The third story especially. Made me pop a boner. I'd love to have a doll whom I can control too. What a sad world this is!

Fujiwara seems to have this tendency to draw things that are aesthetically appealing, but also..what's the word...detached? She has this style where the characters not only look similar to each other from story to story, but they also seem to embody this untouchable, ethereal beauty which, when paired with her sparse story-telling, does not leave the reader with much to work with.

90s heroin chic is what I like to label her art style. Their looks certainly remind me of the 90s for some reason.

Yes these stories are haunting, but I wish that there was just something a bit more. They don't really stick with you except as an echo of what they once were. I want something that's a bit more persistent. But perhaps if you like the ghosts of horror, the hints of horror and that which is psychological, you'll enjoy this. Maybe you need to be in the right mood for it in order for it to be effective, like how you can enjoy certain movies or music on a rainy day. This certainly seems to be one of those works of art where you have to be in the right mind to like it and to respond to it.

My favorite would have to be the one with the master and the doll. I've read it over a dozen times and it was only after the dozenth time that I realized a few things about it that had previously confused me, though I won't get into it here...

Fujiwara's delicate, feminine shoujo art paired with her gruesome guro subject matter reminds me of creepy things I used to see when I haunted the ball-jointed doll community years ago. While it's interesting to see such grotesque material rendered in an art style usually associated with romance and innocence, Fujiwara unfortunately doesn't have much follow-through in these short stories. There is, indeed, little more to these tales than fetishization and surface titillation. My favorite was "Love Letter" because it managed to scrounge up some atmosphere and tension, giving itself the breathing room for mystery whereas the other stories are abrupt splatters. I'll probably sample more of her work; I'm curious what impression she leaves when working in longer forms.

It's will be ok with you if you like super crazy creepy story
but if you don't like that type of manga then look for another one
this manga sad crazy creepy so help yourself ^^

Read this because I had the impression it was critically acclaimed or something... I guess I set the bar up too high.

I felt nothing. It sure was different, but because it's josei, it was too soft core in a sense. And I don't like how a lot of them were not clear cut.

... Last updated on December 24th, 2011, 9:17pm

This is a collection of reallllllyyyy creepy stories. Some are just sick.
I admit the way of telling the stories left me a bit confused at times, but not..bad confused.. idk how to explain it.
I enjoyed it though. A nice change.

Ah, this one-shot is really twisted. Somehow, however, I've gotten a taste for twisted stories ever since I read "Flowers of Evil", so I'm not surprised that I liked this collection.

Art is gorgeous. I love it. It's not typical, huge eyed-characters with unrealistic facial features so that was a big turn on. Everything is anatomically correct, too.

The stories are twisted, morbid—the works. It's not exactly "scary" in the senses of dead people or whatever. It's just brutal and abnormal. The feeling it gave me throughout the volume was numbness. The scenarios are surreal and creepy. Messed up. Yet I still liked it.

What mostly made this story a success in creepiness factor were the the characters. Those are messed up people. Once again, I admire this mangaka in some sort of morbid admiration.

I'm not sure whether I should recommend this because it certainly isn't for everyone. So beware =3

...but the most of these stories end slightly abruptly, somehow. Or maybe it's because it feels like something is missing.
I don't know which, but these stories are pretty good. Art is beautiful, and the last story was the least scary [but still pretty twisted].

Reading this manga, it felt like you were watching dolls being posed in horrific situations. Nothing but posing. But that's not a bad thing! Yes, 70% was style over substance, but that doesn't render a work incompetent. The stories range from mundanely perverse (Our Vast Loneliness, Fetish) to creepy (Love Letter, Airport) to horrific (All of Sully/Lily).

I have to say that this author is brilliant. The characters are not only beautiful but also very interesting. The stories are so good, they're dark and twisted and tragic. Both the characters and stories leave a lot of impression on readers I believe. I rarely read one-shots but when I already read this one I decided to dl all other one-shots by the same author. Due to my bad memory I don't often try to remember all the authors' names, just uber impressive authors like FUJIWARA Kaoru.