"Brain Damage" collects four short horror manga stories by the Shintaro Kago, a writer/artist whose name I've seen mentioned here and there, but who I had never read until now. Having now sampled his work, I'll certainly be seeking out more from Kago.

Rather than being strictly horror shorts, Kago infuses elements of dark, macabre humor into each story and twists that help keep any concept from ever feeling stale. The artwork remains impressive and striking throughout all four stories. The fourth story, "Blood Harvest", in particular contains some pretty gruesome imagery likely to stick with you. As far as overall content, the first story, "Labyrinth Quartet" was probably my favorite, while the third, "Family Portrait", was the weakest installment, mainly due to its over reliance on the stereotypical pervy old man.

All-in-all, I thoroughly enjoyed "Brain Damage" and I look forward to exploring more of Kago's work.

In this Manga, there are four stories. In the first, Labyrinth Quartet, four girls are trapped in the Labyrinth building with a psychopathic killer. This is a twisted tale with great illustrations, full of macabre to drive the story along.
The second story, Curse Room, is a place where many have either died or vanished. The current occupant has been getting strange voicemails. There is something strange about this room, and all the residents seem to have one thing in common: they are deceased. The doctor's job was to transition them peacefully, but one does not go as planned.
The third story is Portrait of a Family. Mika has a perverted grandfather with Alzheimer's disease. Suddenly, people in her family started to disappear. This is a twist gory horror and the pictures exemplify this narrative. Warning: There is nudity.
In the final story, called Blood Harvest, two women are hit in a multi-car crash. One of them survives, and her friend is a mangled corpse. What happened to them, the detective wants to know, because what he sees defies explanation. Again, the illustrations bring the graphic nature of the story to life in this twisted manga of horror stories.
Horror fans will appreciate the stories. I only wish it were in color to enhance the horror aspect of the novel. The cover captures the essence of the genre.

Brain Damage is a manga collection of four short horror stories. The stories were all very strange and crazy. I liked the art style, even though there were some very gross moments.

I think my favorite story was Curse Room because it was a fun (and gory) take on a zombie tale. My least favorite story was Family Portrait because it involved some very uncomfortable situations. I kept thinking “what the actual f*ck?” while reading it.

Overall, this was a little too weird for me. I’m still interested in checking out this mangaka’s other work though.

I think fans of horror manga might enjoy this collection. I would just make sure to check the trigger warnings before diving into this one.

Ok, I didn’t love it. The first half was GREAT. Really interesting stories, creepy and fun, and they felt new. The second half - not so great. The second to last one was just weird and I honestly think they should’ve just scrapped that one. The last one was fine but also felt like ‘it’s the last one let’s just go with whatever’.

So the first half - 5 stars. But the second half has dragged the rating down.



Thank you for this ARC copy NetGalley. This review is freely given.

Brain Damage is a collection of weird, and in one case, off-putting stories that tries really hard to be shocking and grotesque yet misses the mark. Featuring four different stories, it's a mixed bag - some are creepy, some are funny, and one is very disgusting and not in a fun horror way. Most of the stories are rushed and move way too fast. Others try a bit too hard to be ominous. It's an interesting collection to check out especially if you love horror, but there are better stories out there.

I've lately gotten into Junji Ito comics and I was curious about this particular art style. Shintaro Kago helped me access what I was looking for. His manga was eerie, uncomfortable, and unique. The illustrations were so impressive. My favorite story was the first featuring the clones of a young woman stuck in a maze. I didn't mind the gore, but it was topic of incest in a later story that really disturbed me. A lecherous grandpa constantly fondling his granddaughter was really gross and I wasn't expecting it. Discomfort aside, this was a neat comic collection and I'm grateful to the publisher for providing my NetGalley wish. I hope to read more Kago in the future and even get my grubby hands on another Junji Ito someday!

I'm giving this one an immaculate score based on the emotional scarring and damage done to my own brain that shall never be repaired...

I wished for this manga on NetGalley and oh boy, did they ever deliver on that skin-crawling suspense, visceral body horror and pitch-DARK humor 😬😱💀 You know how they say "be careful what you wish for?" Well, that definitely applies here... READ AT YOUR OWN RISK 🚨 (but also, read if you're morbidly curious 😘)

A big thank you to Fantagraphics Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to experience this nightmare 😅🖤👏🏻

Such a gorey and very weird read! All stories start out very mysterious and end with a super unique plot, unlike anything I've ever read. So definetly a fun, quick read!

The thing with the grandfather felt disgusting and like crossing the line, the rest of the short stories were really cool concepts and the art was well done. But because for me personally the grandfather thing was crossing a moral line for me far too much and so I refuse to rate this any higher than a 3 I might even give it a 2.75. I would recommend reading this only if you are willing to be spoiled on what the grandfather thing I am referring to is and then deciding based off that if you'd like to read it, or if you are willing to skip it entirely.

I really hate giving negative reviews. It feels so mean for some reason. But honestly, we need to talk about this book. How did the editors go through this thing and gave the green light for publication? Let me tell you why. There's the third story in this collection called 'The Family Portrait', where a grandfather (yeah) is lusting after his teen granddaughter. There's a gross scene towards the end where he sucks on her boobs and fingers her. Was it needed to make it effective? No. Was it there only for the cheap shock factor? Yes. The story would have been fine and even better without this angle. Why was it there? Seriously, no idea. Besides the tones of victim blaming was very loud in this one. I cannot believe that in this day and age, the publisher ls let this get published. Other than that this wasn't the most interesting manga collection at all nor the most gross. It was simply bad. Shallow. The stories were half baked at best. There was a lot of potential which was simply lost because of poor execution. The artwork is definitely commendable but this won't be a memorable collection of stories for the right reasons. A skippable book which shouldn't have been published in the first place.

Shintaro Kago doing what he does best: weirdo horror, gore, and disturbing. His art is excellent as always, I love the movement and consistency of his work and how visceral and bizarre he can get. The downside though is that the artwork really carries this collection. The stories themselves are interesting but weak, they wouldn't stand on their own if it was anyone else illustrating them. The first two were decent with an interesting premise but the others were just not very good. They had cool elements but they just didn't hold up well when you put more than surface level thought into them. I enjoy Kago's work but Ibdont think this is his strongest set of stories.

Thank you NetGalley and Famtagraphics books for this ARC.

I love everything Fantagraphics publishes, and this was no exception! As a first time manga reader (I typically read graphic novels/comics), I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. I found the stories to be direct enough that we had a clear idea of the story's plot as it evolved, while still leaving an aire of mystery. My favorite was "Curse Room" by far!

Thank you NetGalley & Fantagraphics Books for granting my wish for this arc!

4.5/5.0 Stars

BRAIN DAMAGE – Short Storie Collection – by Shintaro Kago – Translation by Zack Davidson

‘In 2018, manga artist Shintaro Kago made his English debut with Dementia 21, a collection of absurdist manga short stories. Readers found themselves delighted and disgusted by his penchant for body horror, black comedy and the surreal paired with his emphatic, kinetic art style. Kago returns at the height of his powers with Brain Damage, where he dials up the gore and absurdity to new heights.’

‘Labyrinth Quartet’ – Creepy Good!

‘Curse Room’ – Love The Ending!

‘Portrait Of Family’ – Creepy Good! Also…Gross!

‘Blood Harvest – Love This One!

Also, LLLOOOOVVVEEEE THE GRAPHIC! *chefs kiss*

Manga/Horror
Age: 16 & Up
Scheduled For Release, Though Subject To Change: July 15, 2025

Thank you, NetGalley and Fantagraphics Books, for providing me with an eBook ARC of BRAIN DAMAGE at the request of an honest review.

Rating: B-

A free copy was provided by netgalley.

A single volume of manga with four short stories, Brain Damage by Kago is reminiscent of the style of Kazuo Umezu, classic horror author. This is a translated piece of work in the early stages of review. I found a typo on one of the pages. Sound effects haven't been translated yet.

The stories are quite short but they're honestly very unique compared to other stories I have read. I really liked the gore and art style, especially the perspectives and the backgrounds. My favourite was probably the dangerous car story, though it was very strange.

Included also are: helping the dead realise they are dead, grandpa has dementia, a person trying to make a four panel comic.

I guess one of my main dislikes of the stories were the offbeat endings. It felt like the darkness of the stories were then made comedic by a single panel tadah! ending. Also that there was a lot of nudity in one of the stories that was pretty gross.

Worth reading but it may not be remembered.

I think where this graphic novel succeeds is in crafting unique, genuinely terrifying scenarios, but it falls flat in the execution and particular details that are chosen. Labyrinth Quartet was my favorite of the bunch with its exploration of twisted view of self identity with a narrative that provided a lot of momentum. Curse Room was a bit confusing at times, but the premise was unique and intriguing. Family Portrait is a hard pass from me due to the entirely unnecessary incestual and predatory elements. The story would've been just as suitable without them and it felt present entirely for disturbing shock value. Blood Cars is the ultimate anti-used car agenda and personified cars in a way where their history bites back. Overall, the art design was decently consistent, but I don't think that the style nor the subject matter were for me even though the intentions were ambitious.

I feel torn on this. I'm giving it 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3 stars because the stories I liked, I liked. But I really took issue with Family Portrait and the sexualization of what was a literal child?? Japan is different but I read a lot of horror manga and that was just too gross, too far. I didn't find it funny or amusing in the slightest, it just nauseated me as a woman.

The other stories were better, absurdist horror takes. I read a lot of Junji Ito and I just got into Masaaki Nakayama as well, so this is a new brand of comedy-horror manga I haven't tried yet... I usually love comedy-horror but this just wasn't it for me I guess. I'm willing to try more from this author though, I'll just temper my expectations. I was so excited for this and I think that made the disappointment hit harder.

Publishing date: 15.07.2025 (DD/MM/YYYY)
Thank you to NetGalley and Fantagraphics Books for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

I won't sugarcoat anything and simply state that I didn't like this. Sadly, this was a massive miss for me.

Originally I thought this would be similar to Junji Ito's works, with the super creepy cover and the description it sounded so familiar in a sense. I think my expectations were unrealistic.

Breakdown per story:
Labyrinth Quartet - Slasher horror, interesting concept but underexplored, ending was unsatisfying

Curse Room - Maybe the best one, but also underexplored and unsatisfying ending, wish i got to see more examples of "treatment"

Family Portrait - The bane of my existence, I was sick the entire time reading this. I should have paid proper attention to the description of this one and known it would trigger my PTSD. I also really hate how the main character was treated by, well, everyone here. Highly dislike this one.

Blood Harvest - Middling concept, underwhelming, my opinion of this one might be a little clouded due to reading the prior story first and holding a negative opinion of the whole work

I am so sad that this didn't work for me, but that is just the way the cookie crumbles. Won't be recommending this one, but might consider the author's previous work. 1 star

Thank you, Fantagraphics Books, for granting my wish for Brain Damage here on NetGalley! 🔪🩸☠️🫀

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5

I was intrigued when I saw the cover! I really like the art! It reminded me a little of Junji Ito’s mangas.

This was an extremely quick read for me. I enjoyed a couple stories more than the others. They were all bizarre and creepy in their own way. The 3rd story was weird and not in a good way. I didn’t really enjoy that one.

There was a slight level of dark humor to some of the stories, which I didn’t mind. There was also a level of uneasiness to each story that kept me reading. But I don’t see any of these stories really sticking with me. It was a fast read to get out of a reading slump. The art throughout was wonderfully macabre too, which definitely complimented the stories.

This was… fine. Kago’s art is as wild and detailed as ever, and the ideas are definitely out there zombies, body horror, surreal comedy, all cranked to eleven. But honestly? I was kind of bored. The shock factor wears off pretty quickly, and the stories didn’t really go anywhere that surprised me. It felt like weirdness for the sake of weirdness.

That said, I still admire how unique his style is, and there were a few moments that made me smile or cringe in a good way. Just not something I connected with overall.

3.5 ⭐️✨

my first time reading a manga by this author and definitely won't be the last! i need more even though some stories didn't fully work for me. 👀

these are my ratings for each story:
labyrinth quartet - 3⭐️
curse room - 5⭐️
family portrait - 3⭐️ this would've been a higher rating if it wasn't so damn weird 😭
blood harvest - 2.5⭐️

i still highly recommend reading this if you like horror mangas, this was unique and the artwork was gross at times! for fans of junji ito, try this out!