Kouishou Radio [PTSD Radio] – An intertwining Tale of Horror and Hair
![Kouishou Radio [PTSD Radio] – An intertwining Tale of Horror and Hair](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57825361440243db4a4b7830/1648047250903-34PWP0GTNCCSZW9IIZL9/003.jpeg)
Famed for the likes of Nemuri no Fuchi and Fuan no Tane, horror-manga veteran Masaaki Nakayama provides another reason to keep us up at night.
Coinciding with his similarly wicked and ghastly stories, Kouishou Radio [also known as PTSD Radio] is an ominous manga with Nakayama’s traditional sinister style of drawings and disoriented yet enticing narrative. Once again, we see the author not shy away from making the reader's skin crawl with the use of eerie and hideous illustrations. This one is a true midnight reader.
Kouishou Radio is a 49-part series which sees the reader focus on multiple different characters and times, often confusingly jumping between narratives. At first, this can cause some distortion in the overarching story, although all comes clear as the stories seamlessly intertwine going deeper into the core of this nightmare. Frequent similarities are apparent with many of the stories, hair being a major one.
A malevolent creature known as the ‘God of Hair’ is a frequent focus, in which it ferries away the dead, grabs and holds people from the shadows, and traumatizes its victims. J-horror fans will be right at home with this, with the likes of wet-haired ghosts like Sadako/Samara from The Ring, and Kayako from The Grudge.
Not only is the plot of the story purposely shrouded, but Nakayama also opted to not release any proper synopsis for the title. Instead, the synopsis runs a few sentences of broken words, like listening to a radio station cut by static. An incredibly subtle method of enticing readers and heightening the themes of perplexity.
The freakishly beautiful nature of Nakayama’s character design sits centre stage in this horror-manga, opening the doors into some of our deepest fears. The fine line drawing art style paired with the immense tension in some of the character's expressions creates a feeling of anxiety that is hard to
If you dare to pick this manga up it’s available in digital format in other languages, and for the collectors out there physical Japanese copies are available to purchase with an announced physical English version up for pre-order.
