The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service
Encyclopedia
is a horror
manga
series written by Eiji Ōtsuka
and drawn by Housui Yamazaki
. First published in Kadokawa Mystery, the series later (October 2006) transferred to the companion publication Shōnen Ace
, and now published in the magazine Young Ace
. As of November 2011, 13 volumes have been published in Japan.
An English adaptations is being published by Dark Horse Comics
.
The series follows five recently graduated university students who have formed a company which specializes in dealing with the dead and their last wishes.
A U.S. live-action film based on The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service is now in development.
and/or involving dead bodies. Most notable is Kuro Karatsu who has the ability to "speak" to the recently deceased and hear their last wishes. On this basis the group forms a business venture to fulfill said wishes in hopes for compensation. However, because corpses do not always die of natural causes or accidents, the group often encounters criminal activity or such compensation is unattainable.
The series is ostensibly set in modern day Japan with the main characters hanging around the Buddhist college near Tokyo the main characters attended, though the characters often travel elsewhere for summer jobs or to fulfill their "clients" wishes. Tokyo
, usually Shinjuku, is often visited though it is not known exactly where the college is located in relation to the greater Tokyo metropolitan area. The manga also seems to be set in the same universe as MPD Psycho
and Mail
, other series that the authors Otsuka and Yamazaki respectively have worked on, as characters of these series appear in it.
The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service is usually structured into self-contained chapters though some successive stories, most notably the entire second volume, are one continuous story. This changes in later volumes due to a change in serialization. The stories stay self-contained, but span two or three chapters which have fewer pages than chapters at the start of the series. Most chapters are named after a Japanese pop song with each chapter in a single volume usually named for songs by the same artist. The english release by Dark Horse Comics
is notable for extensive translation notes and explanations in the back of the manga. An example would be information about the artists of the songs the chapters are named for.
Each volume of the manga features a structural drawing of a body on the cover that is relevant to onne of the stories within starting with Volume 3. The cover and backcover also features a depiction of all the company members. However, only Karatsu gets a Mugshot on each cover while the other characters may appear in some other manner or are hinted at. Above this depiction they are only identified as "Staff A" through "Staff E" (with the felt puppet Kere Ellis being "Staff E'") and a description of their skill underneath.
, although he is neither a woman nor blind.
:He uses a pendulum
to dowse for the dead which enables him to find the bodies needed for the team's delivery work. Numata puts on a tough guy image including leather jackets and sunglasses, although he enjoys sides of Japanese pop culture which are rarely associated with such an image, such as interest in Japanese idol singers
. He's the physically strongest of the group, but also tends to be the most emotional.
:The brains behind the company. A skilled hacker
and general computer expert. She also has a large information network and sometimes uses bribes (such as pictures of dead idols
) as the means to achieve the ends. This includes running an Internet chat-room entitled "Corpse-Chat". Besides collecting pictures of dead bodies, she also seems to enjoy literature and has recently started to attend a few psychology courses at the university.
:A licensed embalmer
who handles the corpses found by Karatsu and Numata. She studied her trade in America since embalmers are rare in Japan, where most bodies are cremated
rather than buried. She dresses in a goth loli style and also works with her skills on part-time jobs, for example for on an American military base
.
:A timid guy who wears a felt puppet on his left hand which he claims channels an alien intelligence
. He seems to be a big nerd even though it only rarely shows through. He is fond of advanced mathematics like Mandelbrot
and Julia set
s and his apartment is filled with various sci-fi and most notably Star Wars
memorabilia. Like Sasaki, he's also fairly knowledgeable about literature and urban legends. Yata's eyes are rarely seen as his hair almost always covers them.
:A very foul-mouthed alien life form which communicates through Yata's hand puppet, though the group is at least in the beginning very skeptical if this alien isn't Yata himself or a split personality. Yata often apologizes for Kere Ellis' unruly behavior and often has his left hand physically abused in reaction to the alien's verbal abuse. Kere Ellis' design has changed significantly from the first chapter to the second but remained constant since.
:Yaichi is a spirit that seems to follow around Karatsu if not outright possessing him. He may be the source of Karatsu ability or at least be able to amplify it to a great extent. The most notable of Yaichi's features are the severe scars on his face and his long white hair. One scar starts at the center-top of the face and runs down between the eyes and then down the right side. It is met below the eye by another scar coming from the right ear. A third scar runs across the left cheek starting from the corner of the mouth. Though there is no direct interaction or awareness with the group, he often helps the group with warnings or taking over some of the body movement of various characters who feel his presence during that period.
:This man has the same scars as Yaichi only his hair is black except for a patch white hair above his right eye. Sasayama remarked after giving a description that he looks very much like , a former police coroner and serial killer Sasayama shot when he was still a cop. However, Sasayama killed Zuhaku and also witnessed his burial and thus concludes that they can not be the same person. Sasayama also remarked that the name "Ichiro Suzuki" is probably fake. When conducting business as a corpse cleaner Suzuki wears a white jumpsuit, baseball cap, safety goggles and a breathing mask, obstructing his face almost completely.
The Girl :A small, black-haired girl with a big bow in her hair usually wearing a kimono with a black leather Obi
. Her character has not been named in the story so far. She seems to be Suzuki's partner in their more nefarious activities and possesses some spiritual powers of her own, e.g. limited Telekinetic powers
and the ability to converse with a group of spirits.
. In this instance he is a lot older, has a large scar on his bald head and walks with cane due to a pegleg
which is evidence for Kurosagi being set years after MPD Psycho. Initially the group thinks he is a Yakuza. He is no longer a police officer but instead works for the Shinjuku municipal social welfare office and often has trouble with unidentified bodies for which he asks the group for help, usually taking advantage of them. Also, he gives them odd jobs on occasion.
:A nurse trainee with the ability to hear the last words of a spirit before it passes on. She has two separate encounters with the Kurosagi team and seems to be romantically interested in Karatsu.
:Mr. Nire is an entrepreneur in post-mortem services. At times he has run a funeral home, a mummification
service and a cryogenic preservation
facility, though many of his business ventures are somewhat shady. He knew about the Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service before they met and tried to recruit them for his business.
:Mr. Nire's business partner in later exploits. He appears as a tall man usually in a hooded jacket. He is also covered in bandages which is explained by Mr. Nire as due to being a victim of an accident and having suffered severe burns. However, Shinuhe has also joked about being an actual resurrected Egyptian Mummy
. Regardless of that, he seems to be fond of ancient Egypt either way and very knowledgeable about the process of mummification which he is eager to share.
:The adopted daughter of Mr. Nire. She has the unique ability to raise the dead for short periods of time, often with undesirable results.
:A forensic entomology student from America (Ohio, to be exact) that the group meets a befriends. Her unique accent makes speaking Japanese a bit awkward. She has a fascination with insects, as well.
The crying woman :An unnamed elderly woman with the ability to affect other people around her and force them into involuntary crying. She appears to know about Yaichi and the Shirosagi Corpse Cleaning Service and knows Sasayama.
:Sasaki's psychotherapist who occasionally is asked by the Kurosagis to help them with a case. She apparently chose psychiatry due to her failings in medicine and reluctance to work with the physical human body. Nevertheless she seems to be unfazed by Karatsu's ability. Though young looking Sasaki stated that Jenny is as old as Sasayama.
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
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
series written by Eiji Ōtsuka
Eiji Otsuka
is a Japanese writer. He writes the Multiple Personality Detective Psycho and The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service manga series. One of his first animation script works was Mahō no Rouge Lipstick, an adult lolicon OVA...
and drawn by Housui Yamazaki
Housui Yamazaki
is a Japanese manga artist. He wrote and illustrated the three volume Mail series. He currently illustrates The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, which is authored by Eiji Ōtsuka.-External links:...
. First published in Kadokawa Mystery, the series later (October 2006) transferred to the companion publication Shōnen Ace
Shonen Ace
is a monthly shōnen manga magazine in Japan published by Kadokawa Shoten, started in 1994. Unlike the big shōnen weeklies with circulation figures in the millions, Ace is aimed at a less mainstream audience, and has a particular emphasis on anime tie-ins...
, and now published in the magazine Young Ace
Young Ace
is a seinen manga magazine in Japan published by Kadokawa Shoten, started in 2009.-Manga artists and series featured in Young Ace:*Akuma no Ikenie by Ayun Tachibana*Black Rock Shooter: Innocent Soul by Sanami Suzuki...
. As of November 2011, 13 volumes have been published in Japan.
An English adaptations is being published by Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
.
The series follows five recently graduated university students who have formed a company which specializes in dealing with the dead and their last wishes.
A U.S. live-action film based on The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service is now in development.
Plot, Setting and Structure
The series deals with the exploits of five young graduates of a Buddhist college, all of which have a special skill, some of them supernaturalSupernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
and/or involving dead bodies. Most notable is Kuro Karatsu who has the ability to "speak" to the recently deceased and hear their last wishes. On this basis the group forms a business venture to fulfill said wishes in hopes for compensation. However, because corpses do not always die of natural causes or accidents, the group often encounters criminal activity or such compensation is unattainable.
The series is ostensibly set in modern day Japan with the main characters hanging around the Buddhist college near Tokyo the main characters attended, though the characters often travel elsewhere for summer jobs or to fulfill their "clients" wishes. Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, usually Shinjuku, is often visited though it is not known exactly where the college is located in relation to the greater Tokyo metropolitan area. The manga also seems to be set in the same universe as MPD Psycho
MPD Psycho
, short for Multiple Personality Detective Psycho, is a manga series written by and illustrated by , published in Kadokawa Shoten's Comic Charge since 1997...
and Mail
Mail (manga)
Mail is a horror manga series written and illustrated by Housui Yamazaki. The English translation is published by Dark Horse Comics.The series centers around , a private eye who investigates cases dealing with ghosts...
, other series that the authors Otsuka and Yamazaki respectively have worked on, as characters of these series appear in it.
The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service is usually structured into self-contained chapters though some successive stories, most notably the entire second volume, are one continuous story. This changes in later volumes due to a change in serialization. The stories stay self-contained, but span two or three chapters which have fewer pages than chapters at the start of the series. Most chapters are named after a Japanese pop song with each chapter in a single volume usually named for songs by the same artist. The english release by Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
is notable for extensive translation notes and explanations in the back of the manga. An example would be information about the artists of the songs the chapters are named for.
Each volume of the manga features a structural drawing of a body on the cover that is relevant to onne of the stories within starting with Volume 3. The cover and backcover also features a depiction of all the company members. However, only Karatsu gets a Mugshot on each cover while the other characters may appear in some other manner or are hinted at. Above this depiction they are only identified as "Staff A" through "Staff E" (with the felt puppet Kere Ellis being "Staff E'") and a description of their skill underneath.
The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service
:A student Buddhist monk with average grades. He has the ability to "speak" with the recently deceased by the means of touching their bodies, allowing the team to learn their "clients'" desires. This skill develops over the course of the series and is linked to a spirit lingering near him named Yaichi. Involuntarily this can also lead to a temporary reanimation of the dead body touched and corpses in the immediate area, although Karatsu has no control over their actions afterwards. He is sometimes classified as an itakoItako
An itako is a traditional, blind, usually female shaman from northern Japan.Itako are said to have the ability to communicate with the dead, even to evil spirits due to their intense spiritual power. They also are said to have the power to remove evil spirit from one's body and mind...
, although he is neither a woman nor blind.
:He uses a pendulum
Pendulum
A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced from its resting equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward the equilibrium position...
to dowse for the dead which enables him to find the bodies needed for the team's delivery work. Numata puts on a tough guy image including leather jackets and sunglasses, although he enjoys sides of Japanese pop culture which are rarely associated with such an image, such as interest in Japanese idol singers
Japanese idol
In Japanese culture, are media personalities in their teens and early twenties who are considered particularly attractive or cute and who will, for a period ranging from several months to a few years, regularly appear in the mass media, e.g...
. He's the physically strongest of the group, but also tends to be the most emotional.
:The brains behind the company. A skilled hacker
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
and general computer expert. She also has a large information network and sometimes uses bribes (such as pictures of dead idols
Japanese idol
In Japanese culture, are media personalities in their teens and early twenties who are considered particularly attractive or cute and who will, for a period ranging from several months to a few years, regularly appear in the mass media, e.g...
) as the means to achieve the ends. This includes running an Internet chat-room entitled "Corpse-Chat". Besides collecting pictures of dead bodies, she also seems to enjoy literature and has recently started to attend a few psychology courses at the university.
:A licensed embalmer
Embalming
Embalming, in most modern cultures, is the art and science of temporarily preserving human remains to forestall decomposition and to make them suitable for public display at a funeral. The three goals of embalming are thus sanitization, presentation and preservation of a corpse to achieve this...
who handles the corpses found by Karatsu and Numata. She studied her trade in America since embalmers are rare in Japan, where most bodies are cremated
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
rather than buried. She dresses in a goth loli style and also works with her skills on part-time jobs, for example for on an American military base
United States Forces Japan
The refers to the various divisions of the United States Armed Forces that are stationed in Japan. Under the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan, the United States is obliged to defend Japan in close cooperation with the Japan Self-Defense Forces for...
.
:A timid guy who wears a felt puppet on his left hand which he claims channels an alien intelligence
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
. He seems to be a big nerd even though it only rarely shows through. He is fond of advanced mathematics like Mandelbrot
Mandelbrot set
The Mandelbrot set is a particular mathematical set of points, whose boundary generates a distinctive and easily recognisable two-dimensional fractal shape...
and Julia set
Julia set
In the context of complex dynamics, a topic of mathematics, the Julia set and the Fatou set are two complementary sets defined from a function...
s and his apartment is filled with various sci-fi and most notably Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
memorabilia. Like Sasaki, he's also fairly knowledgeable about literature and urban legends. Yata's eyes are rarely seen as his hair almost always covers them.
:A very foul-mouthed alien life form which communicates through Yata's hand puppet, though the group is at least in the beginning very skeptical if this alien isn't Yata himself or a split personality. Yata often apologizes for Kere Ellis' unruly behavior and often has his left hand physically abused in reaction to the alien's verbal abuse. Kere Ellis' design has changed significantly from the first chapter to the second but remained constant since.
:Yaichi is a spirit that seems to follow around Karatsu if not outright possessing him. He may be the source of Karatsu ability or at least be able to amplify it to a great extent. The most notable of Yaichi's features are the severe scars on his face and his long white hair. One scar starts at the center-top of the face and runs down between the eyes and then down the right side. It is met below the eye by another scar coming from the right ear. A third scar runs across the left cheek starting from the corner of the mouth. Though there is no direct interaction or awareness with the group, he often helps the group with warnings or taking over some of the body movement of various characters who feel his presence during that period.
The Shirosagi Corpse Cleaning Service
The Shirosagi Corpse Cleaning Service is a mysterious organization that on the surface is in the business to clean up murder and suicide sites. However, it appears that they are secretly after Karatsu's spirit Yaichi.:This man has the same scars as Yaichi only his hair is black except for a patch white hair above his right eye. Sasayama remarked after giving a description that he looks very much like , a former police coroner and serial killer Sasayama shot when he was still a cop. However, Sasayama killed Zuhaku and also witnessed his burial and thus concludes that they can not be the same person. Sasayama also remarked that the name "Ichiro Suzuki" is probably fake. When conducting business as a corpse cleaner Suzuki wears a white jumpsuit, baseball cap, safety goggles and a breathing mask, obstructing his face almost completely.
The Girl :A small, black-haired girl with a big bow in her hair usually wearing a kimono with a black leather Obi
Obi (sash)
is a sash for traditional Japanese dress, keikogi worn for Japanese martial arts, and a part of kimono outfits.The obi for men's kimono is rather narrow, wide at most, but a woman's formal obi can be wide and more than long. Nowadays, a woman's wide and decorative obi does not keep the kimono...
. Her character has not been named in the story so far. She seems to be Suzuki's partner in their more nefarious activities and possesses some spiritual powers of her own, e.g. limited Telekinetic powers
Psychokinesis
The term psychokinesis , also referred to as telekinesis with respect to strictly describing movement of matter, sometimes abbreviated PK and TK respectively, is a term...
and the ability to converse with a group of spirits.
Other recurring characters
:Sasayama is a character by Otsuka that also appeared in MPD PsychoMPD Psycho
, short for Multiple Personality Detective Psycho, is a manga series written by and illustrated by , published in Kadokawa Shoten's Comic Charge since 1997...
. In this instance he is a lot older, has a large scar on his bald head and walks with cane due to a pegleg
Pegleg
A pegleg is a prosthesis, more specifically an artificial limb of carved wood fitted to the remaining stump of a human leg, as often seen in pirate movies...
which is evidence for Kurosagi being set years after MPD Psycho. Initially the group thinks he is a Yakuza. He is no longer a police officer but instead works for the Shinjuku municipal social welfare office and often has trouble with unidentified bodies for which he asks the group for help, usually taking advantage of them. Also, he gives them odd jobs on occasion.
:A nurse trainee with the ability to hear the last words of a spirit before it passes on. She has two separate encounters with the Kurosagi team and seems to be romantically interested in Karatsu.
:Mr. Nire is an entrepreneur in post-mortem services. At times he has run a funeral home, a mummification
Mummy
A mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...
service and a cryogenic preservation
Cryonics
Cryonics is the low-temperature preservation of humans and animals who can no longer be sustained by contemporary medicine, with the hope that healing and resuscitation may be possible in the future. Cryopreservation of people or large animals is not reversible with current technology...
facility, though many of his business ventures are somewhat shady. He knew about the Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service before they met and tried to recruit them for his business.
:Mr. Nire's business partner in later exploits. He appears as a tall man usually in a hooded jacket. He is also covered in bandages which is explained by Mr. Nire as due to being a victim of an accident and having suffered severe burns. However, Shinuhe has also joked about being an actual resurrected Egyptian Mummy
Mummy
A mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...
. Regardless of that, he seems to be fond of ancient Egypt either way and very knowledgeable about the process of mummification which he is eager to share.
:The adopted daughter of Mr. Nire. She has the unique ability to raise the dead for short periods of time, often with undesirable results.
:A forensic entomology student from America (Ohio, to be exact) that the group meets a befriends. Her unique accent makes speaking Japanese a bit awkward. She has a fascination with insects, as well.
The crying woman :An unnamed elderly woman with the ability to affect other people around her and force them into involuntary crying. She appears to know about Yaichi and the Shirosagi Corpse Cleaning Service and knows Sasayama.
:Sasaki's psychotherapist who occasionally is asked by the Kurosagis to help them with a case. She apparently chose psychiatry due to her failings in medicine and reluctance to work with the physical human body. Nevertheless she seems to be unfazed by Karatsu's ability. Though young looking Sasaki stated that Jenny is as old as Sasayama.