Mail (manga)

Mail is a Japanese horror manga series written and illustrated by Housui Yamazaki. The English translation is published by Dark Horse Comics.

Mail
The cover of the first volume of Mail
GenreHorror[1]
Manga
Written byHousui Yamazaki
Published byKadokawa Shoten
English publisher
MagazineShōnen Ace
DemographicShōnen
Original run2004 – 2005
Volumes3
Live-action film
Directed byIwao Takahashi
Released2004

The series centers around Reiji Akiba (秋葉 零児, Akiba Reiji), a private eye who investigates cases dealing with ghosts. He uses a broomhandle pistol called Kagutsuchi (迦具土, Kagutsuchi) and hallowed ammunition to shoot ghosts that may or may not have possessed people and seal them inside the bullets which simply drop to the floor. The bullets are later ritually cleansed at a shrine. The pistol also has the ability to revive the dead by shooting a bullet with a ghost sealed inside into its original body. Akiba does this at the beginning of the third and final volume with the ghost of his childhood friend Mikoto Yamaguchi (山口 美琴, Yamaguchi Mikoto) and she becomes his sidekick.

The series is organized into short self-contained chapters with no overarching plot, though some chapters explore Akiba's backstory. However, most are simple cases that Akiba solves, usually with an introduction by Akiba talking to the reader at the beginning of the chapter.

A Japanese live-action movie adaption has been created from the series.[2] In the movie version Takamasa Suga plays the role of Akiba while Mikoto is played by Chiaki Kuriyama.

List of chapters
No. Original release date Original ISBN English release date English ISBN
1 July 1, 2004[3]978-4-04713-634-2December 06, 2006[4]978-1-59307-566-8
  • "The Whine Cellar"
  • "Hide-and-seek"
  • "Twins"
  • "The drive"
  • "Ka-tsu-mi"
  • "Eyesight"
In the first chapter a headless skeleton is discovered during a nude photoshoot at a rural stream. One of the photos has the figure of a headless girl in the background. The photographers ask Akiba to investigate. In chapter two the occupant of a flat gets a letter from Akiba warning her off the ghost of a child playing hide-and-seek in her apartment building. The third chapter has Akiba investigate on behalf of a girl that is terrorized by the ghost of her deceased twin sister. In the fourth chapter Akiba is racing after a woman who bought a car with a ghost in the trunk. Chapter five has Akiba investigating a case in which a girl died fulfilling an urban legend in which everyone is killed who photographs a ghost. The final chapter deals with Akiba's backstory. He was blind from birth but medicine was curing his eyes. When he was still in hospital he met a bearded man with glasses who tells him he would see even more things in the future.
2 August 1, 2004[5]978-4-04713-635-9January 31, 2007[6]978-1-59307-591-0
  • "The doll"
  • "The baby"
  • "The elevator"
  • "The cottage"
  • "The commencement"
  • "The portrait"
The first case deals with a possessed doll. The second chapter has a woman and her infant son being terrorized by the ghost of the stalker of her husband. The third case is about a ghost split in half due to an elevator accident. In chapter 4 three youths find evidence of outerworldly activity in the cottage they are staying at. The fifth chapter is about a woman whose GPS device is constantly rerouting her to the location of her elementary school. The final chapter of the volume deals with a possessed portrait.
3 February 25, 2005[7]978-4-04713-704-2March 14, 2007[8]978-1-59307-592-7
  • "Mikoto"
  • "Cries of agony"
  • "Suppressed"
  • "Motherly instinct"
  • "Seafloor"
  • "Ruins"
In first chapter Akiba ties up lose ends from his childhood when he was blind. He seals up the ghost of the deceased girl named Mikoto he played with as a child into a bullet and then shoots that bullet into a body he assembled, reanimating her. In the second chapter Akiba requests Mikoto to stay at their apartment because she attracts ghosts. Promptly a ghost starts to haunt the apartment. The third chapter is about the ghost of an e-mail stalker haunting its old contacts. Chapter four has a woman return to the hotel in which her child died. The fifth chapter has three teenage girls going for a swim at a small beach. One of the girls had found a message in a bottle as a child reading "I'm in the sea. Find me.". In the final chapter a different group of teenage girls are playing a game trying to find if one of them is haunted by a ghost.

References
  1. Johnson, Craig. "Mail v1". Manga Life. Archived from the original on October 22, 2007. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  2. "Mail". cinematopics.com. Archived from the original on June 20, 2010. Retrieved December 15, 2009.
  3. "メイル (1) (角川コミックス・エース) (コミック)". Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved December 15, 2009.
  4. "Mail Vol. 1 TPD". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved December 15, 2009.
  5. "メイル (2) (角川コミックス・エース) (コミック)". Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved December 15, 2009.
  6. "Mail Volume 2 TPB". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved December 15, 2009.
  7. "MAIL (3) (角川コミックス・エース) (コミック)". Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved December 15, 2009.
  8. "Mail Volume 3". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved December 15, 2009.
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