan no Tane (until next Halloween): The Drunk Man Prophecies! The Mysterious Doppleganger What Follows People Around! Ceiling Ghost is Watching You Masturbate! And, for a grand finale, That One Time that Masaaki Nakayama Failed to See Any Ghost Whatsoever!