Manga Reviews (2010-2019): Blood on the Tracks vol. 3 by Oshimi Shuzo (2018)

“Blood on the Tracks” is no doubt a chilling manga series! If you enjoyed Oshimi’s previous work with “Flowers of Evil”, and you enjoy dark storylines with twisted characters, you’ll no doubt enjoy “Blood on the Tracks”! Recommended!

Click here to buy the “Blood on the Tracks” vol. 3

MANGA TITLE: Blood on the Tracks vol. 3

STORY AND ART BY: Oshimi Shuzo

FIRST PUBLISHED IN JAPAN: Shogakukan

PUBLISHED IN USA BY: Vertical Inc.

RATED: N/A

RELEASE DATE: November 17, 2020

Seiichi’s family begins to fall apart in the wake of his cousin’s “accident,” but nothing compares to the mental and emotional torture he undergoes as he tries to maintain some sense of self in the face of his mother’s manipulations. Torn by his love for her, Seiichi is pushed to the breaking point and finds himself unable to speak, both literally and figuratively.

The tension continues to build in Shuzo Oshimi’s masterwork of understated psychological horror, as Seiichi falls further and further into the abyss of his mother’s unraveling psyche.

Witnessing his mother nearly killing his cousin, and seeing how his mother will try to prevent any happiness, Seiichi now can no longer speak. But what happens when Seiichi overhears his mother talking about how she really feels about him?

All this and more in the third volume creepy family manga series “Blood on the Tracks”!

What is “Blood on Tracks”?

[NOTE: Has spoilers of volume 1 and 2, if you haven’t read it yet, don’t read any further]

Oshimi Shuzo is a mangaka best known for his dark manga works such as “The Flowers of Evil” and “Drifting Net Cafe”.

His most recent work is “Chi no Wadachi” (Blood on the Tracks) which was released in English courtesy of Vertical Inc.

In the first volume, the manga begins with a mother and young child looking at a dead cat and the child asking his mother, “why did the cat die?”.

Fastforward and Osabe Seiichi wakes up, he’s a normal high school teen, lives with his parents, hangs out with friends, likes looking at girls.

One day, he remembers him and his mother Seiko, discovering the dead cat.

His mother tells him that his aunt and cousin Shigeru will becoming over.

And as Seiichi and Shigeru enjoy playing video games, Shigeru jokes with Seiichi of how his family is overprotective. Which Seiichi tries to pass it off as his mom is just concerned about him.

Meanwhile, Fukiishi, a female classmate wants to walk home from school with him and when she asks if she can come over to his house, Seiichi tells her that he has to ask his mom.

As Sei’s family and his aunt’s family are planning an outdoor trip together, but the unthinkable happens.

In the second volume, Seiichi saw his mother push Shigeru off a cliff.

And Seiichi is having a hard time processing what his mother did, frightened, scared, shock… so many emotions.

As a search party goes to find Shigeru, how will Seiichi deal with the fact that his mother may have killed his cousin?

Meanwhile, what happens when Fukiishi comes to visit Seiichi at home and brings him a letter that she likes him? And what happens when Seiichi’s mother discovers that letter?

In volume three, Seiichi’s father finds him and his mother laying on the bed. As the father tries tries to get both of them to visit Shigeru in the hospital, his mother refuses and wants her son to refuse.

Meanwhile, the whole accident and seeing what his mother did has now left him unable to talk. Anything that comes out of his mouth is excessive stuttering really badly.

Meanwhile, Seiichi returns back to school and he tries to avoid everyone, because he can’t talk and afraid that his mother might do something to them. When Fukishii tries to talk to him and ask him if he read her letter, Seiichi is too scared to talk and has tears coming out of his eyes.

But when he returns home, he hears his mother and stepfather in an argument and for the first time he overhears his mother talking about how she truly feels about Seiichi.

I have to say that after reading the third volume of “Blood on Tracks”, I can easily say that Oshimi Shuzo has managed to even further a dark, twisted storyline, possibly more than “Flowers of Evil”. In fact, this would be one heck of a twisted anime series and something that Netflix should bring to western shores because people would really enjoy its dark and twisted storyline.

But it has some similarity to “Flowers of Evil” in that there is a consistency of a story revolving around a weak boy and a female figure that dominates the weak character, for “Blood on Tracks”, remove the twisted classmate and put an overprotective parent. But in volume 3, we get to see how his mother really messed Seiichi up to the point, he can’t event talk.

And I’ll leave it at that because there is so much that happens, I can’t really go into it without spoiling the manga series, so I won’t talk about volume three any further.

Click here to buy the “Blood on the Tracks” vol. 3

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