Book Suggestions: Proper and Online

Chi No Wadachi

Starting off with a very unsettling, disturbing and well written manga by undoubtedly one of the best psychological horror mangakas, Shuzo Oshimi, 'Chi No Wadachi' or 'Blood On The Tracks' is one of the most messed up and disturbing pieces I have ever read, and probably will. 

A description, now.

Starting from the begging we start off with this kid, a perfectly normal boy and the twist is his mother is an absolutely unhinged psychotic maniac.

This manga wrecked me.

The boy, Seiichi is a 13 year old boy born into a seemingly normal household.
 His mother is Seiko, an overprotective mother but nothing TOO bad.
 She rationalizes whatever actions she does towards Seiichi as for "his own good" and attaches herself onto him.
Then.... she throws his cousin off a cliff and sets a chain of events that makes Seiichi question everything.
Oh and there is also a girl Yuiko Fukiishi who is Seiichi's love interest and an absolute darling. 

The thing that makes me unsettled with this manga is how perfectly it is able to depict human emotions, without using words.
He can make a brilliant contrast of Bright VS Dark tones like when the boy tries to run away, and we feel he is finally free only for his mother to come back.

 It kind of reminds me of Vasili Pukirev's painting Unequal Marriage for some reason where the artist is able to tell a story without even words.
 That is probably why Chi No Wadachi has limited dialogue.
Oshimi gets achieves this through very exaggerated facial expressions that you should see for yourself. 

See what I mean? I swear this is worse than Junji Ito. 

I think the key factor that Chi No Wadachi uses to really brand itself in your mind is it's themes of child abuse.

We feel safe in our family, with our parents and especially our mothers, at least some of us.

So, this manga not only tackles a very touchy subject, it makes it straight up devastating to read with it's exaggeration.
It is a perfect depiction of a toxic parenting.
It also tackles dependency an the illusion of love used in manipulation. 

This story always has a lot of twists and turns, always baiting you with these moments of relief, then BAM they give you this utter dark madness that it is. 

Seriously, this is more than disturbing, it gets straight up uncomfortable with how... sensual it can get.
This took the trope of psychological thriller, then kicked it up five more notches.

Something about manipulative characters really ticks me off and I guess Seiko, the 'villain' or 'the mother' is the perfect definition of 'manipulative'. 
 She is just straight up terrifying, she is just... horrifying.

I recommend it because of it's great quality and plot, but if you are going through some stuff or trauma, STAY AWAY FROM THIS MANGA.
 Please just stay away, this is not for the weak of heart.

But hey, if you are anything like me, give it a shot!