Cranial Gunk

Picture Source: VIZ | The Official Website for Orochi

Each Kazuo Umezz story has a supernatural or mystery element and ends with a twist. The more provocative stories just end! Like “Combat” in Volume 3. It left me wondering if its “cliffhanger” ending were intentional pun (not sure if “cliffhanger” has the same meaning in Japanese as it does in English) or a conclusion Umezz had not planned on.

“Combat’s” story is driven by young Tadashi’s struggle to amend his idyllic picture of his father with the version that served during the war. Tadashi learns of the latter from a stranger with a leg and arm amputated. Without revealing specifics, the mysterious amputee tells Tadashi about his father’s participation in something unseemly.

The twist endings in the stories that make up the first three volumes of Viz’s Orochi collection poignantly subvert the readers’ assumptions about the characters. In some stories, readers might even question whether the protagonist’s means really do justify the ends.

For example, in “Combat,” Tadashi’s little sister is severely injured by a live hand grenade. She says she found it, but it’s safe to assume that someone left it there for her to find. In the first story in Volume 3, “Stage,” Yuichi, the protagonist leaves a bread trail of collateral damage as he seeks to satiate his revenge against the person that killed his father.

According to Wikipedia the stories collected in Orochi were originally published in Shogakukan’s Weekly Shōnen Sunday from June 1969 to August 1970. The collection’s namesake, Orochi is a supernatural entity with telekinetic powers and strength. She is visible to humans but not always noticed by them. She is susceptible to injury though she doesn’t die. I’m not sure what attracts her to certain people but the ones she does take an interest in are usually engaged in some form of treachery. She’s not presented as a benevolent entity but will help the characters she has taken an interest in.

In Volume 1’s “Bones” Orochi offers to bring a grieving widow’s husband back to life at great personal cost. Che grew up in an abusive household where she was underappreciated even though she tended to the many needs and wants of her family without complaint or payment. She is relieved or her burden when she marries a man who treats her well. Unfortunately, her happiness does not last. Her husband is severely injured in a hit-and-run accident while crossing the street.

Che takes such good care of her husband that he recovers quickly. Then tragedy strikes again! He falls off a cliff while out for a walk! Che is devastated. Working as a nurse now and seeing how distraught Che is, Orochi offers to bring her husband back to life. This does not go according to plan. The process is not instantaneous and what happens next feels like a stereotypical revenge story but Umezz adds a thought provoking twist. This and the idea of “collateral damage” (unintended victims) made “Bones” a more interesting story for me.

Except the story “Home,” Orochi Volume 2 abandons the supernatural horror of Volume 1 in favor of crime thrillers. In “Prodigy” a couple has high hopes for their child because the father is “a smart man.” After a home invasion where the robber stabs the child in the neck, the mother’s disposition changes severely. She changes from a kind, nurturing parent to an overbearing one who consistently criticizes her child’s intelligence and pushes him to excel in school with abusive draconian fervor. The child grows up lonely but driven, especially after he discovers a secret about his past.

The third story, “Key” is my favorite story in Volume 2 because Umezz defies expectations and concludes the story with his protagonists continuing on as if nothing happened. Orochi even states to the reader that, “this liar would eventually become a fine person.”

Hiroyuki is a chronically rude and lying child. He is known as a notorious lair among the adults around him and his playground peers. When he tells everyone that he witnessed his neighbors murder their sick daughter no one believes him. When his neighbors discover he saw them, they attempt to kill him too. Orochi rescues him and the story ends with her noting that Hiroyuki doesn’t stop lying but that she believes he will grow up to be “a fine person.”

It should be noted that it was another one of Hiroyuki’s shortcomings that provide Orochi with the clue she needed to save him.

There are elements of Orochi that feel similar to Neil Gaiman’s Death character. Both Orochi and Death are visible to the human eye and can interact with the people they are observing. Both will also take action when they wish to influence the consequences of an action. Finally, both are made more interesting by the company they keep and the situations that ensue than as characters in the foreground.