He only endures it because being there is nowhere else for him to turn. Dirty Business: Kuro does genuinely hate working for Katsuragi.This is what led him to become a black swindler that defrauds other scammers. Death by Origin Story: Kurosaki lost his entire family when his father committed Murder-Suicide out of despair due to being scammed.He supports his "reading" by researching about the victims beforehand, thus strengthening his victims' trust on his abilities. Of course, the fortunes he "reads" are simply vague statements, which only tangentially applies to the victims' circumstances. Cold Reading: One of Kurosaki's targets is a cult leader who takes money from his victims by reading their fortunes to win their trust.When Tsurara tries to argue to her friend (whom Kurosaki helped) that Kurosaki's methods are morally wrong, she dismisses her as being a Hypocrite because Kurosaki's "bad" method did more help than Tsurara's "straight", legal path. But since he only swindles other swindlers to take back the money they cheated out from their victims (well, some of them anyway), he's seen in a positive light. Caper Rationalization: Kurosaki is a swindler, and legally a criminal.Tsurara, Kurosaki's neighbour and tenant, is an idealistic law student who wishes to become his emotional support, even though her own goals opposes his. Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Kurosaki is a cynical loner whose sole life purpose is to swindle out swindlers, and he's sworn off any emotional attachment because he considers it a hindrance to his goals.There are some heroic characters who are working at the side of the law, like Tsurara and Kashina, but Kashina is a Jerkass who seems to be more concerned about his personal bias against swindlers than really helping out the victims, while Tsurara is mostly impotent in dealing with the frauds she comes across. Black-and-Gray Morality: At its core, the manga is a story of a conman who operates against the law to swindle money out of people who are much worse than him.See There Are Two Kinds of People in the World. Comics & Graphic Novels / Manga / Supernatural.Comics & Graphic Novels / Manga / Horror.He has published a host of books and articles about the manga industry. In the 80s, Otsuka was editor-in-chief of Manga Burikko, a leading women's manga magazine where he pioneered research on otaku sub-cultures in modern Japan.
Ōtsuka was the editor for the bishōjo lolicon manga series Petit Apple Pie.
One of his first animation script works was Mahō no Rouge Lipstick, an adult lolicon OVA. He writes the Multiple Personality Detective Psycho and The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service manga series. In addition to his work with manga he is a critic, essayist, and author of several successful non-fiction books on Japanese popular and otaku sub-cultures. He graduated from college with a degree in anthropology, women's folklore, human sacrifice and post-war manga.
Five students at a Buddhist college in Japan find there's little call for their job skills.among the living, that is!īut their unique talents allow them to work with the dead.carrying out the last wishes of those whose spirits are still trapped in their corpses, and can't move on to the next life!īook Five has the Kurosagi gang running into ever more bizarre incidents of modern horror, from mind-control mouse hats, to taxpayer-supported torture museums, to the most feared calamity of all.jury duty! Meanwhile, it seems a gang of corpse-clearing impostors is out to take away their meager business-and in America, someone's made a cartoon series based off them.?! Plus, three previously unpublished stories: a client whose psychological syndrome makes her believe she's dead the mad robot scientist trio invents a zombie biker gang, and fugitives from a deadly cult hide out in the radioactive ruins of Fukushima!Ĭollects The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service volumes 13 and 14, plus the previously unpublished volume 15.Įiji Otsuka is a social critic and novelist.