Weird.

I was obviously expecting this manga collection and I'm very grateful of Fantagraphics Books for the arc copy and opportunity. As always, my review is of my own and nothing else.

I really can't help but always compare horror mangas to Junju Ito ones especially if it gives off this weird story just like this one. The start was really intriguing however it turns quite stale as the collection goes on.

Overall, I think this one could have been better than this one.

2.5/5

Brain Damage offers 4 bleak and gory short stories full of disturbing twists. The art style is executes the eerie atmosphere well.

I love bizarre and weird horror manga, but I think this one fell flat for me. Each story had an amazing concept but they seemed to work as short stories for me. Either they had good stopping points, but it kept going until the ending changed the tone of it. Or they felt too disjointed to flow smoothly. I would have given this a 3.5 had it not been for sexualization of a minor and incest between said minor and a vulnerable family member in the third story, "Family Portrait". It was completely unnecessary and honestly killed the vibe of this book for me.

Labyrinth Quartet - 3.5
The Cursed Room - 3
The Family Portrait - 1
Blood Harvest - 4

Thank you to Fantagraphics Books and Netgalley for the eArc!

Brain Damage is a collection of four unsettling and grotesque short stories, definitely one for fans of Junji Ito and extreme body horror. I especially enjoyed Labyrinth Quartet, Curse Room, and Blood Harvest. The last one stood out the most with its absurd yet compelling concept of vampiric cars and a girl immune to their thirst for blood. It’s wild, weird, and exactly the kind of story I enjoy, though the abrupt ending left me wanting more.

The story that didn’t work for me was Family Portrait. It follows a grandfather with dementia whose memory lapses cause family members to vanish. While the premise was intriguing, the inclusion of incest and SA made it difficult to stomach. I had to pause before finishing the rest of the collection.

Overall, Brain Damage is disturbing, surreal, and drenched in shock value. A bold read, but definitely not for everyone. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I would not recommend this to anyone new to the genre. Read through some of the pther reviews to get a sense of what I mean. Overall decent, but wouldn't go out of my way to read

2.5⭐'s

Induvial story reviews:
Story 1: was a 4 star.
Story 2: was a 2 star.
Story 3: was a 1.5 stars (it should have never been written)
Story 4: was a 2 star.

The first one was a fluke in my opinion. I would find it hard to recommend.

~Thank you, Fantagraphics Books and Net Galley, for the advanced reader copy! I review this voluntarily ~

I have been a big fan of Shintaro Kago and his art works for a while. They're bloody, surreal and delightfully disturbing. “Brain Damage” is no different. Four macabre stories full of dark humor and wonderful absurdity.

Each story has its own charm and style that in the end all make you think, “What the hell happened?”
As you read each story, the body horror and gore escalate in a way that keeps you wanting more.

“Blood Harvest,” the last of the stories, is the prime example. A story of mysterious and gruesome automotive deaths. Victims found mangled in cars as if they were in a terrible accident; however, the car itself is left intact as if nothing ever happened. Once it starts, the gore train keeps on rolling. Each death panel made me cringe, but I looked on in awe of how much detail Kago can fit in there. “Blood Harvest” was my favorite. It left me with a lot of unanswered questions, but that only adds to the surreal feeling you get when reading Kago’s work.

It's a quick read, I can see myself going back to.
I would recommend this to fans of horror manga, especially Ero-guro.

Thank you for the opportunity to have an advanced copy of your book! I really enjoy having early access to books and getting an insight into how book feedback is gained. Thanks :)

I am not a huge fan of manga art so, while engaging and artfully styled, this was not my cup of tea.

Brain Damage is the first manga I've ever read and I LOVED it!! This is basically the graphic equivalent of a collection of short stories, and they are all more macabre as the last.

This collection includes four young identical girls trapped in a labyrinth together where they are being hunted and mutilated, a zombie sanitarium where staff work to keep the patients sedate, a teenage girl tries to solve the string of disappearances in her community while fending off her perverted grandfather, and another mystery surrounding cars being found filled with mangled bodies. Each story will have you scratching your head and maybe wincing a little bit but I absolutely couldn't look away. The illustrations are immersive and at time haunting, and all characters are distinct and very human.

Labyrinth Quartet - 3.5✨
The Cursed Room - 3.0✨
The Family Portrait - 2.5✨
Blood Harvest - 4.5✨
3.37✨

One on my pending request for so long that only recently got approved that I almost forgot I ever requested it. Reminds me of Junji Ito works. The last one 'blood harvest' is obviously my fave out of the three.

4/5 ⭐️ This was a really fast read for me and I really enjoyed it! I was left wanting more of each one of the stories, and I’m left thinking about them days later. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of Brain Damage!!

From the art style, I originally hoped for Junji Ito vibes. Unfortunately that was not the case in the execution. There were some good panels of artworks. Unfortunately the accompanying story was so simple and an amateur that I can't honestly recommend. It just felt very weak and not polished enough.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

A good horror that was unique and the artwork was gross in parts. Some of it will stay with me a while lol.

Really solid collection of horror stories. Not the most elaborate illustrations but the storytelling does a lot of work in this collection. Overall worth picking up to get some stories that were certainly unique and grotesque.

espite an awful translation that seemed to have been done by someone who wasn't a professional and made serious mistakes that weren't simple typos, the first two stories were amazing. The third one had a great premise until the unnecessary and disgustingly disturbing incestual pedo sexual harassment element was introduced. And the fourth one was okay (with inspiration a bit too close to some aspects present in El Eternauta for my liking.)

I can't believe material with those elements is still being approved for publication in this day and age, so... I wouldn't recommend the collection because I will never hype work done by people who have included anything related to those topics in any part of their work.

This comic has a pretty impressive start, and then…the second half of the book happens.

This is a collection of 4 horror stories, with a emphasis on gore. Now, I don’t care that it’s got gore; it’s black and white, and not terribly gratuitous. It’s a gore that makes sense for the stories.

Stories 1 and 2 are fun. One about four girls stuck in a labyrinth with a murderer, the other about a therapist for the dead. The labyrinth story has a great punchline, and the therapy one is a really great take on the zombie genre.

Story 3 starts out…off. Now, the premise is interesting: people in a neighborhood begin to go missing, and it seems to be related to an old man’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Except the mangaka decided to go for humor by making the old man an incestuous pervert. The “resolution” of the story is more morally revolting than stomach-turning. Do check Storygraph trigger warnings on that.

Story 4 is actually really good! Until the last page, when an interesting premise tries to end in a joke, and falls way flat.

While Kago does have potential as a horror mangaka, they’re gonna really have to work on those resolutions. Each of these stories could have been great, if not for the flubbed endings of the last 2. Hell, even the “perverted old man” trope would have been fine, without its associated ending.

I’d say pass on this.

Advanced ready copy provided by the publisher.

Brain Damage is a horror manga that is similar to Junji Ito.
The art in this book is really cool but I don’t love the taboo content (SA/incest) without warning.
Thank you to Net Galley & Fantagraphics for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
2.5/5

Brain Damage is a weird, intense and completely surreal manga by Shintaro Kago. It’s full of bizarre and often grotesque imagery and mixes body horror with really sharp and dark social commentary. I found it a bit hard to follow at times. The story jumps around and the visuals are so out there, but that kind of adds to the experience. It’s disturbing, clever and definitely not for the faint-hearted. Totally unlike anything else I’ve read.

I’m not sure if it’s my thing! But I’m sure this is right up other peoples street

I’m a huge Horror fan and not a stranger to gross and weird stories, but these were disgusting just for the sake of it. No substance, no character depth, no deeper meaning, nothing. Huge NO from me.

Horror isn’t something I frequent, but I do admit I hold series like Uzumaki and The Drifting Classroom in high regard. I was able to check out Shintaro Kago’s Brain Damage, which is four of his collected one-shot stories in one package. While his style is interesting and intriguing, it’s decidedly not for everyone… myself included.

Brain Damage is an anthology of four different tales featuring copious amounts of body horror and high school girls trying to survive. “Labyrinth Quartet” includes four girls, with not-so-identical faces trying to escape a mysterious masked killer. “Curse Room” features a different take on the zombie epidemic, while “Family Portrait” includes an eldritch abomination with an elder god (in a sense…) Finally, “Blood Harvest” mixes Final Destination with cult film Rubber, which is a slightly inaccurate description but makes sense in context.

What’s interesting with these one-shots is how complete they feel. While “Labyrinth Quartet” is probably the most ambiguous story, they all have a good concept without feeling too stale. “Curse Room” is probably the best story in the bunch, with a sardonic take on the “I can fix them!” trend as well as the commodification of unique services. The collection has a macabre sense of humor, and rather than outright scaring you, each story attempts to make you chuckle by the end. (Again, when I compare “Blood Harvest” with the prior comparisons, I mean it lovingly.) It’s a unique take on scary tales that had me intrigued.

However, whether the actual joke lands is something else entirely. The humor is uneven, and this is highlighted especially in “Family Portrait”, which works well in its scary narrative but absolutely botches its punchline. In fact, its sequence of abuse and partial nudity outright ruined the goodwill of the buildup.

I understand that this work is supposed to transcend and challenge, but the only justifiable time nudity would be depicted was possibly in “Curse Room” due to the mechanics of the titular location. Every other instance felt gratuitous and lessened the impact of the tale itself. “Blood Harvest” also suffered immensely from this, with a final page that takes the wind out of its sails with a really lame final line mixed with something that is detestable.

I wasn’t as disgusted with this as I was with something like Drip Drip, but I was close. However, I do have to commend Brain Damage for creating a unique set of stories that have the potential to be silly and scary. It’s just a shame that a lot of it is wasted.