Manga A Day: The Embalmer Vol 02

Amazon.com: Mitsukazu Mihara: The Embalmer Volume 2 (Embalmer): Books: Mitsukazu Mihara ISBN: 1598166476 ISBN-13: 9781598166477

The first volume of The Embalmer was a collection of short stories just loosely connected through the main character Shinjyurou Mamiya. This volume still has mostly stand alone stories, but instead of focusing on the people Mamiya embalms most of the stories focus on him and the characters introduced in the first volume. Mihara has an interesting writing style. You could take just about any of these stories by itself and be satisfied. But when you mix them all up together you see slowly emerging history is revealed. There isn't much hint at a future yet, but the past is interesting enough to make me want a another volume.

The first story is about a cat. Or maybe it's about Azuki's feelings for Shinjyurou. Or it could be about one of Shinjyurou's first embalming jobs. Or maybe it's about finding home or what's important to you. This is why I'm liking this series, I can read it over a couple times and find new things in it every time.

The second story is a slice out of Shinjyurou's rough history as a half-American, half-Japanese son of an embalmer. It's also about his first love. It's probably the most straightforward story in the whole book. I still found that there was a lot being said in between the lines about Shinjyurou's personality as it is now and as it was then. It was interesting to see his mother too, and a lot was said about his father and he didn't even appear.

The third story is really creepy and neat. Most of the story made me wonder where it was going. When the catch is finally revealed you wonder how you couldn't have seen it before. I really can't say much about it without totally spoiling it. Chapters four and five fall back into the rhythm of the first volume with an "Embalmer's Christmas" tale, and a story of a boy searching for family. The last story is about Dr. Koyuki, the pretty woman doctor. I thought she was just a throw away character. But it seems that no character is just "there" in Mamiya's life.