Otsuichi’s ZOO

English translation by Terry Gallagher and released under Viz’s Haikasoru label.

Finished this a while ago, took me about 3 months because I was distracted by other things. Read most of it on the bus, about one story per two bus trips. The last 3-4 stories I read at home because school was over. Not sure if I’ll do a formal review for this, already tonnes out there I believe. And apologies for having you read such a useless paragraph just now.

All in all a satisfactory anthology of Otsuichi’s short stories. As with all anthologies, there are hits and misses, but I think there were more misses than hits in this compilation. Did a solid job of showcasing Otsuichi’s signature dark fantasy style, though. Not sure if he’s still using this signature style, but is probably a good representation of the stuff he’s best known for.

ZOO: Awesome story, started out the book with a bang and made me want to read more of Otsuichi’s stuff. Was already intrigued from reading F-sensei’s Pocket from ENG Faust Vol.1, and ZOO just reinforced that interest all the more.

In a Falling Airplane: Boring, silly, disappointing and generally light-hearted. Calmly morbid or the other way around.

The White House in the Cold Forest: Chilling and creepy. Very thoroughly enjoyed it and is probably my favourite story in the book if ZOO wasn’t included. Felt slightly guilty about being genuinely entertained by this while reading it n the bus.

Find the Blood!: Another silly and light-hearted story with a morbidish element. A mystery story this time though. Didn’t like it since I only wanted to read dark and fully unhappy fiction (emoface.jpg). Had fun guessing the culprit but was disappointed that I was right. Surprise me, dammit.

In a Park at Twilight, a Long Time Ago: Fictional story written like a true story about a dream or a true true story about a dream? Not sure, but despite being bloody short and maybe confusing it was also pretty good.

Wardrobe: Mystery story again, not memorable and was mostly boring to read through. Was neither light-hearted or morbid. Good turn of events at the very end though.

Song of the Sunny Spot: Otsuichi’s attempt at writing something touching and normal, I assume. Boring and couldn’t stop picturing the narrator as the useless Flower from Kowarekake no Orgel. I hate Flower.

Kazari and Yoko: Very slightly above average, not truly uncreative, kind of sad, kind of predictable. Great ending but would like to see more.

SO-far: Above average, enjoyed imagining the characters’ appearances even though they weren’t described. Interesting premise and ending.

Words of God: Not a mindblowingly original power, but really good development of events and uh, consequences. Revelation at the end was awesome and creative even though I expected a revelation of some sort. Another favourite.

Seven Rooms: Had fun trying to solve the pattern and reading on to get more details, but even though I wasn’t able to fully predict the mechanics of the pattern, when it was fully revealed I just went “That’s it?”. Not a good reaction, but an okay story overall. Maybe somewhat disappointed by the ending because it seemed like there could be a more satisfying alt conclusion.