This was my first experience reading Shintaro Kago. One thing I noticed as I read his work is that Kago very much drip feeds you the story. There are jarring time jumps and (until the end) little explanation about the situation - all of which feels in service of the horror, leaving you confused alongside the main character/s.

The first story is very slasher, with an obvious labyrinthine aesthetic. The twist was cool and I enjoyed the story overall - short but impactful.

The second story was a great twist on the zombie genre. Don't want to give away too much, but it applies human ethics to a very inhuman, survivalist situation. The main critique I have is that the handling and explanation of physical space is a little confused.

The third story... This one was gross, uncomfortable, and tactless. The story suffered from relying on shock value to the point where the depictions of (child) SA became gratuitous. The inclusion of such a difficult topic should be treated with much more care if it is to be done respectfully. But here, the commentary was too subtle and the depiction was too overt, leading to the topic being mishandled. It's a shame, because the other stories are better than this.

The last story had a fun comedic edge which balanced well with the body horror. Had no idea where it was going, but enjoyed the ride.

Check trigger warnings before reading.