Haunted House (manga)
Encyclopedia
is a comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...

 manga written and illustrated by Mitsukazu Mihara
Mitsukazu Mihara
is an influential Japanese illustrator who helped to influence the Gothic Lolita look through her illustrations, particularly as the cover illustrator for the first eight volumes of the Gothic & Lolita Bible...

. Known for her short stories and characters dressed in the Gothic Lolita fashion, Mihara continued her use of death-themed material in Haunted House, a volume of one-shot chapters focusing on the teenage protagonist's attempts to find and keep a girlfriend despite his gothic family. Shodensha
Shodensha
is a Japanese publisher of mostly non-fiction magazines and books, though it has recently begun publishing light novels and manga, including magazines which contain both...

 published Haunted House in Japan on October 8, 2002.

Tokyopop
Tokyopop
Tokyopop, styled TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx, is a distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa, and Western manga-style works. The existing German publishing division produces German translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga, as well...

 licensed it for an English-language release in North America, along with four of her other works, and released it on October 10, 2006. English-language critics were divided on whether it was enjoyable or repetitive, with several comparing it to the Addams Family
The Addams Family
The Addams Family is a group of fictional characters created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. As named by Charles Addams, the Addams Family characters include Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Grandmama, Wednesday, Pugsley, and Thing....

.

Plot

Haunted House consists of one-shot chapters connected by the teenage protagonist, Sabato Obiga—his first name refers to Sabbath
Biblical Sabbath
Sabbath in the Bible is usually a weekly day of rest and time of worship. The Sabbath is first mentioned in the Genesis creation narrative. The seventh day is there set aside as a day of rest—the Sabbath. It is observed differently in Judaism and Christianity and informs a similar occasion in...

. In each, he attempts to find and keep a girlfriend, whom his gothic family inevitably frightens away. His family is made up of his father, who works at a bank; his mother, a reader of poetry; twin sisters Lisa and Misa, both of whom create voodoo dolls; and their black cat
Black cat
A black cat is a feline with black fur. It is not a particular breed of cat and may be mixed or of a specific breed. The Bombay, known for its sleek black fur, is an example of a black cat. The all-black pigmentation is equally prevalent in both male and female cats...

. In Haunted House, Mitsukazu Mihara
Mitsukazu Mihara
is an influential Japanese illustrator who helped to influence the Gothic Lolita look through her illustrations, particularly as the cover illustrator for the first eight volumes of the Gothic & Lolita Bible...

 continued her use of death-themed material—also seen in her other manga The Embalmer
The Embalmer
is a manga series written and illustrated by Mitsukazu Mihara. It is serialized within the magazine magazine Feel Young, and currently has been collected into 6 volumes by Shodensha. The Embalmer was previously licensed for English release by Tokyopop, and four volumes have been released. The...

and R.I.P.: Requiem in Phonybrian
R.I.P.: Requiem in Phonybrian
R.I.P.: Requiem in Phonybrian is a manga written and illustrated by Mitsukazu Mihara.-Release:Written and illustrated by Mitsukazu Mihara, the chapters of R.I.P.: Requiem in Phonybrian were collected into one tankōbon volume and published in November 2000.Tokyopop licensed the manga for an...

.

Release

Written and illustrated by Mitsukazu Mihara, Haunted House was published in Japan by Shodensha
Shodensha
is a Japanese publisher of mostly non-fiction magazines and books, though it has recently begun publishing light novels and manga, including magazines which contain both...

 on October 8, 2002 (ISBN 4396762887). Tokyopop
Tokyopop
Tokyopop, styled TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx, is a distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa, and Western manga-style works. The existing German publishing division produces German translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga, as well...

 licensed it for an English-language release in North America—along with four of her other works: The Embalmer, Beautiful People
Beautiful People (manga)
is a drama josei manga by Mitsukazu Mihara. It is a collection of six short stories and was published by Shodensha on October 20, 2001.-Plot:...

, IC in a Sunflower
IC in a Sunflower
is a science fiction josei manga written and illustrated by Mitsukazu Mihara. It is a collection of seven, unrelated short stories which appeared in the Japanese manga magazine Feel Young from 1994 to 1997. The stories were then published in Japan by Shodensha on October 18, 1997...

and R.I.P.: Requiem in Phonybrian—and released it on October 10, 2006 (ISBN 978-1-59816-321-6).

Reception

Critical reaction to Haunted House was mixed. Critics drew comparisons between the manga and the Addams Family
The Addams Family
The Addams Family is a group of fictional characters created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. As named by Charles Addams, the Addams Family characters include Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Grandmama, Wednesday, Pugsley, and Thing....

. The Comic Book Bin's Leroy Douresseaux felt that her elaborate art partially helped to counterbalance the morbid material, and rated the manga 5/10. While enjoying the occasional "cute and mildly amusing moments", Ryan Huston of MangaLife felt that the gothic stock elements, repetitive plot and "lackluster" art hurt the volume. Conversely, Katherine Dacey praised the "elegant, stylized character designs" and enjoyable story, though she commented that the "moral is delivered a little too neatly". Another reviewer greatly enjoyed the comedy aspect of Haunted House, though wrote that "it was an acquired taste".

External links

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