Wow, if Ibitsu’s goal was to be the most generic, uninspired horror schlock you can imagine, then it really succeeded.

I didn’t expect any better. I go into nearly everything with cosmically low expectations anyway, because when you find something really worthwhile it’s quite an adventure to be uplifted from that. Ibitsu was recommended by many-a-manga collector and I decided to give it a go because I was running low on reads and wanted to get some more horror under my belt.

But I really feel like I came away not even having read an actual story. Ibitsu has nothing that hasn’t been done better elsewhere. Conceptually, all it is is fetishy Bloody Mary. And visually, it’s downright awful. Everything you think will happen will. It is every teen horror movie ever. It’s every overused, unscary trope that’s pervaded the genre and given it a bad reputation for decades. I really think these ideas can be done justice in better ways; with more creative panel flow and much better art — but Ibitsu is not where you’ll find it.

But I’m glad this exists. Because without the bad, we’d never know the good. Thank you, Ibitsu, for reminding me just how good other manga truly are.