On the subject of horror anime, most of what we see leans closely into the supernatural. Huge reveals like Jujutsu Kaisen, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Black Clover combine magic and horror collectively. On the manga facet, tales like Uzumaki, Good Blue, and Devilman Crybaby dive deep into psychological and creepy themes. However there’s one kind of horror that’s nonetheless fairly uncommon — slashers. You understand, like Jason Voorhees (Friday the thirteenth) or Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm Road).
Freak Island was created by Hokazono Masaya and began in 2013, ultimately working for 24 volumes. It follows a bunch of college college students who discover themselves trapped on what looks like an empty island. Nevertheless it’s not empty in any respect. It seems, the island is used as a dumping floor by the Yakuza, and it’s residence to a terrifying household of killers.
The relations every have their very own twisted type. One of many important villains, Kaoru, wears a creepy pig masks and makes use of lethal weapons like a chainsaw — similar to Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Bloodbath. Regardless of wanting much less evil than a few of his household, Kaoru nonetheless causes brutal injury.
Then there’s Mari, Kaoru’s older sister. She carries a glove with knives, identical to Freddy Krueger. Her face is twisted and scary, and she or he enjoys searching down the unfortunate guests. However the true monster of the household is their father, Yoshikazu, who not solely murders for enjoyable however encourages his youngsters to do the identical.
As if this wasn’t unhealthy sufficient, Freak Island provides an much more horrifying twist: the household can’t die. Due to some unusual energy tied to the island, they immediately get better from even the worst accidents — like dropping their heads! This thriller is likely one of the greatest within the story and results in some mind-blowing reveals in a while.
Past all of the slasher violence, the manga dives into different disturbing themes too. There’s plenty of physique horror (assume grotesque adjustments to folks’s our bodies), and the story explores darkish concepts like isolation, spiritual fanaticism, and hopelessness.
Freak Island doesn’t maintain again. It’s extraordinarily graphic, bloody, and sometimes very uncomfortable to learn — which is strictly why it’s unlikely to ever get an anime adaptation. In at this time’s anime trade, one thing this brutal could be nearly unattainable to convey to mainstream TV or streaming.
Nonetheless, for hardcore horror followers who love bloody, brutal tales, Freak Island is a must-read. It’s uncommon to discover a manga that captures the pure terror of slasher motion pictures, however this one completely nails it — even when it leaves you sleeping with the lights on.
