Spartan: Welcome to the Cosmia blog’s first ever manga discussion, I’m Spartan and joining me is the host of the blog, Mr. Cosmia.

Today we’re reviewing the first two volumes of Petshop of Horrors by Matsuri Akino.

Cosmia: Is it the first ever manga discussion? Well, I guess it’s the first one that’s a group act.

S: Now that you mention it, I guess it is.

So the basic synopsis of nearly every chapter involves Count D, a mysterious peddler of pets giving people companions, telling them very specific rules on what they need to do to keep the pet (and themselves) alive, and more often than not they don’t, shenanigans ensue.

C: Count D’s pet shop is run in Chinatown. Which Chinatown? IDK probably the New York one.

S: Oh it’s definitely the New York. Most of the buildings line up with the NYC. Actually wait, I’m wrong, it’s in Los Angeles.

C: I guess that makes more sense in a way. So it’s a Japanese manga in an American setting with a Chinese main character. A rather international setup you don’t see that often from Japanese media.

S: Indeed, it is rather refreshing. Also uses the setting to its advantage with the multi ethnic nature of the US to its advantage.

C: Pretty much all of the customers have been pretty damn white as far as I can tell so far, but yeah, theoretically it could.

S: They have? *fervently checks through chapters* son of a gun they have been!

C: Still it’s a fitting setting. There’s a lot of money in LA. And Chinatown seems like just the kind of place where a shop like this could manage to run without getting shut down.

S: Actually wait, the chief of the detective agency is African American, and he purchased something there once.

C: I don’t even remember that rip, but sure, that’s something.

S: Very true, and as most characters note, it’s not out of place in that location. Most folks just accept it as a fact of life.

C: Chinatown’s also apparently a land where dominatrix dentists with shady credentials can operate unabated. Makes me want to visit tbh

S: Yeah, can we talk about this? It’s very out of place now that I think about it. Like, where the hell is she from and what dental academy did she graduate from?

C: I mean, somewhere in China presumably.

S: Well, that’s not ominous.

And speaking of ominous, I think we’ve got to address the man himself, Count D. Or Count Drug, as he will be called henceforth. Everyone’s favorite androgynous Chinese pet peddler with questionable buisness sense and ability to evade law enforcement

C: Count D’s fine with me, but yeah he’s an interesting dude. There are plenty of series with episodic supernatural phenomenon and a mysterious figure that seems to be the only one who knows how to deal with them. Like Ginko from Mushishi or Yuuko from xxxHolic. But with this guy he’s uhhh…

Well, he’s mostly the guy that causes the problem in the first place for one.

S: And sometimes he’s the only one who can fix it, but either chooses not to or lets things happen.

C: I can hardly blame the detective guy for trying to nab him.

S: Yeah, Detective Orcott is my favorite character for that very reason. His black and white sense of right and wrong mixed with a blunt attitude is a perfect foil sometimes. I do hope he’s able to get the jump on the count by the end.

C: He says upfront that he won’t be held responsible for what happens if they break the contract, he’s consistent about that at least. The fact that he helps at all after that is a bit remarkable in a way. Personally I’d say the Count’s my fav so far. Maybe the dentist could take that slot but I’m not sure if we’ll ever see her again rip

S: Right, but even still it feels like he’s playing as a fair weather friend at times with the police. There’s no way his elaborate shop is cheap, he’s gotta have his hand in a few pockets.

C: We already see the Count has dog sitting duties with a local mob boss. That probably pays well. Can’t imagine that’s his only connection. You probably have to have some crazy ass connections to even obtain the shit that shop carries.

S: And yet the first chapter shows that that often isn’t even enough. He says it himself

C: I gotta note that the Count’s got some great drip. IDK what you’re even supposed to call clothes like that, but he’s got so many different ones with gorgeous patterns. Can’t imagine that’s easy to draw.

S: Looks to be a traditional Chinese robe. Or robes, as the case may be

C: Sure, we can roll with that. I imagine it’s called something else in China but that’s not really the important point here.

So any ways, we’ve talked a bit about the Count, we talked a bit about the detective and some others. We haven’t discussed much about the moderate homoerotic tension between them, but I guess we can set that aside. It’s probably not going to go anywhere, but it’s there for those who are into that. But of course in this Petshop of Horrors there’s another important component, y’know, the pets.

S: Yeah, and what a menageries this man maintains. Honestly it’s surprising his shop still stands with all the creatures inside it.

C: Finding the space to keep all these things is one thing. Taking care of them without getting murdered is another level of impressive.

S: I guess it’s the incense that pacifies them? or perhaps D’s more of a threat enough to keep them in line.

C: Hard to say. I’d think the incense is more for the humans than the animals, but this Count guy’s a smooth operator. He has some inexplicable ability to know how to handle ’em.

S: He’d probably make a pretty solid zookeeper/aquarist, but I guess the exotic pet trade is his true calling, I can respect it.

C: With a zoo or aquarium you’d have to keep things a bit more above board I guess. You’ll get more people asking where the hell you got these things.

S: I suppose, but with an AZA accreditation he can get even more exotic animals.

C: Seems like he’s doing just fine for himself in that department.

S: Oh yeah, this thing. Easily the bird that launched a thousand fans. Which direction though is dependent on who read its chapter. We both know that nature is very messed up at times, but this thing really takes the cake with breeding rituals. At least mantises have the decency to just eat the head.

C: Yeah… it’s not like eating the mate is unheard of in the wild, but I’m hard pressed to think of any non-insects that do it… Or arachnids I guess. Any ways, for those who haven’t read this manga (I’m impressed you’ve read this far if that’s the case) this image may seem a bit jarring. After all, that’s not a typical looking bird we’re looking at. It’s more like a human with wings.

S: But those that do read it know that this is merely how someone percieves things when under the incense’s effects.

C: Still how the hell does that work? I get how it works while you’re in the shop, or directly around that Count guy. But then these people take their pets home and still seem to view them the same way. Does the incense semi-permanently change their perception?

S: I’ve got two theories on it, and neither of them are great but make SOME sense

1. The animals are coated in the incense, like completely caked in it from being in the shop for so long that being in close proximity affects them.
2. The count supplies incense as a bonus when purchasing a pet, which does what it does.

C: Neither of those explanations really satisfy me tbh. For starters it seems like only the customers end up viewing their pets that way. When the cops arrive on the scene the effect disappears completely.

C: I think the fact that the customer perceives their pet differently from other people is the main reason why the Count keeps asking them to not show their pet to anyone. Except that doesn’t really explain that dog episode.

S: Oh yeah, that. Would that count as theory 1 being true?

C: I’m not sure if other people perceived that girl’s dog as a man or a dog tbh, maybe I should take a closer look.

Hmmmmm… it seems like the other people see that dog as a person, but it’s ambiguous enough that you can’t really say for sure.

S: Reread it, and it seems like people see Dreizehn as a dog.

S: If he’s a Doberman, that’s a large breed and not a small dog.

C: But then there’s the scene with Edward.

S: Ah, but Edward is specifically talking to the girl. He doesn’t acknowledge Dreizehn as a human.

C: Oh yeah I misread it a bit. When he said “I need her alive” he was talking about some other person.

S: Right, the maid.

C: He never directly responds to the dog, and he probably wouldn’t call him a dog at all if he looked like that.

S: Unless he elects to call people dogs randomly. Or used to, seeing as he was murked by Dreizehn.

C: RIP Edward, he wore that L to the end.

So I think we can safely say the animals only look humanoid to the customer most of the time.

S: But does he really deserve peace on death? he tried to steal inheritance from a blind girl.

C: I wouldn’t say he deserves it exactly, clearly wasn’t a particularly good dude. But I think it would probably be for the best if everyone got peace in their passing.

There’s enough turmoil above ground, don’t need to carry that shit over afterwards.

S: I doubt that, some don’t deserve it in my opinion but that’s neither here nor there.

C: I’ll elaborate. Most of the time when you see a shitty person who does Bad Things there’s going to be some sort of fucked up backstory behind it right? Neglectful or abusive parent, or maybe a fuck ass parent that actively encourages them to replicate their fuckassery. They might have grown up in a situation where brutality is the language of survival. Even if that’s not the case, maybe the problem’s a random effect of how their brain is wired. You can say they have control over their misdeeds at some level, and you would be correct. But shitheads weren’t all born deciding “oh hell yeah I’m going to be a shithead.” That’s just kind of how they turn out. How much control do we really have over the kind of person we are? I don’t think there’s an easy answer to that question.

But all the philosophizing away doesn’t change the fact that some people suck to astronomical degrees. The mama bird apparently has to kill papa bird to survive, but we do a lot of extra bullshit that we definitely don’t need to.

C: Nature’s fucked, and we find special ways to be fucked to the next level. We write incredible manga that kinda sort approaches bestiality uncomfortably often but let’s not worry too much about that. No other creature known to man can do this.

So what do we do about it? Well, some people have a simple solution. An eternal torture dungeon we call hell.

S: Id argue its more human nature to be violent towards one another. Some just choose to be ***holes and reap what they sow. Ive met plenty of them and will tell you outright that they didn’t have unhappy childhoods, they just chose to pick on the weak

C: I’m not even going to contest that. A lot of people are like that. A large number of which are running our country right now. Fucking hell. But how did that become their nature?

I’m sure if there was a fully comprehensive answer to that question it would span millions of years of evolution, perhaps drawing back even before life emerged. Whatever it is, it keeps on happening, so clearly hell’s not much of a solution for it.

S: Well that and some religions dont even believe in a hell.

C: Indeed. So yeah, I’m inclined I think it would be better for everyone involved if we all got peace in our passing. With so much craziness in life, I hope it doesn’t all carry over afterwards. Even if some people aren’t exactly deserving of that peace, I think it’s better if anguish stays solely in the land of the living.

S: When you put it that way, I can understand. But there’s always going to be a part of me that hopes for karmic retribution.

C: Whenever the sun blows up and this planet disappears it’d be best for all the joy and terribleness to stay in its past. Else we’ll be infecting the cosmos with our BS.

And that’s fair enough. There are certainly some folks I’m hoping don’t have a good time moving forward.

S: Likewise, Mr. Cosmia.

C: Any ways, that’s enough barely on-topic ramblings about the future, because this manga has some interesting things to say about the past. I think it’s time we start getting into discussing some of the most interesting chapters so far.

It would probably make sense to start with earlier chapters first but eh fuck it chronology barely matters at all in this manga. So let’s get into Chapter 8, one I think we’re both rather fond of.

Chapter 8: Destruction

S: Oh you’d better believe it, it’s prehistoric themed! Love when media does this! It’s so interesting!

C: In this one Count D visits a museum and takes some psychedelics.

S: Honestly a 10/10 description right there.

C: Mr. Straight Laced Detective gets caught up in the ride, somehow giving them a shared hallucination.

C: By the way do you know what that mammal licking the Count’s supposed to be?

S: Looks to be a sort of mustelid, a wolverine perhaps?

C: How long have wolverines been around? Well, I guess their ancestors were around for a while.

S: Wikipedia, which as we both know is a very reliable source, estimates the family Mustelidae first appeared in the fossil record during the late Oligocene (~33 MYA). So uh, pretty recent all things considered.

C: So behind the scenes in the real world this talk we had just ended with that line and some off the record commentary. But we’re back now because there’s still some things to hash out. Like the chapter we were just talking about.

S: Yep, and I’ve got to say, this chapter does the prehistoric past justice. So many times when media tackles prehistory more often than not they just throw whatever creatures together even if if makes no sense.

C: I don’t think all of the stuff we see on screen was alive at the same time or in the same area either, but there’s some backstory to it.

S: But the chapter puts the characters in a logical setting (a museum) and has a catalyst (D’s drugs) to induce the prehistoric beasts.

C: Yep simple cause and effect, what else could we ask for? Sometimes I just have to take a step back and look at the sentences we are creating talking about this thing. And how they somehow make complete sense but on another level not at all. This Count D’s incense is built different

S: And you’d be right, this image alone contains a paraceratherium (went extinct during Oligocene) glyptodon (pliocene to pleistocene on a South American island) and of course, the woolly mammoth (pleistocene to holocene, or modern time)

(In response to my incense comment) Indeed it is, he could’ve had an empire that would make Pablo Escobar envious, but the pet trade is where its at.

C: Must say the museum’s got a good selection.

Any ways, they manage to figure their way around and eat some stuff without getting poisoned to death. And then they get in the mood for some philosophical conversations.

C: I mean, people keep selling them so I assume someone likes them. Could be some other durian shaped thing.

S: I suppose… an extinct species of durian that used to taste good but eventually evolved into the spiky, foul tasting fruit we know today.

C: I had a durian mochi once, it was uh, something. Not offensively bad but not exactly…

S: And I’ve never tasted it, watched a guy try to eat it though, to minimal success.

C: I have to give a moment to highlight Count D talking shit about America. Given how we’re currently doing that’s a generous assessment. We’re going through it. But hey, maybe we’ll work it out. Hopefully. Yeah.

S: I have a feeling this won’t be the last time this manga is topical in the year 2025. Call it a hunch.
But more to the conversation, I think its brilliant. Both characters acknowledge each others faults, and they have legitimate grievances and reasons why. Orcott is crude, quick to anger and reckless, and likely wouldn’t survive as the last man on earth for very long

C: They kinda hate each other and get along weirdly well any way.

S: D on the other hand, is calm and openly accepting of others, but his shop does legitimate harm to those who acquire the pets. Orcott is right: who is the true savage?

C: Yet every time things go wrong the customer has to confront something within themselves they were trying to turn away from.

S: A valid point, but what of the ones who fail to heed the warnings? What if the pet is too much to handle?

C: He puts shit out there and let the consequences go wherever they go. Which isn’t especially responsible of him.

They probably need more thorough care instructions than those 3 rules or whatever he gives in the contracts. Perhaps some of his explanations are off-screen, but clearly he has a tendency to bury the lede.

S: Maybe sticking with the drugs woyld be the better business move? They’re debatably less dangerous than the pets.

C: I’m sure he’d be making more money that way, but that’s clearly not his biggest concern.

I don’t know what happens after volume 2, but the fact that there are 10 volumes of this manga and like, more in some sequel series. The fact that this guy’s able to stay out of a prison cell long enough to have that many volumes is remarkable in itself. Not sure how well it speaks to Mr. Detective though.

S: Guess it is true he’s got his hands in numerous pockets.

C: The best possible interpretation you can give is that he’s not actually trying that hard to arrest him because he subconsciously likes the dude, which is probably true to some degree.

S: Even though his alleged “cheap sense of justice” has done a lot more good than bad

Like, it really seems like he’s waiting for the right time. Just itching for D to slip up.

C: He waits a long ass time then. By the way he calls that deer thing a celvalker and I don’t think that’s what it’s actually called. Whatever it is, Mr. Detective sees a sabre tooth tiger thing trying to kill a young one. And he’s like “oh no not the baby!” So he shoots it. And then it’s injured and tries to kill Count D and Count D’s like “ok guess I’ll die then” I have no clue if he’d actually die if he died in the drug dream but whatever.

But either way Mr. Detective saves him, but now the cat’s dead. And that cat had babies she was trying to feed

S: You are correct, to me it bears more than a striking resemblance to the megaloceros, or Irish Elk as its sometimes called.

C: Perhaps it’s some prehistoric thingamajig that only exists in that universe that looks like a megaloceros.

S: I guess, but why go out of your way to make up a name when the common name is public domain?

C: *shrugs* Continuing my summary Count D’s weirdly unhappy about not getting murdered. Because he’s more worried about the baby kitties than his own life.

S: I think if D did die in that instance hed likely wake up. Thats usually how most dreams/hallucinations/drug trips go.

C: These dudes just have a way of getting existential with every conversation this chapter.

S: And this scene is easily the best of the chapter, Orcott’s stalwart stance on his decision, reasoning that even if D is the absolute worst person out there, hed still shoot the cat every time if given a do over. Because he’s going to bring D in. D undercuts his victory bringing up that no one would judge him, theyre the only two left.

And rightfully so, for existentialism is brought to the forefront when forced into isolated situations. When you’re alone with your thoughts in a strange place, you cant help but ponder your place in the world.

C: I’m not sure if everyone can handle being existential, or thinking much of anything at all these days.

S: Too true, but thats an inevitability in those situations. How they’ll react is the deciding factor.

C: Either way, the psychadelic dream passes and the reality that this guy just fucked up a bunch of fossils kicks in.

Ironically Mr. Detective’s closer to prison this round.

S: I do wonder though if those were resin models or the real deal. Sometimes museums display real bones or cast models.

Leans more towards the latter option sadly enough, the bullet seems to have split the S. populator skull to pieces.

C: Hmmmmm… hard to say for sure. RIP kitty for a second time.

S: As if dying to climate change/human predation/other/predators/injuries wasn’t bad enough, a 21st century detective has to put a bullet in your skull.

C: Um acksually this manga was first published in the 90s so it’s still a 20th century one. Either way, shit’s rough

S: Point taken.

C: Moving on, Count D and Mr. D Tective reconcile after their trip’s over.

C: Also this ending makes me wonder what kind of backstory this Count guy has. We really don’t know much of anything about him still.

Like we know what he’s doing now, but how the hell did he get there?

And why does he feel like he’s being left behind?

What’s the mask covering?

S: Who knows? He seems to know more than he let’s on, has a way with animals and seems to largely subsist off of sweets.

C: I’ll be interested to see if the manga ever gets into that or if it just wants to let him stay Mr. Mysterious forever. Eh he’ll be Mr. Mysterious forever regardless. You peel some layers off there will be so much more to work through.

S: Well there’s only one way to find out eh Mr. Cosmia?

C: Guess so

So yeah, that’s Chapter 8. A nice tribute to the creatures that have walked this planet before us. We can only make educated inferences about the life they lived.

Yet also as this chapter points out, the species we’ve lost aren’t just some quaint monsters from the past. They’re something that keeps on happening. Count says we lose 300 species a year. Is that accurate? Shit who knows. Maybe it was close-ish to right back then and probably an undercount now.

S: Yeah…. that doesn’t really track, cant say I know the exact number of species in the planet but id wager if 300 species go extinct a year then wed see a noticeable difference.

I GUESS If youre really splitting hairs, zooplankton and copeopods have countless individual species among their clades, and if they go extinct then we really wouldn’t be able to know.

C: Well, who knows how many instances of “Mr. Frog That Only Lives in a Section of the Forest that Got Cut Down and Became Someone’s Cattle Farm” there are in any given year. There are a lot of things we kill off without noticing.

S: Probably more than one, but I doubt it’s an everyday thing.

C: Habitat destruction is an every day thing. Whether or not it’s sufficient to get 300 wiped out a year is another question.

S: True. But I meant more to the point of the frog situation.

Yeah, you’d have to be bound and determined to actively make that happen.

C: Well either way, mankind’s got plenty of blood on our hands.

S: And only time will tell if well all have a collective judgement day.

C: I wouldn’t count on it. There’s a good chance of our species dying off, but it probably won’t be all at once.

Well, there are ways to do it all at once, but like, say we just did some ridiculous nuclear war that wiped everything out. Like, nobody’s nuking Africa because Africa isn’t really bothering anybody. They’re the ones getting bothered. But if it’s bad enough the whole planet’s getting- Man maybe I should just stop this line of inquiry.

Hasn’t happened yet, and we’ve managed to be here in this present moment that a lot of creatures in this chapter are missing out on.

Got to enjoy it while it lasts.

S: Overall a pretty solid chapter, naturally I’m going to love when prehistory is involved in a plot. Heres to hoping we get more in the future!

C: This is all to say that this chapter isn’t just a meditative dream for the characters. It’s one for us as well. This manga’s good about getting you thinking in general, but this one’s especially effective at it.

Chapter 2: Despair

C: With that I’d like to move on to another chapter that stands out, Chapter 2. Why are we talking about this after Chapter 8? Fuck if I know it just worked out like that.

S: We play it fast and loose on the Cosmia blog folks.

C: In this chapter we meet Mr. Detective for the first time. He’s investigating the mysterious death of an actor named Robin Hendrix. I must note it feels a bit strange using the name Hendrix for a white guy but that’s just kinda how it goes in this manga.

The Detective’s trail leads to Count D, the guy responsible for selling the dead lizard found at the scene.

S: And their first encounter goes pretty well. And by well, I mean horribly. D’s more upset about the lizard dying than the actor.

C: I must say I’ve seen multiple episodic stories where some enigmatic figure well versed in the supernatural does their thing and tells us a story of our own nature or whatever. But this manga explores a topic I hardly ever see: “How does this guy deal with the cops?” It would be very easy to have some Goosebumps ass thing where the pet shop owner keeps giving people stuff and then things kinda go to shit indefinitely without consequence.

S: Pet shop of horrors definitely is a trailblazer in that regard.

C: But this guy has to do all that shit under the eye of Mr. Detective and somehow keep operating.

And we see here, the Detective’s not some like Sherlock Holmes master mind or whatever, but he makes some competetent deductions. It doesn’t take a genius to know that this pet shop’s kind of shady.

S: Agreed, and his suspicions will only grow as the manga progresses, and D’s evasive action in regards to the Washington Treaty only makes that stronger

C: The “this isn’t a species known to mankind at all so it’s fine” loophole’s pretty funny.

S: How many times would people even be able to get away with that nowadays? and would it even actually work in real life is the real question?

C: It’d be kind of funny if a bunch of new species were discovered via Shady Petshop in Chinatown Guy. People just keep it going because the discoveries don’t stop.

S: Well, they’ll have to stop some day, but that day isn’t coming for a long time.

C: But yeah it’s fair to say it’d be hard for this shop to sustain itself indefinitely with so many deaths linked to it. Particularly given how high-profile some of them are. But somehow it works here because manga and eh going over that again is basically repeating ourselves from earlier so whatever.

S: Right, we should probably focus on the pet of this chapter, the Basilisk

C: Count D has an explanation for what happened. It’s certainly something that goes beyond Mr. Detective’s expectations. We first learn about the kind of man Robin Hendrix was. An attractive man that popped off with one role as a prince in Not-Star Wars and then coasted for the rest of his life. While he benefitted from the role materially its “spirit” chased after him.

S: Sounds more like William Shatner than anyone else.

And of course, like most people they fill the void in their heart with material things. In this case, reptiles, lots and lots of reptiles.

C: I mean hey, William Shatner kept at it a lot longer than this guy did.

But for Robin his love of reptiles drew him to Count D’s shop.

S: And the basilisk in question looks…. nothing like a basilisk.

C: I mean, it kinda does when it’s dead. But it looks more snake-y in incense form.

S: I guess they couldn’t call it medusa, as that’s a singular entity.

Right, but even compared to myth, when I think of a basilisk, I think of a snake/chicken hybrid. One with a gaze so horrid, things die when making eye contact.

C: I generally just think of it as some sorta lizard thing, but I guess there’s usually supposed to be some chicken in there.

Either way the death by eye contact part still stands.

S: If I recall, it hatched from a snake egg that was hatched by a chicken.

C: That’s quite the origin story.

And apparently this guy just died of a heart attack, so he isn’t exactly getting turned to stone like medusa. It’s not exactly implied that the gaze is horrid either. Quite the opposite, this guy is absolutely enamored with his new lizard. He’s got shoujo bubbles with her and everything.

S: But even he couldn’t be bothered to follow the damn rules that D set out for him: “Do not look into her eyes under any circumstances”

C: Well, the dude tried to get back into acting to help support his new lizard girlfriend but it didn’t work immediately so he fell to despair and temptation. He didn’t mind chancing his life to see her.

S: It is kind of nice to see that Medusa (real on the nose name there) did light a fire in him and encourage him to get out a bit.

C: It was impressive he was able to do it at all, but he sure got discouraged real quick. I’m being a bit harsh with the prince but really I’m not sure how far from him I truly am sometimes. Lots of folks have that spirit of their past and have a hard time getting out of its shadow. Though I’m sure very few have such an extreme case of it.

S: To be fair, the guy was vying for the role of a terrorist.

C: Perhaps not the best reintroduction to show business.

S: Why be the hero when you can just go for the villain role?

Also can we talk about how he was contemplating getting rid of his rivals?

C: I guess it’s a good way to break free from your princely expectations

Well, he wasn’t so much thinking about getting rid of them but hoping they’d just go away without him having to do anything.

S: Which is tantamount to him wishing their demise. Count D did kind of lead him into that line of thinking, he did mention that Medusa’s species were used for assassinations.

C: Well, he wanted them to die without directly killing them. He wasn’t interested in the grind to match them and instead wishes he could just succeed at his current level. But regardless of those petty feelings he only ended up assassinating himself.

And also inspired his lizard girlfriend to assassinate herself.

S: And that to me seems like the biggest stretch in this manga (yes, the same manga with hallucinogenic incense and talking animals) why would Medusa’s gaze be able to kill herself?

The whole thing with the killer gaze is that it’s only effective when something looks directly into them. Mirrors or looking through something are safe alternatives.

C: Well, it’s not exactly Medusa so it doesn’t exactly follow Medusa rules. She’s her own lizard. Or maybe she found some other way to die and Count D’s just speculating. A tragic end to the questionable love story either way.

Count D has a rather generous assessment of Robin Hendrix’s actions towards the end. I wonder if this chapter’s inspired by Kurt Cobain in some part.

S: And that’s all well and good assuming that Robin Hendrix didn’t abuse his power like some celebrities.

C: Well, even if he did he evidently died before such stories could come to light.

He died a space prince.

S: And perhaps that’s the best way to die when you’re a celebrity.

C: Kurt Cobain sure thought so. And clearly a lot of them don’t handle their later years well.

But perhaps that speaks to a problem that goes deeper than any individual celebrity. Like this whole celebrity culture that raises people up and tears people down can fuck damn near anyone up.

S: True, but I won’t lie, there’s always a part of us everymen that enjoys watching some titans fall from grace.

C: And so the cycle continues.

By the way that last panel of this chapter where the prince stands stall over his dead body is quite the evocative image.

S: Like a phoenix rising from the ashes.

Or in this case, a depressed man’s corpse.

C: And our phoenix is a pretty boy with a sword and shield and some smoke. I guess legends are always a bit hazy.

S: badum tsh!

Though some legends are probably better left as cautionary tales, as the third chapter shows us with its theme, Invasive species.

Chapter 3: Daughter

C: This chapter is called Daughter, which starts with a D. As do all the other chapter titles so far. One has to wonder how long they’ll be able to keep doing that without running out of good D words.

S: Given their thematic consistency thus far, it’ll probably be a while.

C: In this one a family grieving over the death of their daughter named Alice decided to get a new pet to help manage it. I wouldn’t say that’s necessarily a bad move in general, but when Count D’s involved it gets complicated.

S: I’d say its a bad move considering the daughter was just buried hours before their fateful encounter with D.

S: Also, it’s of no coincidence that they get a rabbit, a WHITE rabbit at that.

C: Yeah buying a pet hastily like that’s a bad idea for all involved. If you don’t know what you’re getting into and just impulse buying you might not like it when the reality of keeping them seeps in. The pet’s probably not going to get treated well in that scenario either.

And I know exactly what you’re talking about totally but why don’t you explain that significant coincidence with the audience?

Oh right.

S: Of course, The Alice in this story has parallels to Alice Liddel, the main character from famed 18th century novel Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland.

To the few that don’t know the story, a young noble girl falls down a rabbit hole after following a white rabbit holding an oversized pocket watch, and ends up in a land where there is little sense to be made.

C: Somehow I managed to make that connection a second before you gave it away, which still isn’t that impressive rip.

Any ways, Count D has an interesting sense of what makes a good match. He sure has a way of getting the customer what they want, but what they want isn’t always particularly good for them. And since they come from his shop there’s always some sort of catch with it.

S: Especially grieving parents who are desperate for a redo, and he tells them specifically, give “Alice” only fresh vegetables and water, no sweets.

C: This ends up being a rather apt metaphor for a common parenting problem. But before we get into that I’m going to hit you with the Cosmia special and sidetrack the conversation.

In this contract he includes keeping the incense going as part of the rules. This is the first and only time we see that so far.

In a way this supports your Theory 2 that Count D supplies everyone with incense to keep the delusion going. But if that was the case wouldn’t that be part of the contract every time?

My hypothesis is that Count D’s incense leaves some long lasting residual delusions, but they have a chance of breaking without further incense use.

S: It would, but perhaps D saw this as a necessary addition to keep the charade going. Maybe in extreme states of duress the chemical in the incense is less effective.

C: Yeah in this particular case that delusion breaking would be a bigger problem than usual, because they are literally trying to treat the bunny as a replacement daughter.

S: Most of the other people he’s given pets to up to this point have been relatively well adjusted. Or as well adjusted as a man who fell in love with a literal cold blooded creature can be.

C: At least with the actor guy he would’ve been cool with the lizard if she looked like a lizard. It’s not some predicate to keep the bond going.

On the flip side there’s the mermaid guy.

Honestly I’m not sure we’ll be able to explain the incense behavior in a way that’s 100% consistent across all chapters.

S: But here, the illusion has to be maintained for the emotional stability of these grieving folks, which definitely doesn’t bode well when things go wrong.

C: Yeah in this case the delusion becomes a bit too strong. To the extent where the wife thinks she’s literally a human, and rejects the rabbit rules.

The result? Well…

S: Gotta say, that must really do a number on the parent’s psyche. Not only did they lose their original daughter a few days ago (I assume) but their replacement is literally chest bursted by their “grandchildren.”

C: And then those grandchildren start taking over LA before having their own mass die off. Welp.

S: Yeah, this is one of those situations where everyone is lucky that things ended the way they did. If it weren’t for the earlier toxins ingested it’d take a week before they’d be halfway across the continent.

C: But those earlier toxins were also the reason the rabbit popped off like that in the first place. Hmmmm…

Maybe if they fed her a different healthier non-vegetable there wouldn’t be anything anyone could do about it. They’d just dominate ‘Murica even harder than they did Australia. Maybe Total Rabbit Cultural Victory is preferable to what America’s currently doing.

S: Maybe we’d be better off in a “warren state?”

Get it?

C: I didn’t but then I did an internet and now I do.

Perhaps we would. It’d certainly be better for the rabbits.

But yeah, as you alluded to earlier this story speaks a bit to what invasive species can do. Clearly this Alice is a bit more extreme of a case than real world examples, but there’s a lot of creatures that have taken over new continents because nobody there really knows how to deal with them.

S: Right, like the cane toad of Australia, or the mongoose of Hawaii

C: This is a process that has likely happened naturally plenty of times in the past without our input. Some of the things we call native species could have been visitors at one point. And whatever crazy way they impacted the environment has sorted itself out by now.

S: And yet we’re still finding new ways to screw over ecosystems.

Even with our advanced understanding of how delicate the balance is.

C: And of course some non-native things aren’t really considered invasive. You don’t hear people bitching about Japanese maples too often. Because some things just don’t spread fast and drastically enough to be a major issue.

And on the flip side some things that could be considered usually aren’t because we want them to be there. Like a non-native lawn grass or a cat.

S: Even if feral cats are among the worst things for ecosystems that can’t control them?

C: Well, some people do legitimately consider feral cats invasives, but that’s not universally accepted.

S: Do YOU consider them invasive?

C: They’re a bit of a unique case but yeah kinda.

S: In any case, Chapter 3 was easily one of the moments where if not for the clause that he states, D would’ve landed himself in court for the numerous injuries and deaths that the rabbits caused.

C: I’m sure such a story would’ve ran through the news for a while. He really managed to avoid the public knowing about his involvement?

The fact that this story even goes beyond chapter 3 is remarkable in a way. Count D has some impressively resilient plot armor.

S: He did have the mother, who is an unreliable witness due to raving about the rabbits being her daughter’s offspring. And the detective, who no one believes anyways.

Saying these out loud, it’s no wonder it was swept under the rug so easily. He picked the two people that would be the least likely to be believed.

C: The unusualness of his pets and drugs in a world that otherwise seems to behave like our own gives him plenty of leeway.

It’d be difficult for anyone to describe his crimes accurately without sounding insane.

S: Oh for sure, D definitely knows his way around the system.

C: And once again he shows some impressive insight, figuring out what happened to their original daughter with only a smattering of info.

S: This guy would be perfect for a Phoenix Wright game. Just have him be a prosecutor and he’ll get to the bottom of the case.

C: He seems more like a defense attorney by nature. Not much of a thirst for punishment in this guy. Like even as he kinda brutally assesses their parenting he frames it as a tragedy of parental love.

S: Either way he’d be a force to be reckoned with on either side of the bench.

C: He’d be a very difficult witness to crack too. The only thing missing is making his name more punny.

S: Count D. Rugdealer.

Bam! and that only took me a second!

C: Something like that yeah.

So yeah this is a compelling chapter about the way parental love can become twisted among other things. Gives you plenty to think about as all the best chapters in this manga seem to do.

S: And it definitely fulfils the “horror” promised in the title.

C: Yeah that chest bursting’s one of the freakiest things we’ve seen so far

S: And I have a feeling it won’t be the last.

C: I bet you’re right about that.

I think we’re going to wrap up our individual chapter discussions there for now. I’m sure there are some fun things to talk about with some other ones too. I quite liked the mermaid chapter as well for instance. But it’s running late and we don’t need to discuss every single thing that happens.

Conclusion

S: Very true, so what do you think of the manga thus far Mr. Cosmia?

C: It’s certainly interesting. It reminds me a lot of xxxHolic and Mushishi, but in many respects it’s very much its own beast. And even to the extent it is similar I like those series so I don’t mind at all.

It explores humanity’s relation to the natural world, which is a topic I find important and fascinating.

S: It feels right up my alley honestly, nature and mythical creatures were always my strong suits growing up, and part of the reason why I became a biologist.

C: Yep. Honestly at first I was disappointed the animals all looked like humans, because I personally would rather see the animal right?

But the kind of stories this anthropomorphizing drug enables makes it worthwhile.

As we mentioned earlier, this commentary is based solely off the first 2 volumes of the manga

Will it be able to stay fresh for the rest of its runtime? Will these characters stay static and the frequency of duds increasing?

Because that’s a common problem that can plague certain episodic stories.

Guess we’ll have to read more to find out.

S: Stay tuned for the next iteration of the dual commentary on the Cosmia blog!

C: Yep there’s more where this came from. Perhaps we’ll come up with a catchier name later. Or perhaps one will just come to me while I edit this thing and it’ll become the title when I post it.

Either way, catch y’all later. Or not. If this is the last sentence you ever read from the Cosmia blog I hope you have a nice life~