Orochi: The Perfext Edition Vol.2 held up just as great as the first book in the collection.

The artwork once again was a perfect mix between horror and mystery. Not knowing what you’re going to get on every page from this flawless artwork was wonderful.

The story felt a bit slower in this one but that did not take away from the overall experience and I think it might have landed a sense of mystery which was much needed

As usual with these sorts of books, I didn’t necessarily feel any strong way towards any of the characters but I think that’s very intentional to keep you a bit separate

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys the genre and I think it stands up there with the best

Thank you to the publisher & Netgalley for an eARC for me to review honestly with my opinion

Disturbing horror stories, centered chillingly and creepily around children. There's only a flimsy connection with the central figure, which detracts a little bit (the stories could have been fine without her) but chilling and well done overall.

This volume wasn't as good as the first, in my opinion. The stories all involve children, bad things happen to them, and the whole thing kinda left a bad taste in my brain. I don't know what is up with this Orochi chick, she seems to just go around watching (and sometimes helping) people screw up their lives with her really vague powers that seem to involve pointing at things. The last story, Key, is a boy-who-cried-wolf trope, and has a particularly unsatisfying ending. The art is good though.
I would recommend this is you're a fan of Kazuo Umezz, but not so much if you're a casual reader.

#OrochiThePerfectEditionVol2 #NetGalley

I received an eARC of this title through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Orochi walks the world trying to understand human nature. Her curiosity consistently gets the better of her as she watches and interferes in the lives of three more humans.

In the first story, Orochi follows the life of a boy who was attacked as a baby and left with a horrible scar on his neck. This story was pretty heartbreaking and horrific. As the mother pushed her child to study harder, it pushed the kid further away. It was hard to read through this story just because it was so horrible and sad. I did not expect the ending, but watching all of this through Orochi's eyes was interesting.

In the second story, Orochi visits a village where she finds a boy who seems to love his life in said village until he is an adult. He then travels to an apartment with a friend, but gets a series of knocks from which he cannot recover. Orochi finds him again after he was badly injured and taken to a hospital. This story was just okay for me. It was definitely a horror tale, but this was not my favorite story.

In the final story, Orochi decides to live in an apartment complex to watch people living in a community. In this community is a child who is dubbed liar, but when he witnesses something terrible, no one will believe what he says. This was your typical "boy who cried wolf" tale with a twist. Part of you wants to feel for this kid, however, the other part wants to dislike him with the rest of the community. I liked this story, It was a kind of thriller in a sense more than horror, however, it does pull on that feeling of being home alone when someone is trying to break in and hurt you.

I genuinely find Orochi to be horrifying in a somewhat more realistic way. This series of stories really pulls at the threads of human evil. Orochi witnesses how horrible human beings can be without the effects of supernatural interference. The characters are compelling as well as relatable which can also add to the horror in some way.

A mystery woman slithers her way into people's lives, and we have no idea why. She takes us on a journey through the two storylines. Although she tries to help but somehow ends up creating trouble for those people. We are given two stories in Volume 1 and three stories in volume 2, both eerie and disturbing, with wonderful plots and, mercifully, no cliffhangers. The fundamental question is: Who is she, and why is she involved in these individuals' lives?

This manga does not let you down. Strange, creepy, and mentally upsetting. If you enjoy stories with unexpected endings, I strongly advise you to read it.

Orochi: The Perfect Edition, Vol. 2 is another good entry. Tenser, characters are more fleshed out and has some really great imagery and artwork.

Orochi Perfect Edition Volume Two continues to follow Orochi as she observes other people’s lives.

Orochi Perfect Edition Volume Two
Written by: Kazuo Umezz
Publisher: Shogakukan
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: July 19, 2022

This volume contains three stories, and each one runs for a little over 100 pages each. However, the stories need to be this long in order for them to be told effectively.

The first story, “Prodigy,” sees Orochi following a man named Yu Tachibana that she first saw when he was a little boy. Through her, we learn that on his first birthday, the family was attacked by a robber. Yu was stabbed in the neck before the robber fled. The robber was caught by the police, and it’s revealed that the man had a sick wife and hungry child at home. After the attempted robbery, the family moves to Tokyo, and the parents’ attitudes change. The mother goes from being patient and loving with Yu to becoming angry all the time. She forces Yu to study and not play, even though he keeps saying he hates studying. The father starts drinking all the time and is no longer the man he once was. Yu is also teased and ostracized at school because of the scar on his neck and the fact that he studies all the time and doesn’t play. But one day, when he’s in the fifth grade, Yu learns something while doing research in the library and he changes his attitude. There’s a twist that’s revealed at the end of this story, and it explains to the reader what they saw earlier, and everything makes a lot more sense.

In this story, Orochi becomes involved when she secretly saves Yu from being hit by a train when he’s in the fifth grade. Unfortunately, her injuries make it so she can’t really keep an eye on him for a while. She tries to intervene when Yu is in middle school, but her injuries make it so that her power still isn’t working for her to change a situation. Then, when Yu starts high school, Orochi transfers into his school to try to be close to him there. For most of this story, Orochi is just an observer. The only time she truly affects anything is saving Yu from death when he’s a fifth grader. But from what I’ve read of Orochi up to this point, it seems like Orochi’s role is to be more of an observer than actively trying to change her subject’s situation.

The second story, “Home,” sees a young man named Shoichi Sugiyama leaving his remote farm village to live in a mid-size city with a friend of his. Shoichi doesn’t plan to return to his hometown until he has achieved success. Unfortunately, his “friend” ends up stealing Shoichi’s things and sticking Shoichi with his debts. Shoichi goes from city to city, ending up in Tokyo and falling in with a bad crowd. When Shoichi is being attacked, Orochi intervenes. She saves the man and gets him to a hospital. Shoichi has to go into surgery, and he finds himself wishing he could go back home.

Orochi decides she wants to go to Shoichi’s hometown and is surprised to see him on the train because he’s supposed to still be in the hospital. He claims he’s better and was discharged by a doctor. The two of them go to Shoichi’s hometown, but Orochi senses that something’s different and feels wrong. As time goes by, strange events keep happening in the town, and each event that happens is even stranger than the previous one. This is a story where Orochi finds herself getting more directly involved with what’s happening around her. However, right near the end, there’s a twist that I didn’t see coming… and the twist even surprises Orochi. After the twist is revealed, though, it makes sense why Orochi ended up more directly involved with her subject’s situation than usual.

The final story, “Key,” sees Orochi moving into an apartment complex because she was interested in the people who live there. One of the tenants is a young boy named Hiroyuki Watanabe, who has the nickname of “Liar” because of all the lies he tells. He rubs Orochi the wrong way, but she still keeps an eye on him. One day, Hiroyuki witnesses one of his neighbors committing a serious crime and tries to tell his mother, but his mother accuses him of lying again. To make matters worse, his mother tells the neighbor about her son’s “lie” about them. This leads to Hiroyuki being targeted by the neighbor, and it’s up to Orochi to help save him in the end.

This story felt as if it was a horror version of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” Unfortunately, this little boy made a reputation for himself as a liar, so when something serious happens and he’s telling the truth, no one believes him. It really doesn’t help that the neighbor he witnesses committing the crime is very well-liked by the neighbors. At least Orochi was keeping an eye on Hiroyuki, even if she didn’t care for his personality all that much. If she wasn’t there, this story would have had a much different outcome. While Orochi ultimately became involved at the end of the story, she spent most of this one being an observer.

After reading Orochi Perfect Edition Volume Two, I found that I enjoyed the stories presented in this volume just as much, if not more, than the stories that appeared in Volume One. Even though the stories are around 100 pages each, they were a quicker read than I thought they would be. I’m sure it helped that Umezz presented compelling stories and characters that made me want to keep going to find out what was going to happen.

When it comes to the art, one thing I noticed is that the little boys who are focused on in these stories have a very similar look to them. The young version of Yu Tachibana, the son of the one of the villagers in Shoichi’s hometown, and Hiroyuki Watanabe look rather similar, and sometimes I would have to remind myself that they were different people. I don’t know if this is due to Umezz having a limited number of child designs or if he thought all three of these characters should have a similar look. Outside of that, though, the art looks very good. I find it interesting that panels that feature Orochi usually stand out more in comparison to the other panels nearby. This could very well have been a deliberate choice, since Orochi is supposed to be something supernatural.

If you read and enjoyed Orochi Perfect Edition Volume One, then I believe you’ll also appreciate Volume Two.

This was a great follow up to vol. 1 and I will definitely be purchasing it for my library. I didn't necessarily think the stories were scary but they do fall into the horror genre and were great stories. The characters were well developed and I was very impressed by how much emotion, narrative and tone were infused into the panels. I hope the series continues! Recommended for fans of horror manga, Junji Ito, or anyone looking for a spooky story.

The second volume of Orochi: The Perfect Edition picks up with our titular protagonist as she follows the lives of three boys from childhood to adulthood. The eerie tales contained in this volume are titled "Prodigy", "Hometown", and "Key". Of the three, I was particularly enthralled by Prodigy with its twists and family drama. Hometown would appeal to fans of Junji Ito (for whom Umezz is a stated inspiration). Looking forward to the next release in this series!

This volume continues Orochi's retro and creepy romp! Of the stories, "Prodigy" and "Key" stood out to me, with the latter reminding me of a cross between the fable of the boy who cried wolf and the thriller movie, Rear Window. The horror in this volume is more domestic in nature, mostly focusing on parents and children, so it that's not your horror jam, be forewarned. If you do stick around though, I think you'll find it a worth while read! I've certainly been enjoying my time with it so far!

So that was definitely different from the first volume. All the stories were focusing on children. They explored something quite taboo I think with children being badly natured and with evilish tendencies. I liked the stories well enough, but I think that after the first volume my expectations were a bit too high. Orochi is once again a curious character. You can't help but wonder why she doesn't interfere on some crucial moments, but I suppose it's all part of this mysterious storytelling vibe. The fact that Orochi is quite the onlooker, being detached of the situation, really brings a different eye to the stories which I really appreciate.

Major trigger warning for child abuse, it's all through and through. Quite distressing, but that's obviously the goal.

If I'm not mistaken I think that there will be a third volume, which I gladly read if I can.

Orochi is the perfect balance between story and impending dread. Not quite horror in my opinion, but you definitely feel something is wrong with every short story from the very beginning while being invested immediately in the characters. The ending is never quite what I expect, which keeps me flipping the pages for more.
This second volume is a great follow up to the first, where the stories are focused more on the odd events around the main character and how she influences them.
Can't wait for more!