440https://i.ur.com/xPkmNVI.png I didnt even notice it the first time I read it but the dead end sign is such a nice little touch. Zansatsu Ponytail is a horror one shot by Youichi Abehttps://anilist.co/staff/108865/YouichiAbe. Ive reviewed another one of his manga in the pasthttps://anilist.co/manga/85540/DaidaiwaHantoumeiniNidonesuru/ and it seems like with every next one of his manga I read I just like the fellow more and more. Like its bizarre how well he can pull these stories off. These could just be weird and absurd stories but there is genuinely horrifying stuff and it seems like the mixture is almost always perfect. 440https://i.ur.com/AaTmgHj.png On paper this particular oneshot is a super simple premise but the more you think about it... its really fucking weird? And horrifying. A parasitic monster that dwells within your ponytail and actively hunts those with inferior ponytails? 440https://i.ur.com/Edkopm6.png I must admit that as both a person who has long hair but also has dealt with lice this one may or may not have genuinely gotten to me a little bit. Like god damn just chop all of my hair off on the first fucking day. A ponytail is probably not worth a parasite burrowing and eating its way into my brains. 440https://i.ur.com/0yozcWv.png But I have to give additional credit where its due since Youichi Abe could realize that while this is a fun and disgusting little horror idea it probably wouldnt work beyond a one shot. Parasitic ponytails Short and quick to the point Got it He could have tried to drag it out but instead he didnt try to forcibly expand that idea any longer than it needed to be. 440https://i.ur.com/YRF8oVs.png I dont know theres just something about Youichi Abes art. Its just wonderful. Between this Dadai and Vanilla Spiderhttps://anilist.co/manga/59741/VanillaSpider/ it genuinely almost feels like he pulls this off without even trying. Dadai was like a full series of stories exactly like this one and almost all of them were either creepy or insanely absurd but the fun sort of absurd. Like how often has a creator of fiction demonstrated a truly genuinely unstable murderer character through a talking reindeer? And not just a talking reindeer but one of Santas reindeer trying to force a girl to work as replacement Santa and then attempting to murder her when she tries to back out of it? Im going on a bit of a limb here but Im gonna guess probably not very often. Between that Vanilla Spider and this Youichi Abes definitely got it. 440https://i.ur.com/B26aIWy.png To the point where Im almost confident in bringing up his name in the same breath as Junji Itohttps://anilist.co/staff/97410/JunjiIto and Katsuhisa Kigitsuhttps://anilist.co/manga/35806/FrankenFran/. Love his art love the absurdity of his stories love the genuine creepiness and grossness present throughout... I give Zansatsu Ponytail a 9 out of 10. Probably one of the most enjoyable horror one shots Ive ever read. Its short and theres not much to it beyond parasitic pony tails... ...but thats okay https://i.ur.com/hu0Zh2U.png