The Deadly Dolis novel online

Kishi, a young player who works at a bookstore, hits on Mitsu, an attractive but deeply disturbed woman whose arms are scarred from cutting. They sink into a dangerous relationship, as Kishi falls in love with his dangerously masochistic partner—a former artist’s model—who doesn’t care whether she lives or dies. Kusumoto’s barren, disaffected art style, incorporating lots of text and photo-graphic backgrounds, resembles Kiriko Nananan; however, her character artwork is inferior, using standard, if anorexic, manga designs. Printed in partial color; the flat, sickly colors, used in a collage-like rather than representational fashion, accentuate the gloomy and angst-ridden mood. Shen Yin Wang Zuo

            Gothic artist Mihara plays it straight and serious in this intelligent anthology series involving people and their robot companions. Set in a recognizable near future where robot butlers, maids, and companions have begun to appear, the stories are unusual by manga standards in that doll ownership is not considered perfectly normal and healthy—in one story a boy is disgusted when his divorced father takes a doll for a partner, while in another story, a misogynist who buys a doll for a sex toy finds himself inching closer to humanity as a result. The psychology is well thought out, often involving themes of childbirth and family, and the best tales have impressive twist endings. Though most of the stories are self-contained, an ongoing plot gradually develops, involving corporate intrigue and the company that makes the dolls. The dolls’ old-fashioned outfits are the one openly gothic element, although the occasionally dark stories go well with the wan characters and high-contrast art. 

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            In a vaguely Victorian future, the ultimate luxury purchase is “plant dolls”—beautiful, childlike, mostly immobile creatures that serve their owners as substitutes for daughters, sisters, and wives, while barely moving a muscle. A collection of weird short stories—some disturbing, some funny, most melancholy and moralistic—Dolls anticipates the Japanese “dollers” phenomenon (in which actual people, such as Ghost in the Shell anime director Mamoru Oshii, purchase and clothe life-sized mannequins). The text has a literary feel, and the baroque artwork (reminiscent of Matsuri Akino) is perfect for this world of towering skyscrapers, luxurious interiors, and lush ferns.