The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service

Plot, setting and structure

The series deals with the exploits of five young graduates of a Buddhist college, all of whom have a special skill, some of them supernatural and/or involving dead bodies. Most notable is Kuro Karatsu who has the ability to "speak" to the recently deceased and hear their last wishes. On this basis, the group forms a business venture to fulfill said wishes in hopes for compensation. However, because corpses do not always die of natural causes or accidents, the group often encounters criminal activity or such compensation is unattainable.

The series is ostensibly set in modern-day Japan with the main characters hanging around the Buddhist college near Tokyo which they had attended, though the characters often travel elsewhere for summer jobs or to fulfill their "clients" wishes. Tokyo, usually Shinjuku, is often visited though it is not known exactly where the college is located in relation to the greater Tokyo metropolitan area. The manga also seems to be set in the same universe as MPD Psycho and Mail, other series that the authors Otsuka and Yamazaki respectively have worked on, as characters of these series appear in it.

The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service is structured into self-contained chapters though some successive stories, most notably the entire second volume, are one continuous story. This changes in later volumes due to a change in serialization. The stories stay self-contained, but span two or three chapters which have fewer pages than chapters at the start of the series. Most chapters are named after a Japanese pop song with each chapter in a single volume usually named for songs by the same artist. The English release by Dark Horse Comics is notable for extensive translation notes and explanations in the back of the manga. An example would be information about the artists of the songs the chapters are named for.

Starting with Volume 3, each volume of the manga features a structural drawing of a body on the cover that is relevant to one of the stories within. The cover and backcover also features a depiction of all the company members. However, only Karatsu gets a mugshot on each cover while the other characters may appear in some other manner or are hinted at. Above this depiction, they are only identified as "Staff A" through "Staff E" (with the felt puppet Kere Ellis being "Staff E'") and a description of their skill underneath. In the Japanese edition, the volumes come with a dust jacket using a paper stock similar to brown wrapping paper. Dark Horse attempted to emulate this cover style by using a similar stock for the cover of the English edition. However, starting with volume 12 Dark Horse switched to a glossier paper stock for cost cutting reasons. The original stock was reintroduced for the Omnibus versions.

Characters

The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service

;Kuro Karatsu :A student Buddhist monk with average grades who shaves his head. He has the ability to "speak" with the recently deceased by the means of touching their bodies, allowing the team to learn their "clients'" desires. This skill develops over the course of the series and is linked to a spirit lingering near him named Yaichi. Involuntarily this can also lead to a temporary reanimation of the dead body touched and corpses in the immediate area, although Karatsu has no control over their actions afterwards. He is sometimes classified as an itako, although he is neither a woman nor blind. ;Ao Sasaki :The brains behind the company, a tall woman with long black hair. A skilled hacker and general computer expert. She also has a large information network and sometimes uses bribes (such as pictures of dead idols) as the means to achieve the ends. This includes running an Internet chat-room entitled "Corpse-Chat". Besides collecting pictures of dead bodies, she also seems to enjoy literature and has recently started to attend a few psychology courses at the university. ;Makoto Numata :He uses a pendulum to dowse for the dead which enables him to find the bodies needed for the team's delivery work. Numata puts on a tough guy image including leather jackets and sunglasses, although he enjoys sides of Japanese pop culture which are rarely associated with such an image, such as interest in Japanese idol singers. He is the physically strongest of the group, but also tends to be the most emotional. ;Keiko Makino :A licensed embalmer who handles the corpses found by Karatsu and Numata. She studied her trade in America since embalmers are rare in Japan, where most bodies are cremated rather than buried. She has blonde hair and is very fashion conscious, never seen in the same outfit more than once (often Punk fashion), and also works with her skills on part-time jobs, for example for on an American military base. ;Yuji Yata :A timid guy who wears a felt puppet on his left hand which he claims channels an alien intelligence. He is a big nerd fond of advanced mathematics, folklore, and his apartment is filled with various sci-fi and most notably Star Wars memorabilia. Like Sasaki, he is also fairly knowledgeable about literature and urban legends. Yata's eyes are rarely seen as his hair almost always covers them. ;Kere Ellis :A very foul-mouthed alien life form which communicates through Yata's hand puppet, though the group is at least in the beginning very skeptical if this alien isn't Yata himself or a split personality express via ventriloquism. Yata often apologizes for Kere Ellis' unruly behavior but has his left hand physically abused in reaction to the alien's verbal attacks nonetheless. The design of the Kere Ellis puppet changed significantly from the first chapter to the second but remained constant since. ;Yaichi :Yaichi is a spirit that seems to follow around Karatsu if not outright possessing him. He may be the source of Karatsu's ability or at least be able to amplify it to a great extent. The most notable of Yaichi's features are his long white hair and the severe scars on his face. One scar starts at the center-top of the face and runs down between the eyes and then down the right side. It is met below the eye by another scar coming from the right ear. A third scar runs across the left cheek starting from the corner of the mouth. Though there is no direct interaction or awareness with the group, he often helps the group with warnings or taking over some of the body movement of various characters who feel his presence during that period.

Nire

Nire is another organization specializing in postmortem services. Unlike Kurosagi, Nire is commercially successful on account of focusing on high-end services such as mummification and cryonics. ;Nire :Mr. Nire is an entrepreneur in post-mortem services. At times he has run a funeral home, a mummification service and a cryogenic preservation facility, though many of his business ventures are somewhat shady. He knew about the Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service before they met and tried to recruit them for his business. ;Shinuhe :Mr. Nire's business partner in later exploits. He appears as a tall man usually in a hooded jacket. He is also covered in bandages which is explained by Mr. Nire as due to being a victim of an accident and having suffered severe burns. However, Shinuhe has also joked about being an actual resurrected Egyptian Mummy. Regardless of that, he seems to be fond of ancient Egypt either way and very knowledgeable about the process of mummification which he is eager to share. ;Mutsumi Nire :The adopted daughter of Mr. Nire. She has the unique ability to raise the dead for short periods of time, often with undesirable results.

The Shirosagi Corpse Cleaning Service

The Shirosagi Corpse Cleaning Service is a mysterious organization that on the surface is in the business to clean up murder and suicide sites. However, it appears that they are secretly after Karatsu's spirit Yaichi. ;Ichiro Suzuki :This man has the same scars as Yaichi only his hair is black except for a patch white hair above his right eye. Sasayama remarked after giving a description that he looks very much like Shingo Zuhaku, a former police coroner and serial killer Sasayama shot when he was still a cop. However, Sasayama killed Zuhaku and also witnessed his burial and thus concludes that they can not be the same person. Sasayama also remarked that the name "Ichiro Suzuki" is probably fake. When conducting business as a corpse cleaner Suzuki wears a white jumpsuit, baseball cap, safety goggles and a breathing mask, obscuring his face almost completely. ;The Girl :A small, black-haired girl with a big bow in her hair usually wearing a kimono with a black leather Obi. Her character has not been named in the translated parts of story so far. She seems to be Suzuki's partner in their more nefarious activities and possesses some spiritual powers of her own, e.g. limited Telekinetic powers and the ability to converse with a group of spirits.

Kurosagi's recurring allies

;Tooru Sasayama :Sasayama is a character by Otsuka that also appeared in MPD Psycho. In this instance he is a lot older, has a large scar on his bald head and walks with cane due to a pegleg which is evidence for Kurosagi being set years after MPD Psycho. Initially the group thinks he is a Yakuza. He is no longer a police officer but instead works for the Shinjuku municipal social welfare office and often has trouble with unidentified bodies for which he asks the group for help, usually taking advantage of them. Also, he gives them odd jobs on occasion. ;Jenny Kayama :Sasaki's psychotherapist who occasionally is asked by the Kurosagis to help them with a case. She apparently chose psychiatry due to her failings in medicine and reluctance to work with the physical human body. Nevertheless, she seems to be unfazed by Karatsu's ability. Though young looking Sasaki stated that Jenny is as old as Sasayama. ;Yui Kikuchi :A nurse trainee with the ability to hear the last words of a spirit before it passes on. She has two separate encounters with the Kurosagi team and seems to be romantically interested in Karatsu.

Other recurring and notable characters

;Reiji Akiba :Akiba is a character by Yamazaki that also appeared in Mail (manga). He is a detective who also describes himself as a medium. He uses a pistol called Kagutsuchi which seals ghosts within his bullets. ;The crying woman :An unnamed elderly woman with the ability to affect other people around her and force them into involuntary crying. She appears to know about Yaichi and the Shirosagi Corpse Cleaning Service and is an acquaintance of Sasayama. ;Reina Gorn :A forensic entomology student from America (Ohio, to be exact) that the group meets and befriends. Her unique accent makes speaking Japanese a bit awkward. She has a fascination with insects, as well. ;Tomino, Nagai and Tezuka :Three robotics students who have had repeated encounters with the KCDS by attempting to use corpses for their inventions, usually with not that great results. The trio is named after Yoshiyuki Tomino, Go Nagai and Osamu Tezuka, all of which have been called founders of subgenres of Mecha anime and manga.

List of chapters

• "Less than Happy"
• "Lonely People"
• "Magician of Lost Love"
• "September Rain"
• "Dangerous Duo"
• "I don't care if I die"
• "Watch out for that girl"
• "Tonight I will pour wine all over you"
• "Mona Lisa Smile"
• "Do what you want"
• "As time goes by"
• "Crossing the River"
• "Applause"
• "X+Y=Love"
• "Waltz"
• "Thank you, dear"
• "If you should die"
• "The look I had 'til yesterday"
• "Humble desires"
• "Stand Still"
• "Password to Tomorrow"
• "Please give me a little love"
• "Preparing for a journey"
• "A letter for you"
• "If you're with me"
• "The two of us"
• "For whose good"
• "Like a child - Kunio Matsuoka demon hunting side story (Part one)"
• "Too long a spring - Kunio Matsuoka demon hunting side story (Part two)" The first chapter has the crew return to Aokigahara to search for the corpses of suicides only to find that the service they want to perform is already being done in that region by the local post office. The next three chapters are one continuous storyline. Numata and Karatsu drive through Tokyo following Numata's dowsing and find a house where recently a corpse was discovered. A team of "corpse cleaners" named Shirosagi, a company specializing in cleaning up crime and suicide scenes, also shows up on the scene led by a man in safety goggles and a breathing mask. Later the recently evicted Numata is looking for a new place to stay and ends up in the very same room, now completely disinfected, except he finds another corpse above the ceiling tiles. The final two chapters are a side story dabbling in historical fiction set in the Japan of the Meiji era. A young Kunio Yanagita, then called Kunio Matsuoka, is visited by a scarred boy named Yaichi and that boys caretaker, one of Sasayama's ancestors with strong resemblance, while attempting to solve the mystery of a crime spree involving mutilated corpses.
• "Fight with my heart"
• "Pretty Pretty"
• "My Happiness, Part II"
• "My Don"
• "I'm not afraid of the big bad wolf"
• "Sundas is a stranger" In "Fight with my heart" the boys are doing a delivery job for a cemetery and test out a robotic suit for a research group. In "Pretty Pretty" and "My Happiness, Part II" the Kurosagis investigate a case in which cosmetic surgery transplants have developed a mind of their own. In the final three chapters of the volume the boys accompany Makino to a gig as a make-up artist for a new movie that is being shot, trying to get some odd jobs on the set. However, the shoot is overshadowed when one of the actors turns up dead.
• "A café in a campus town"
• "Romance"
• "I probably won't die"
• "No need for a love song"
• "An afternoon with just the two of us"
• "Princess's Mirror"
• "I'll go alone"
• "Key to an apartment"
• "A lonely singing doll"
• "Grape-colored experience"
• "Tears that disappear into the sand"
• "White house by the sea"
• "A certain situation"
• "What lies after the dream"
• "My sadness" "Key to an apartment" and "A lonely singing doll" are one story about an idol being sent dolls by a stalker. The group finds one of these dolls which Numata's pendulum reacts to as if it was a dead body. "Grape-colored experience" and "Tears that disappear into the sand" deal with the group trying to find out something about a ghost rider they encountered: A motorcycle being ridden by nothing but a floating head. The next three chapters are one continuous story in which Ms. Kikuchi listened to the last words of a politician. Via Sasayama the Kurosagi team also gets involved in this. Finally, in "My sadness" Yata and Makino are doing a part-time job doing entertainment at a Kindergarten. After the job they talk about their past and some of their backstory is revealed.
• "Sweet challenge"
• "Not on a Sunday!"
• "The unreturned salinger"
• "A kiss after the tears"
• "Moonlight story"
• "Seaside memory"
• "The heart's season off"
• "A mirror at 2 a.m."
• "Delivery: rainbow-colored canon" In the first four chapters the club meets up with a cyclist who is capable of using a defibrillator to reanimate the recently diseased. In the next three chapters Karatsu and Co. help Sasayama bring a retired police dog to a former colleague and uncover an urban legend. The remainder of the volume deal with Numata's backstory while he is trying to tie up things with his old master who taught him dowsing.
• "Something missing"
• "This is my hometown"
• "Ugly duckling"
• "We who should be loved"
• "In the past, it was all day long"
• "Let's make some memories"
• "In order to say goodbye"
• "It was sunny when I woke up"
• "Angels dance"
• "Picnic Boogie"
• "Arienu Republic"
• "Shadow Show"
• "I'm sitin' on the edge of the skies"
• "A single bound to the moat"
• "In deep hurt"
• "To the land of ink paintings"
• "Time Machine"
• "Paper Moon"
• "Silhouette Romance"
• "Safari Night"
• "Return My Key!"
• "White Requiem"
• "Island of Dreams for Two"
• "You Were There Before Me"
• "Quickly! Young Man"
• "Distant Day"
• "Hey Baby"
• "A Soldier's Gamble"
• "Tears of Orpheus"
• "Youth Will Journey On"

Other appearances

Karatsu and Makino appeared in the movie adaptation of the Fatal Frame series which was released on September 26, 2014.

References

References

1. ''Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service'' Vol. 2 author's afterword.
2. [http://www.darkhorse.com/profile/profile.php?sku=14-926 Dark Horse Comics > Profile > Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Vol. 6 TPB]
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6. "The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Vol. 2". [[Dark Horse Comics]].
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31. "黒鷺死体宅配便 (17) (カドカワコミックス・エース)".
32. "黒鷺死体宅配便 (18) (カドカワコミックス・エース)".
33. "黒鷺死体宅配便 (19) (カドカワコミックス・エース)".
34. "黒鷺死体宅配便 (20) (カドカワコミックス・エース)".
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