I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I was given this manga. The front depicts a pale boy and a fiendish looking girl beside him standing in a classroom of what appears to be melted bodies. Being a fan of horror manga the cover made me even more enticed to start it ASAP. Because even if a horror manga doesnt manage to make me wet myself I can always appreciate the art or sheer absurdity of the story. With that said was Dissolving Classroom as scary as the cover depicted? The story is created by Junji Ito a famous horror mangaka mostly known for his series Tomie. A series Ive yet to read as of writing this but have heard nothing but great things about. Recognizing the name did make me more excited to see what was in store. So what was in store? A story involving a brother and sister both of whom are odd must keep moving place to place after leaving behind a trail of peculiar instances. The boy Yuuma constantly apologizes to everyone on account of his sister causing mischief for everyone they encounter. Though apologizing is actually his way of communicating with the devil. Anyone he apologizes to gets caught between him and the devil in a sea of electromagnetic waves that slowly causes them to melt. When he praises someones beauty hes actually praising the devil and thus anyone he directs his compliment towards turns more and more hideous. His sister Chizumi has a much more sadistic appearance and goes out of her way to torment anyone unlucky enough to cross her path and enjoys devouring the bodies that her brother melts. The manga is an amalgamation of all their misadventures culminating into one book. 220https://i.ur.com/YbJiVxZ.jpg As usual the art is amazing. Aside from the attention to detail on the deformed victims melted bodies or even the normal humans themselves Ito is able to convey such an uncanny and uncomfortable feeling through the expressions of the characters facial reactions. Sure I wont lie before we see anything gory our first encounter with something out of the ordinary is Chizumi. And I thought she looked hilarious maybe that was intentional but she did not freak me out in the slightest at first that is. While her design was nothing too frightening the way she interacted with others aside from being an edgelord saying she wants to eat their brains was offputting and awkward. Her ugly appearance only enhanced her disturbing nature which was much scarier than her physical appearance alone. Though Id say the same applies to her brother as well. Chizumi is constantly telling the people who they encounter that her brother is a freak who performs these rituals as a way to get closer to the devil. He gets off to both apologizing and complimenting others. He also enjoys bringing his abusive parents from back to the dead to beat him. Disturbing stuff I know but his normal appearance juxtaposed with what he does behind closed doors makes him more intimidating than his sister. Both siblings constantly point the finger at each other for whos to blame for all this wicked stuff happening. Yuuma tells people that his sister is possessed by the devil as a punishment for him killing animals as a kid hence all the terrible happenings surrounding them. While Chizumi tells others that her brother killed animals as a ritual to appease Satan and that hes the one creating all this madness as a means to get closer with the devil. And the craziest part about all of this is that by the end of the story its still unclear who was telling the truth. Though theres no doubt in my mind that Chizumi is possessed by a demon at the very least I believe her story over her brothers. Though theres validity to what he says as well. I think that as a kid he wished death upon his abusive parents so much that he wanted to send them to hell. And what better way to do that than to befriend the devil himself to give him the ability to do so? The devil making a demon possess his sister only makes his apologizing ritual easier to pull off and whoevers the demon inside Chizumi gets their payment through eating Yuumas victims. The final arc reveals that a detective that was using one of Yuumas victims who managed to survive despite incurring brain damage as a result to find the truth behind the siblings was satan all along? Or did Satan just possess him as the siblings attended a press conference? Again its unclear and up to the readers interpretation. Mine is that he possessed the detective spontaneously at the end as Yuuma had performed the ritual enough times to bring Satan as close to him as he could. And the series ends with the author saying that nobody knows what happened to everyone who watched that press conference through their TVs and that its up to the reader to decide what happened. 220https://i.ur.com/gjPv1jG.png My only gripe with the series is of no fault of the story itself but rather the translations. There were times where I had an inkling that something was supposed to be scary or conveyed in a different way than intended. Sometimes the dialogue felt very literal with zero subtly. For example seeing a panel with text along the lines of Yes I am chizumi and I love to suck brains. Muwahah. was very common and lacked the same punch that the rest of the page had. Maybe its stilted on purpose and thats just Itos unique style of writing. Who knows but I personally felt it detracted from the horror aspect and made it more comedical at times. Which isnt a bad thing necessarily but Im not sure if that was the intended effect. Getting this book filled me with joy and confusion and seeing Junji Itos name on it only made my craving for a spooky comic that much more voracious. Did I get what I wanted? Most definitely I got much more than I expected. The combination of the art grotesque imagery and disturbing nature of their situations caught my intrigue and held it long enough that it only took me two sittings to complete. If youve yet to read this then please do yourself a favor and read it especially if you love body horror and guro. 220https://i.ur.com/n4yJgg0.jpg