hereditary but by kazuo umezz

Orochi, おろち by Kazuo Umezu.

Shonen Sunday magazine, a July issue in 1978 featuring Kazuo Umezz’s Makoto-chan hyping up the new hit movie Star Wars!

A quick update: newly arrived manga.

I try to keep on top of getting latest series releases. So frustrating if you try to get that one missing volume later and it's sold out. 😥

The Original Tomie: Orochi by Kazuo Umezz

Go ahead, compare those two images. They aren’t exactly the same, but their faces are tilted at similar angles, their eyes wide and shining, their hair crowning their face. Yes, okay, so this might be a coincidence. It very well easily may be, but what if it wasn’t?? And now let’s compare the characters.

The first character is Tomie Kawakami, a character created by Junji Ito and his very first manga character. She is characterized as a very beautiful girl, with silvery-blue eyes, long black hair, and a beauty mark just under her left eye. With this beauty, she very easily manipulates people, but her insults usually lead them to insanity which leads them to then kill her, preferably cutting her into pieces. However, what they don’t know is each piece will grow into an independent copy of Tomie.

The second character is Orochi, a character created by Kazuo Umezu (better known as Kazuo Umezz) and one of his masterpieces. She has reddish-brown short hair, wide, stereotypical ‘anime eyes’ that are brown, and wide lips. Yes, she’s cute, but she often flies under the radar as she sneaks around and gets herself involved with the issues of other people and hinders and/or helps them— only for them to learn she isn’t exactly a normal girl. Orochi can create matter from thin air, move things with her mind, literally place herself into other people’s minds, and perform witchy rituals. She’s also immortal.

Although like the images, the two aren’t exactly the same, they are rather similar. They’re both immortal girls who get involved in the lives of unsuspecting people, which usually ends in murder in mayhem for all involved. They both resemble innocent young girls, which is often people’s perception of them. They both might seem normal, but have some sort of power or ability that shocks people. Although it may be a stretch, they both have snappy, charming names, Tomie and Orochi in case you forgot, with deeper meanings that say something about their characters: Tomie’s name means “wealth, abundance,” but it also means “blessing” which shows how she views herself, as above everyone else due to her immunity and beauty; it also means “twin” which represents her two-faced nature but also the multiple versions of her, as well as her iconic look in photos where she has two faces— and Orochi’s name is derived from the name of a legendary multi-tailed serpent, Yamata no Orochi, which, as detailed on the back of her English-language manga volumes, is a metaphor for how she slithers her way into the lives of unsuspecting people and changes their lives for better or for worse.

That’s where we reach the entire point of this post: could Tomie have been based off of Orochi? After all, Junji Ito is heavily inspired by Kazuo Umezz. Although this may have been concerned somewhere, I present it here as a theory strictly because I haven’t seen anyone else discussing these two, and also because Orochi, unlike Tomie, isn’t as popular of an icon even though, at least in my opinion, she really should be. And if Orochi truly is the kinder, psychic-powered, brunette beta version of Ito’s masterpiece, doesn’t she deserve some love too?

Orochi (おろち), Kazuo Umezz

Present (Umezu Kazuo)

We have a present for you, and the present is a one shot from Umezz!

Merry Christmas, y'all!

Always a barrel of laughs on the Orochi show. (Orochi, by Kazuo Umezz; 1969.)

猫目小僧 / Cat Eyed Boy がんばりやー！

Orochi by Kazuo Umezu

Okay vol 3 of the drifting classroom has just been unboxed and I know as soon as I sit down to read it I won’t be able to pace myself and I’ll binge the whole goddamn thing. I don’t know what to read next :(

Hyouryuu Kyoushitsu, 漂流教室, The Drifting Classroom by Kazuo Umezu.

News - Viz Media announced at NYCC 2022 that they will be re-releasing Kazuo Umezz’s horror classic Cat-Eyed Boy, in a deluxe hardcover Perfect Edition for Summer 2023! Viz originally released the series in 2008 in 2 paperback omnibus editions, but it’s been out of print for some time now. A great announcement for Halloween time! I’ll post more info on this release as it becomes available.

My first ever video talking about books - in this case: manga.

Isn't ray's drawing cute?

I've been reading books for 64 years now. 📖