Monday, 1 December 2008

Manga Recommendation (IX)

Title: Pet Shop of Horrors
Mangaka: Akino Matsuri

There once was a mysterious Chinese man who owns a pet shop in Chinatown. Each pet came with its own conditions, and if these were broken the shop would not be held responsible for the mishap that befalls the owner.

Meet Count D (or the grandson of Count D), a charismatic young man from China often mistaken for a female. To his customers, he claims to have inherited the pet shop from his grandfather, using the title bestowed upon his grandfather, Count D, as an alias.

Along comes a cop with exceedingly bad luck with his love life looking to ruin the Count's shop by connecting seemingly unrelated incidents back to the shop. His name is Leon Orcot.

Count D sells strange and exotic animals which sometimes take on human forms to their owners. One by one, each of the customers learn a lesson by unfortunate means, death included. A rare few find salvation in these creatures.

With a story to each chapter, it feels like an episodic turnout of events with conclusions every chapter, but throughout the series, the constant question that lingers in each reader's mind shall be whether Count D is human, or who are his ancestors.

Join them as the Count distributes lessons to the civillians, while Officer Orcot tries to tie various strange situations which include pets from the Count's shops to him.