Halloween Manga Special- Suehiro Maruo and Ero-Guro [Very NSFW]
If you get through this post, you’ll have a similar look on your face
If you thought that just because Ranpo Kitan wasn’t airing that I would stop proselytizing that show you are dead wrong. To repeat, Ranpo Kitan was an anime that adapted multiple stories by the author Edogawa Ranpo into anime form. Suehiro Maruo, the manga author I am going to talk about, is one of my all time favorite horror manga authors. He ranks up there with other horror all stars like Junji Ito (Uzumaki) and Kazuo Umezu (Drifting Classroom, Cat-Eyed Boy), and even surpasses them in some ways. Maruo has made multiple manga versions of Edogawa’s stories as well, so for stories like Panorama Island or the Caterpillar, these stories exist in manga, anime, and novel form. Maruo’s style is very connected with Ero Guro aesthetics, so consider this your final warning. If the idea of seeing a quadriplegic engage in the act of cunnilingus makes you want to run away screaming then back off now! Things are going to get freaky, kinky, and gruesome. You have been warned.
Like I have been saying, Maruo is a master of Ero Guro horror. Ero Guro is the short form of Erotic Grotesque, a style that combines erotic imagery with horrifying imagery. Tentacle Erotica is possibly the most famous example of this genre, where tentacles stand in for the phallus to make sexual intercourse horrifying. Maruo’s stories are normally a 40:60 split between Ero and Guro. For instance, one of series by Maruo is Inugami Expert. An Inugami in Japanese lore is a spirit made by burying a dog up to its neck in the ground, letting the dog starve, and eventually cutting off the head to use as a tool for cursing. Though there is no saying it has to be used on a dog…
Inugami Expert is a series about a mysterious figure who travels around solving troubles both supernatural and horrifying. But Maruo’s true love will always be the circus. Well to be more exact, the freak show. Countless stories by Maruo are set in a freak show, often involving some very unlucky orphans being forced to work in said freak show, and experiencing nothing but horrors. One of Maruo’s most famous works, and what I believe is the only work of his that was made into an anime form is Mr. Arashi’s Freak show, also known as Midori Shoujo Tsubaki. It is the story of a poor girl whose mother is eaten alive by rats and has no choice but to begin working for a traveling freak show. She is abused and tormented, the puppies she feeds are stomped on and made into soup, her only ally is a mysterious dwarf who lives in a bottle and causes some mysterious things to happen… 
Knowing who is the freak gets harder and harder in these manga
At this point you might be wondering: what exactly is the appeal of these depraved and disturbing manga? The first thing that appeals to me is the setting. The Freak Show is a motif that is used in countless works of horror, fictional or otherwise. Maruo uses this and adds to it a historical fiction aspect by setting many of his stories in the post WWI era of Japanese history. This was a time when it would be normal seeing people wearing Kimonos as they ride a trolley, a time when what used to be traditional was being replaced with things Western. It is an era of history I personally love to study, and people like Maruo or Edogawa Ranpo look at the dark and disgusting nature that was present at those times. The other reason why I love these works is because of how I like my horror. I am a total wuss when it comes to jump scares, I also very easily can start to fear whatever is happening to people in horror movies. For me, the events of Maruo are so outlandish, so incredibly bizarre that they boggle the mind to even consider. And though much of his work is frightening, it isn’t what I would describe as scary. Midori is a shocking manga of bizarre and warped imagery, but it doesn’t make you scared to see what happens next. Rather, the twisted and bizarre nature only spurs n the reader, hoping to see what new and disgusting thing awaits on the next page.
I won’t pretend there isn’t a perverse side to all of this. Sexuality combined with brutality, limbs twisting and and melding to together. All of this stuff combines to make a thoroughly sick but fascinating experience. Personally, my favorite Maruo story of all time is called Strange Tale of Panorama Island (episodes 7 and 8 of the Ranpo Kitan anime was a slightly different take on this story) which is another adaptation of an Edogawa Ranpo tale. Maruo has made several adaptations of Edogawa Ranpo’s stories. Tales like the Caterpillar (episode 5 of Ranpo Kitan) or the Human Chair (episodes 1 and 2) are also adapted in ways that are wholly unique compared to the anime or original source. Back to Panorama Island. It is a story where a struggling author hears that his wealthy friend and coincidental doppelganger has suddenly passed away. The writer proceeds to take his place and his wife, he then takes all of the dead man’s assets and focus it all to create the ultimate adult pleasure world. You see where I’m going with this by now right? What starts with nice underwater tunnel and naked cliff divers eventually turns into a series of strange attractions and orgies. Panaorama Island is probably the most “accessible” of Maruo’s works since the violence level is pretty tame and the imagery is at its least disturbing. That’s right, I used accessible to describe scenes involving orgies and death.
At the end of the day, reading Maruo’s manga leaves the reader with all sorts of weird feelings. You will be horrified, you will shudder, you will probably question why you are even reading this weird shit. Hold onto those feelings, they separate the norms from the sickos (by now you know where I fall). Getting into Maruo’s work, or even Ero Guro in general, is a dark and strange corner of pop culture. But my own experience with these stories has been academically interesting, mentally scarring, and altogether mind blowing to a degree that you just can’t experience with modern horror. If you are interested in pursuing more of these works my biggest piece of advice would be: read till the end. Every bit of common sense and decency will try to get you to stop reading. Don’t let it happen. Read on and be amazed, cause there is a great amount of utterly insane, perverted, wonderful, and horrifying manga out there waiting for you.
About Samsura
As someone of questionable tastes and even more questionable ethics; if we laugh at the same things you are one of two things: A person of discerning taste or a weirdo. Guess where I fall.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Maruo uses it, and adds to it a historical fiction side by setting many of his stories in the post WWI era of Japanese history.
There’s also a prewar element to it as well. Trams, kimonos and Western-style suits were already coexisting besides each other before WW2 began.
Here’s a pic of 1920s Ginza:
http://www.oldtokyo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/ginza-sidewalk-trolley1920-300.jpg
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 105 comments
Many Maruo stories are set in the beginning of the Showa era (1926-1989). In Panorama Island for instance, the man who takes the dead man’s place fakes his death by saying he is depressed that the era is changing with a new emperor. This setting fascinates Maruo, but I’ve had lots of trouble tracking down any statement by him about where his inspiration comes from
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Speaking of Panorama Island, how do you find Maruo’s version compared to Ranpo Kitan’s version? I’ve heard Maruo’s is more faithful to the source novel.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
How do you find Maruo’s version of the Panorama Island story compared to Rampo Kitan’s? I know Maruo’s is more faithful to the setting.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 105 comments
Well, I own both the novel version and the manga version of Panorama Island (the manga version has a beautiful hardcover that is actually presentable to people) and I think the big difference is that the novel is a murder mystery, but the manga isn’t a mystery at all. Since the manga’s story is told by the criminal.
Both are good reads, though I HIGHLY recommend getting the manga version when available.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
holy…
Is that supposed to make someone horny? Or is it only titled ERO guro because of the nudity? .-.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 105 comments
Hey, this is a no judgement zone. To each their own.
Let me put it like this. Go back to the very first episode of Ranpo Kitan with the Human Chair. It is something made out of the naked female form (something considered sexy in many situations) but it was twisted into something bizarre and disturbing. However, sexual nature isn’t removed in the transformation, which to me is the most important part of Ero Guro. Sexuality combined with horrific imagery.
Just like how there are people who get aroused by Tentacle Erotica, there are probably people who get aroused by Maruo’s art. Personally, there is a bit to much despair to get me hot and bothered.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
Right… Gotta respect it.
But no matter how much nudity and secret parts there is in a scene, if it’s around a bunch of gore, or even if the artstyle is eerie enough, it’s waaay too much for me to consider it something erotic. But yeah, to each their own.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Very informative and haunting. Anyone entertaining this particular genre will have it sticking in their mind for some time. As for the term “Ero Guro”, based on the pictures, I think one would be found so caught off guard by its bizarre aura; the sense of arousal gets completely subdued. How amusing it would be to see someone with such an expression.
I’m sensing acute nostalgia on that third picture to the right with that school kid holding a blade. That’s from the 1998 manga “Warau Kyuuketsuki” isn’t it? My memory is eroded but I’m sure I hit the mark. The info even says the author is Maruo.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
Kyuuketsuki… Ehem. Now we know BB has seen everything vampire-related. And I mean, EVERYTHING.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Hahaha! We each have our own built-in detectors and that isn’t completely true. I’ve seen clips of the Vampire Diaries on Youtube but have never watched an entire episode of any season. Plus, I’m always looking out for new vampire-related manga or ones that I’ve missed.