The art is great, it's unique and detailed in a special way.

The story's interesting and one of my favourite aspects of this book is that the reader is exposed to some of the characters' backstory via old newspapers. It feels creepy at first, however, it looses its touch soon.

Over time, the story feels repetitive and the characters become blander.

Unfortunately, I DNFed this book in the first 15%. It just didn't grab my attention.

Pubblicato per la prima volta nel 2005, Bizenghast è un fumetto gotico in otto parti, di cui le prime tre sono state riproposte quest'anno nel primo volume dell'edizione da collezione.

Protagonista è una ragazzina rimasta orfana a causa di un incidente stradale, Dinah, che va a vivere con la zia in una casa dell'immaginaria cittadina di Bizenghast, nel New England. L'edificio ha in passato ospitato una sorta di collegio, in cui probabilmente i ragazzi non venivano trattati nel migliore dei modi.
Ciò che ben presto la quindicenne scopre, è che la dimora sorge su un mausoleo, e che lei stessa ha la missione di liberare ogni notte un fantasma; nel caso dovesse fallire, la sua punizione sarà rimanere in quel luogo per sempre.
La sua vita viene così a complicarsi di molto: tra il terrore delle avventure notturne, la perdita dei giorni di scuola, l'altalenante rapporto con la zia che la crede schizofrenica e medita di rinchiuderla in un istituto, l'unica persona che Dinah si ritroverà accanto sarà l'amico Vincent, fido compagno e aiutante nella sua lotta contro gli spiriti...

Il tratto utilizzato dall'autrice per la gran parte della storia purtroppo non mi è piaciuto, anzi, mi spiace dire di averlo trovato proprio brutto, mentre alcune tavole, e in particolare quelle recanti il titolo di ogni avventura, sono davvero bellissime.
Ho notato, però, che per parte di esse il richiamo alle illustrazioni di Alice in Wonderland di John Tenniel è davvero evidente (e immagino voluta), così come, riguardo questa volta la trama, la somiglianza tra l'episodio della mela e la storia biblica.

Le premesse della storia mi avevano incuriosito, ma la realizzazione è veramente confusa e disorganica.
Le avventure si concludono troppo velocemente; alcuni dei fantasmi avrebbero potuto essere dei personaggi molto interessanti, se solo fossero stati indagati più a fondo e le loro vicende avessero occupato più spazio.
Purtroppo, proprio quando mi sembrava che le cose si facessero finalmente coinvolgenti, il volume è terminato con un cliffhanger.

Dinah, orphaned in a car accident as a child, lives with her aunt in a large, Gothic styled home. She is tormented by "fits" and sees ghosts. While wandering with her friend Vincent, they stumble across the forgotten graveyard that no one could prove ever existed. While there, they discover that the restless souls of Bizenghast want to come home, and need Dinah to help them. If she can't solve the riddles to free the souls, her life is forfeit.

The art is gorgeous in this manga series, inspired by the Gothic Lolita look. This volume is remastered and edited from the original publication date. It's a fairly straightforward story, and Dinah starts off as a very fragile girl, prone to crying and hiding behind Vincent to do the tasks for her. But she admits herself that she's tired of being scared all the time, and facing the horrors of the souls' riddles to free them also helps her grow. She is less frightened and less reliant on Vincent; he has to learn that some shortcuts can't be taken, and the important things in life aren't actually things.

The story is creepy, weird, interesting and different. The art is beautiful. It's a manga. What's not to like?!

No review - didn't use these pages to form an opinion of the title.

I found this graphic novel difficult to read. I didn't understand the storyline. I know it's about a girl who see ghosts with a friend named Vincent. I can't recommend reading or not reading this story. I think I may be missing something.

Bizenghast is a weird book, about as weird as it's name (which is the name of the town in Massachusetts that it takes place in). This collector's edition is a compilation of novels 1-3 and features a short author's note in the back and her reflections of the series 10 years after it has been originally published. There, I think the author sums up beautifully of why people like this book. Weird people like this book and they like it because it is weird. They find a little bit of themselves in the plot or the characters. The main character is seen as an outcast due to her fits caused by seeing ghosts. The gothic art style helps as well and really fits the story.

Speaking of the art, it is slightly inconsistent throughout the novel. It is really pretty at times and others it seems hastily drawn. The author mentions in her note she went back through and touched up a few things (though keeping most of it intact with the original). It was her first published series and her art has grown since then, but it is still very nice and fitting for her first work.

As for the characters, I really love Vincent. I haven't read the rest of the series yet, but I love the whole troupe of the boy best friend being a love interest, so I hope that gets explored more. I am not a huge fan of Dinah, however. She is selfish and whiny at times. She is also vain but that is appropriate given the art style and fashion style. The supporting cast is all right. I feel like they would perhaps grow more on me in later books.

The plot is a typical manga/anime style plot where a girl is thrown into a magical/paranormal world and must solve related problems. It's an okay plot but this is were it gets weird of course, and because of that I found it confusing at times. Overall I rate this book 3 out of 5 as in "I liked it". I would like to continue on with the series at a later time.

I received a free eARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

'Bizenghast Collectors Edition V. 1' by M. Alice LeGrow collects over 500 pages of a Gothic story. It has its creepy elements, but sometimes it's confusing.

Dinah is orphaned when her parents die in a fatal car crash. She goes to live with her aunt in Bizenghast, MA in a former school called St. Lyman's School for Boys. She has a hard time accepting the death of her parents and when we meet her she is having fits and her aunt doesn't know what to do with her. A boy who lives nearby becomes her friend and they go exploring.

They find an old crumbling church nearby and a large graveyard. They end up getting tasked with entering each grave and freeing the spirits that live there. It's not an easy task. There are puzzles to solve just to get things to open up, and sometimes the ghosts don't want to exactly cooperate. They find unusual help along the way.

There are three volumes here and it's an ongoing story. There is an afterword from the author and illustrator on the evolution of the series to this point. And it does evolve in art and story quality as it goes along. There were times that it felt like the story veered off into weird areas, and it kind of lost me, but the stuff with freeing the ghosts was all good.

I received a review copy of this manga from Tokyopop, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this manga.

After a newspaper cutting to set the scene—thank you for that!—the story is told through pencil sketches and grayscale, in which an orphan girl claims ghosts haunt her. Deemed crazy, she escapes her aunt’s house with a boy and they explore a cemetery, finding an underground cathedral-like place that they really should not have entered. From there each chapter takes them on a different mission to help bring peace to ghosts, picking up some snarky advisors along the way.
She might have been a crazy shut-in, but she’s got an amazingly huge wardrobe, while her guardian moans about not having money. She even spouts life lessons such as: “I can do anything with the right outfit.”
That snarky little mask-faced creature easily steals every scene. Communism is bad for your eyes. . . or is that television? He was the most entertaining, with lines like, “Remember we’re parked in level. . . ocean.”
There’s over 500 digital pages and the story’s still not over! Though to be fair the drawings and panels are bigger than most. Toward the end the format changes to a more serialized story, which rapidly becomes confusing.
While the artwork is minimalist, some of the drawings are beautiful. Dinah at one point is wearing a peacock inspired dress that would have been so beautiful in color.
The author included some notes at the end, basically celebrating weirdness; this is not the first time I’ve heard a creator refer to a second version of their work as a “director’s cut.”
To put it succinctly, this was more interesting than I expected.
3.5/5

Bizenghast was a weird journey, but based on the author's note, I that is a complement. I really enjoyed the premise, solving riddles to release spirits. Dinah is a young girl that has lost parents and appears to see ghosts. Her aunt, who admits she never really wanted kids and wasn't ready to take Dinah, tries to understand, but isn't sure the right choice to make. When Dinah and Vincent, her only friend, sneak out they find the Sunken Mausoleum. Then it gets weird!

I loved the very Alice in Wonderland feel. There are times you turn around and think "how did I get here?". It's a little more challenging to follow, but LeGrow's characters are delightfully quirky and the imagery is great! As longs as you go with it, you are gonna love the world LeGrow created in Bizenghast.

When I started reading this book, I struggled with the art. I didn't mind that it was black and white but I found the design of the of the characters weird. As I kept reading, the art got better and I also got used to it.
The characters were okay, Dinah's uselessness bothered me in the beginning but then she started getting better and I felt like Vincent was the typical sidekick that does everything for the main character that he also has a crush on (even if he doesn't admit it).
The plot was what really saved this comic. Even though it didn't have much action, it was cool to see what Dinah and Vincent had to do to help these people. It kept me reading because I was curious to see what they would have to do the next day.
Nonetheless, it was a fun read and , even though I had issues with it, I ended up invested in the story.

This was a beautiful gothic fantasy! I really enjoyed the story. It's much different than any of the others that I have read, and the art was beautifully done. I can't wait to read more! Thanks to NetGalley for this edition!

Bizenghast is a beautifully illustrated gothic fantasy that has just the right blend of surreal fantasy and horror.  Dahlia is a young woman haunted by ghosts and memories.  Her visions disturb and confuse her.  Her main comfort is her friend Vincent.  Together they discover a strange graveyard where restless spirits dwell.  Each night they are forced to return and do what is necessary to bring the souls peace - a dangerous task that means risking both life and sanity.
But to ignore the nightly summons means certain death.  They travel through the dreams of the various spirits, and through them come to understand themselves.

Like a reader's nightly dreams, the puzzles faced by Dahlia and Vincent linger, at once troubling and somehow compelling.  Le Grow's artistry is gorgeous, particularly the plates at the beginning of each chapter.  If you enjoy gothic stories and the romantic illustrations of manga, you will love Tokyopop's Bizenghast.

5/5

I received a copy of Bizenghast Collector's Edition Volume 1 from the publisher and netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

-- Crittermom

I quite liked the idea behind "Bizenghast" but the execution just didn't really work for me. The art is okay but nothing special and the depiction of the characters varies greatly throughout the story. The ghosts the protagonists try to set free are an interesting idea, but the story often skips ahead several steps which is why the story seems rather disconnected at times. I probably won't read the next part.

Gothic, Manga-ish, Pseudo-Lolita, "Dinah's Secret" Clothing Catalogue....And Yet

And yet, some of the art was so compelling I had to keep turning the pages. Our heroine, Dinah, is a drip in the Bella mold. Her guy pal, Vincent, is like a Justin Bieber with a broom up his butt. There's a third make-a-triangle guy who looks like he just came from a dress rehearsal for the Nutcracker Ballet Fantastique. They have to free some limboed ghost/souls, (one at a time), and there appear to be a lot of them. Each one comes with a riddle, a backstory, and some scary accessories. So, as the story progresses we work our way along, one ghost at a time, and deal with all sorts of sub-plots, ancillary characters, diversions, and an occasional real-world intrusion. Since Dinah is mostly whiny and a bit lethargic, except when unaccountably she isn't, and since Dinah is a major league clothes horse, which is just downright odd, it's hard to build up any enthusiasm about the characters or the book.

But, some of the scenes are really, really neat. The whole gothic house, church, castle, ballroom, graveyard, haunted grounds scene setting is especially well handled - intricate and fantastic. Sometimes this reminded me most of a really high end sort of adult coloring book. And sometimes the art was good enough to inject enough interest into the characters and the story to keep me reading. I'm not sure I've read a book before where the art so forcefully drove the otherwise bland story, but if you're curious or if you like that kind of storytelling, this book might be worth a look to you.

BE ALERT WHEN ORDERING: This "Special Collector's Edition" is over 500 pages. It is much more than the original volume 1, and looks like it may consist of the first three or four original volumes. Amazon has mixed and matched reviews, descriptions, covers, and even the "Look Inside" feature, so be careful when you order.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)