Creator: Gokurakuin Sakurako
Publisher: DrMaster
Age Rating: Mature
Genre: Horror
RRP: $9.95
Category: Freaks v3
Reviewed by Michael Aronson

“The battle against Hainuwele and her salacious spawn rages on as Asagi and his crew struggle to help a young woman save her brother, who was reborn as a flesh doll freak, from the beautiful but deadly black freaks. Elsewhere, Hainuwele bides her time in a provisional lair in a dark corner somewhere in the sprawling expanse that is Tokyo as she recovers from her last scrap with the Stand. Later, a brief lill in the war against the freaks provides Asagi time for a much needed rest, and Izumi the opportunity to entertain the others with a haunting, but illuminating tale of the past.”

Does the war between good and evil really have to be so black and white? It does in the world of Category: Freaks. The freaks in question are considered so insidious that were a woman suspected of being possessed by one, team leader Asagi will strip her down on the spot just to prove his hunch. That’s pretty hardcore, but it’s also pretty crazy, and shallow characterization doesn’t help bridge these extreme motivations with credibility.

In the first volume there was a little girl named Tokiko who had rabbit ears and wouldn’t open her mouth unless it was to literally devour the captured freaks (at which point she produced a fork and knife out of nowhere). In this volume she’s joined by two other creepy silent rabbit girls who partake in the same feasting, but multiplying the role only multiplies its silliness. What’s worse, one of these girls actually exclaims “freakuchu,” which comes off less as a Pokemon parody than a knockoff.

Still, abstruse and oddball characters aside, the depictions and nature of the monsters are nice and spooky, not quite what I’d consider “freaks” but definitely freaky. The man with three legs is a strange but subtle touch, as is the placement of a demonic card on one girl’s body. It’s too bad that for so many nice touches in character poses and expressions that too many of the protagonists look the same.

Category: Freaks can be summed up as a b-movie-type horror manga. The quality isn’t very high and the concept lacks depth, but it delivers surface level chills and suspense from a purely visceral standpoint and nothing more.

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6 October 2009
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