Goth

If you only went by the title, you might think Goth is about black lace-clad Lolitas and Victorian vampires. But in reality, Goth is a sleek, modern thriller that's almost creepier because it's set in a world that's close to our contemporary reality. And if Goth is to be believed, we live in a sick, twisted world.

While it's disturbing that Goth romanticizes serial killers and two teens' twisted fascination with death, the art is elegant and dramatic, and the story is unexpectedly poetic and engaging. A satisfying horror one-shot that will haunt you long after the last page is turned.

Yoru Morino and Itsuki Kamiyama look like normal, albeit somber high school students. But what their classmates don't know is that both Yoru and Itsuki share a dark fascination with death, specifically grisly murders. As these kindred souls find themselves attracted to each other, their interest in the dark side brings them closer to cold-blooded killers, and perhaps closer to death than they'd like.

When I picked it up, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Goth. "Gothic" is a loaded term that evokes black lace-clad Lolitas and Victorian-era horror ala Edgar Allen Poe and Bram Stoker. But Goth is free of vampires and retro-romanticism. It's a sleek and modern tale that's almost creepier because it's set in a world very similar to our everyday reality.

If Goth is to be believed, we live in a sick and twisted world. Much like MPD Psycho, Goth seems to revel in showing some stomach-churning scenes of dismemberment. In the world of Goth, serial killers aren't content to merely stab or shoot their victims -- they are morbidly fascinated with dissecting and re-arranging their victims' entrails like some perverse form of Japanese flower arrangement. Trust me, you'll be grateful that these scenes are in black and white, because they'd be pretty horrifying in color.

But there's more than just shock value going on here. Oiwa's elegant line work and dramatic black and white tableaus work beautifully with Otsuichi's unexpectedly poetic story. The mood is restrained and melancholy. Autumn leaves fall over the grave of a girl who is buried alive and a high school boy longs to sever rather than merely hold a girl's hand.

Otsuchi masterfully lets tension build slowly between Yoru and Itsuki as long-buried secrets and forbidden desires are brought to light. While it romanticizes death, Goth will haunt you long after the last page is turned.