I really enjoyed the art for this one and while there were humourous moments here and there, I wouldn't exactly call this a horror manga. Which worked out just fine for me because I'm not a big fan of super intense horror stuff, this veered more towards the supernatural for me and it was moderately enjoyable, I just couldn't get fully invested in it.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy of Dark Gathering. This was cute, I am a big fan of manga but i don't get to see new ones too often so i am glad i can with this. I would love to stock this one but i will probably wait for a while until a few volumes are released

Really fun! Equally funny and creepy, and great character design. A satisfying story in itself with a very compelling cliffhanger that will leave fans wanting more ASAP.

This volume really surprised me! I'm giving it all the brownie points for how unsettled it made me feel; it definitely held up as a horror manga. All of the characters were interesting in their own right, and yet there are still so many secrets that thee story seems to be slowly unravelling. I can't wait to see where this story goes in future volumes!

The mixture of comedy and horror in this manga makes Keitaro's story a pleasure to read. Keitaro can see spirits. Other than that, he's just a normal high school student, and takes on a normal job - tutoring. When Yayoi, the girl he tutors, has skulls for pupils and can not only see spirits, but is actively seeking them out, Keitaro isn't so sure about the whole idea. This manga has the three Hs - Heart, Horror, and Humor. I think it would be perfect for Jujutsu Kaisen or Chainsaw Man fans. The characters are so clearly defined that I can already imagine Cherami Leigh voicing Yayoi in the English dub of the anime.

I would love to thank Netgalley and the publisher Viz Media for allowing me to read the arc of this manga in exchange for a true and honest review!

I am so hooked on this one it is honestly insane. This paranormal horror adventure involved one guy who would rather just not be involved with anything spiritual or spooky, his bff whose way to enthusiastic about going around to haunted places, and one girl who has gift allows her to see spirits. This group and their adventures are not only interesting but truly leave the reader wanting to know more. I will definitely be reading every chapter that comes out going forward!

Full review to appear in Booklist Magazine. This book might be good for teenage libraries where students already enjoy horror stories. Yayoi is pretty terrifying but is drawn a little too cartoony and over-exaggerated. Her shoes are as big as Sora's in Kingdom Hearts. There are some crazy spirits that are drawn really creepily, so the artist really does their job well when called to spook people.

A fabulous take on horror manga. The manipulation on an early page is very frustrating and not needed for the story. Without this one page, I would have provided 5 star. We all have a responsibility of our contribution to rape culture.

Pure horror manga are few and far between, with many titles labeled as horror divulging into other genres, with a popular choice being shonen. While this makes being a horror nerd difficult to find new titles outside of your Junji Itos, Kazuo Umezuus, or Hideshi Hinos, there are some releases that do mash up the styles successfully–interjecting enough terror to satisfy those cravings while taking shonen tropes and working them in a complimentary way that does not diminish either genre. Kenichi Kondo's “Dark Gathering” is one such title, with a healthy dose of ghastliness mixed in with exciting action and an entertaining cast of misfits.


Notably, protagonist Keitaro is a perfect balance of teenage innocence and a dark past that fits well into the horror narrative. Weary of the supernatural through past trauma, yet a catalyst due to a curse he carries, Keito's battle with the various twisted entities always entertains as they explore different elements of his past and persona. The other notable character, Yayoi, approaches the supernatural with such confidence that it forces Keitaro to conquer his own fears–they make an ideal pairing in facing off against the various horrors Kondo conjures. Outside of Keitaro and Yayoi, the rest of the characters are just as expressive and interesting, successfully pushing the humor of the series through defined, eccentric personas.


Kenichi Kondo's art balances horror, action, comedy, and kawaii in equal measure, with the ability to shift sharply between themes keeping the book visually punchy. The monsters, in particular, vary drastically from traditional entities, such as Okiku, to abstract creations that capture the terror of the unknown. However, those looking for a ‘raw' horror experience may be disappointed as Kondo balancing genres means he puts equal attention to other visual elements–the darker moments are defined and memorable, but the series is still, in many ways, a straightforward shonen title that is content to indulge in the macabre.


Overall, “Dark Gathering” balances many genres with confidence backed by a strong cast and this is further heightened by a wonderfully ghoulish artistic direction with many unique and traditionally inspired evil entities. Fans of the “Mieruko-chan” manga, in particular, should give this one a shot as the balance of horror and humor is comparable on top of the defined artistic direction. The series is still fresh, and there is always the possibility it will deviate one way or the other, but it is a strong first entry and one worth giving a shot, especially for those that enjoy horror-themed shonen titles.

Dark Gathering focuses on a young man who is an unwilling magnet for the supernatural.

Dark Gathering Volume One
Written by: Kenichi Kondo
Publisher: Shueisha Inc.
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: May 16, 2023

Volume One introduces the reader to Keitaro, a young man who had a run-in with a nasty spirit while he was in middle school. A good friend of his was dragged into it, and they were both cursed. Keitaro spent two years refusing to leave his room so no one else would get hurt. At the beginning of the story, he has spent the past year trying to reenter society, and managed to catch up academically with his peers. Keitaro, along with his friend, Eiko (who was one the people in his life who helped him find the strength to rejoin society), are just entering university.

After spending two years as a shut-in, though, Keitaro has gotten pretty bad at interacting with other people. Eiko recommends a part-time job as a tutor to help Keitaro practice these interactions, and it turns out he’s assigned to work with Eiko’s younger cousin, Yayoi. Yayoi is a prodigy, so I guess she’s being tutored to do well on entrance exams for schools with higher entrance requirements. When Keitaro sees her for the first time, Yayoi obviously looks different from. The most unusual feature about her are the double pupils that she has in each of her eyes.

It turns out that Yayoi can see spirits and she has an interest in the supernatural. Eiko and Yayoi drag Keitaro, who is trying to distance himself from the supernatural, along on a trip to a haunted phone booth. Through this adventure, it’s established that Yayoi hunts down dangerous spirits because she’s trying to find the one who took her mother when her parents were killed in an accident.

This volume also establishes that Keitaro’s grandmother is the head of a shrine and performs exorcisms on Keitaro. His grandmother has been teaching Keitaro how to conquer his condition and she helped him to see there was the possibility that he could avoid involving others in his supernatural mishaps. When Eiko and Yayoi accompany Keitaro to the shrine, Keitaro’s grandmother instantly dislikes Yayoi after learning she was the one who was destroying jizo. During this chapter, while Keitaro and his grandmother are both weakened from the exorcism, it’s up to Yayoi to take down a spirit that tries to take over Keitaro. While his grandmother is thankful to Yayoi for saving her grandson, she doesn’’t want Yayoi to come back to the temple.

With something Yayoi asks of Keitaro at the end of the second chapter, he’s really not sure if he can truly trust her or wants to be around her. In the third chapter, Yayoi learns about Keitaro’s curse and says she knows how to break it. She tries to do something dangerous in order to get what she needs for breaking the curse, but it’s up to Keitaro to save her. With what he learns from talking to her afterward, Keitaro realizes that Yayoi’s been trying to be a friend to him, even though what she was doing was coming across as rather creepy.

After seeing how Volume One ends, it seems safe to say that this volume’s purpose is to set up the characters and the overarching story of the series. From what we see at the end, it appears that going forward, Keitaro and Yayoi will be working together to trap spirits. For Keitaro, his motivation is to eliminate the one that cursed him and his friend back in middle school. For Yayoi, her goal is to find the spirit who took her mother. I should point out that Keitaro doesn’t reveal the identity of the friend who was cursed with him back in middle school until the final page of the volume, but I had already guessed his friend’s identity well before this reveal.

When I finished reading Dark Gathering, I couldn’t help but feel that the author was trying to create something like Bleach. However, since one of the main characters is an elementary school student, it’s harder to capture that kind of vibe. In the author’s note, Kondo admits that he’s never written scary stories before and has only read them. So in that sense, you have to look at Dark Gathering as an author’s attempt at trying to write in a style they’ve never written in before. It’s not bad at all for what it is, but I’m not sure it’s quite as scary as it could be. But then again, I’m reading Dark Gathering after immersing myself in the works of Junji Ito for the past couple of years, so perhaps this caused me to set the bar higher than I used to.

When it comes to the art, Kondo did a good job of designing Yayoi in a way where she stands out. With this character design, you can believe that there’s something not quite normal about her. She definitely stands out in comparison to Keitaro and Eiko.

If you’re a fan of supernatural manga, you might find enjoyment in Dark Gathering Volume One. If you’re more of a fan of horror, though, you may find that this series isn’t as strong in the horror vein as it is in the supernatural.

Dark Gathering Volume 1 has the mix of great storytelling, art, and intrigue that I love. I'm looking forward to the next volumes.

It is hard to deny that Dark Gathering is good horror. It makes use of both terror and horror for a story that’s visceral in two different ways, and that’s even without the revulsion I felt every time Yayoi’s eyes were drawn facing forward. From hair creeping down throats to damned spirits to a gruesomely haunted phone booth, this book has an impressive variety of horrible things for its protagonist Keitaro to be subjected to.

And that’s where my issue with the book comes in: Keitaro is anything but a willing participant in this tale. His childhood friend Eiko is fully aware of this – she’s one of the people who convinced him to come out of his room after the elementary school incident – and yet she still sets him up to “tutor” her creepy cousin Yayoi and repeatedly drags him off to haunted places. I absolutely could be reading this with the wrong mindset. I’m nearly certain that Eiko and Yayoi’s actions are meant to come across as funny and urgent rather than pig-headedly selfish. But the fact remains that all of the well-done horror in the world can’t make me see this as anything but needlessly mean.

This title blended silly and spooky nicely. The art did a nice job showcasing both elements. The plot is intriguing for a first volume, and the characters have a good, bounceable dynamic. (I could easily read just about the day to day life of the cousins, honestly) I'm curious to see where the story will go now that volume 1 has set the stage.