It seemed like the perfect place: high up on a hill and big enough for the whole Kamiki clan, even Grandma and Grandpa. Almost as soon as Norio's family moves into the house, however, mysterious bumps in the night, disturbing dreams, and a sickly sense of dread make them realize they are far from alone. But what could be motivating the malicious spirit they've inherited to hurt such a happy family? More importantly, what will it take to stop her?

Sayuri has a story and art by Rensuke Oshikiri. English translation is done by Yuki Tejima with lettering by Phil Christie. Published by Vertical Comics (January 27, 2026).

Content Warning: Suicide

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If there's one thing I can give Sayuri a lot of credit for, it's the fact that it very much took me by surprise. When I read about the overall setup for this story, I thought its appeal was going to be along the lines of what you would expect from any typical B-movie slasher flick. I thought I was literally just watching a family walk into a haunted building to die because everything about the early chapters just screamed that in my face. I was introduced to a family that surprisingly gets along very well, but slowly, there's a lot of messed-up stuff going on that ends up picking off the family members one by one. I was actually surprised at how fast the pacing seemed, considering how many pages there were in this volume, but then I realized that the reason for the large page length was that the family getting picked off by this haunted house is literally only half of the story.

There's not much I can go into spoiling everything, and there are a lot of convoluted contrivances for the sake of telling the story, but I found myself having a blast by the second half. This went from a story about watching people die to a story about overcoming the unfair grudges and misfortune of life for the sake of living. You rarely see a story where people will actively try to fight back against a looming spirit that is trying to mess with them. Obviously, the reason why is that it's not exactly easy to fight back against ghosts or spirits, especially with how certain mythologies work. But I like that, at the end of the day, the main way to fight back against evil or hatred is to strengthen your own spirit. I don't think I've ever seen a story with this setup have that type of message, and I have to give it points for strongly committing to that idea. Even if I don't see myself returning to the story anytime soon because of the gruesome subject matter, it has definitely earned my respect by the end and actually left me feeling good about the future.

The presentation is not always my cup of tea because it is a very exaggerated and sketchy art style for the sake of creating a lot of violent or disturbing imagery. Some characters' smiles twist their face in ways that make them look like they're made out of Play-Doh, and while it can be shocking sometimes, other times it honestly looks very silly. It also doesn't just apply to the spirits or ghosts; a lot of the regular characters just end up looking like that, and I'm not really sure why sometimes. There are a lot of quiet and unsettling moments throughout this book, too, that really make you feel the weight of the deaths that occur within it. Plus, the way that sound and screaming are portrayed throughout the panel layouts was also very chilling.

So while it is a mixed bag, when it hits, it definitely hits. If you're a fan of horror or are comfortable enough to try venturing into stories that deal with some pretty gruesome subject matter, I think it's worth taking a shot with this one. You might end up coming out on the other end feeling surprisingly hopeful, which is more than I can say for what you would expect from a lot of other stories in the same genre. I think we need more stories about how death can remind us how important it is to stay alive.