Gannibal, Vol. 1
By: Masaaki Ninomiya
Release Date: November 15, 2023
Publisher: Ablaze Manga
Series: Gannibal
Rating:

Fans of folk-horror shows and movies may have already heard of Gannibal, a TV show available on Hulu. But have you read the manga this live-action series is based on? Gannibal Vol. 1 by Masaaki Ninomiya is the start of a fantastic series that will have horror readers scrambling for the next volume.

Officer Diago Agawa has been assigned as the sole police officer in the remote mountain village of Kuge, Japan. Agawa is hoping for a fresh start for his family, but things go from eerie to nightmarish very quickly. His predecessor vanished after reportedly losing his sanity and accusing townspeople of cannibalism. And just when he arrives, a woman is said to be lost in the woods. The townsfolk are standoffish, maybe even odd, and every single one of them seems to do whatever the extensive Koto family says.

Folk horror is blended perfectly with suspense, mystery, and a dash of police procedural in this manga. Now, I wouldn’t say that Volume 1 does anything completely unexpected. Folk horror hasn’t been turned on its head here, and the series isn’t doing anything particularly new or groundbreaking. But what Gannibal does is done very well. Ninomiya is certainly an artist and writer who knows their genre inside and out, using every trick of the trade to keep readers on the edge of their seat: atmosphere, perfect dialogue, and the ever-suspenseful page turn.

Kuge, the tiny village Agawa finds himself assigned to, is frightening in and of itself. The small-town claustrophobia of everyone knowing one another and being too involved in other people’s business is offset perfectly by the feeling of total isolation in the mountainous forests of Japan, far from any modern cities. The eeriness, fear, and feeling of something being just slightly off is palpable on every page. But, like our protagonist, we’re never sure what exactly it is that isn’t right or if things are exactly as they appear.

The pacing is rather quick, too. This isn’t a series that lingers on what-if’s overly long. And despite oodles of atmosphere expertly depicted through the art, this is most definitely a plot-driven narrative. What happened to Agawa’s predecessor? Why wasn’t his disappearance looked into further? What are Kuge’s citizens so wary of? Is the Koto clan trustworthy, or are they hiding something? And certainly not least, what exactly is Agawa running from that requires a fresh start? If folk-horror, small-town mysteries are your jam, Gannibal Vol. 1 by Masaaki Ninomiya is most certainly something you’ll want to put on your reading list. And, like me, you’ll surely be seeking out the second volume in no time.