It begins with a simple inquiry that draws attention. Attention that becomes a baffling obsession. An obsession that spirals into nightmare. A nightmare that becomes the stuff of urban legend.
The simple inquiry is when Hiroshi Mori, a young student, hears a woman ringing the doorbell and knocking on the door of his neighbor, Yamamoto. Since it is the middle of the night and the ringing and knocking is loud enough to disturb Hiroshi, he steps out to see what is going on. Big mistake.
Standing at Yamamoto's door is a towering woman with long black hair. She is wearing an overcoat and is carrying two paper bags and a satchel. Hiroshi's short encounter with her is dreamlike, with the woman pointing at the Yamamoto's door and asking if he goes to the same school as, "The person who lives here."
If this were a video that last comment would get punctuated by a clip of Dustin Poynter running around with a giant red flag.
The strange woman's attention turns to Hiroshi, of course, and his life is fast unraveled and tossed to the wind.
I am hesitant to offer any further explanation or exploration of Hauntress, as doing so would only spoil unnerving revelations and incidents that would best be experienced with a set of fresh and unaware eyes.
The ad copy on the back of the edition I have describes it as a "1993 horror classic...credited with introducing the concept of stalking to Japan." That was enough to sell me on the manga and, now having read it, I more or less concur.
Hauntress creeped me out and left me hesitant to the point of being afraid to see who it is that is knocking on a neighbor's door in the dead of night...
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