Garden

GARDEN

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
1
RELEASE
April 2, 2000
CHAPTERS
7

DESCRIPTION

"Garden" is a collection of Furuya Usamaru's “indie” shorts that were published in Comic Cue, Manga Erotics and GARO respectively. The title is obviously a reference to Hieronymus Bosch’s famous triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights, with the first story being a homage to said painting. The other stories range from absurd comedies to fantasy to horror. It’s a very eclectic mixture, but make no mistake: artistically, Garden might just be Furuya’s most accomplished work after The Music of Marie.

CHAPTERS

REVIEWS

KMAS
85/100
I have no idea what is going on and I like it.
Let me start the review by saying I like this sort of stuff. Surrealism, Gore, Unhinged Artstyle, What the fuck is even going on? That type of stuff.
It's a forte of mine, I don't have to understand what is going on to enjoy it. But what I saw, even if I didn't understand it I quite enjoyed.

This is a collection of seven separate short stories by Furuya. I will be giving all of the stories separate ratings and thoughts and then speak about the entire experience as a whole later.

Story 1 - The Origin of Nudity. Story 8/10, Art 10/10
If you're not into the surreal and weird stuff id understand why this would be nothing for you. This was my 2nd favorite story in the mix. The imagery and concepts in this, especially the creatures and the so-called "Nudity" is top notch and made me do a pog face when I started reading it.
The creatures are straight out of Berserk and the art style is fucking amazing. Especially since it's colored, by hand it seems.
The paneling however is atrocious, though that is true for all of Usumaru Furuya's earlier more Avant-garde works, like Palepoli, Happiness, and Wsamarus2001, those three are the only other ones like this I've read thus far, but the asinine paneling is present in all three.
This however simply heightens the experience, because it gives a more surreal, almost LSD-esque vibe.
The pacing is also blazing fast and a lot of weird shit happens in a very short time.

Story 2 - Angelic Fellatio. Story - 0.5/10, Art - 8/10
Yup. It's exactly what it sounds like. I almost quit reading the manga because of this one, I'm glad that I didn't though. Literally, baby angels sweep down from the heavens and start sucking some guy's dick. Revolting. This is the only one id recommend skipping, it's only 12 pages though. So if angel blowjobs are something you fancy then I guess go ahead. The only pro is the art style, especially something present throughout Furuyas earlier works of art dissonance, one story and even a panel can have two or more different art styles, and the guy that gets sucked, the angel, and the rest have a different art style. So there are three art styles in this one.
Overall though this one was horrid.

Story 3 - YumeKana - Story 3.5/10, Art 5/10
This one is towards the mediocre side but the story is still somewhat compelling. I don't really have a lot to say about it though.
It's pretty exploitative and hyper-focused on this one girl's panties. There's a blowjob in this one as well. I guess it's ok. It's probably the 2nd worst one after the angel blowjob though.

Story 4 - The Machines That Came from the Sea - Story 4/10, Art 5/10
It's about a shape-shifting robot that befriends a girl but goes on a rampage after. That's it. It has a cool atmosphere, and cool art. But other than that, not much to say.

Story 5 - Book of the Moon - Story 9/10, Art 9/10
This is my favorite one in the collection. Where to begin? It's the second longest at 48 Pages and it's the longest so far until we get to the last one.
Again the art is sort of Berserk-esque, but instead of beasts from your worst nightmare, it's the vibe of it all. Sort of Frankenstein meets Berserk meets Game of Thrones. And it's very compelling.
The world building though limited is also interesting. It seems like God is canon in this story and its sort of Fullmetal Alchemist with its execution, Science + Alchemy + Magic = Whatever the fuck is going on.
This story does A LOT with its 48-page run. And I would genuinely bleed to read a 10-20 Volume or even more Manga that is similar in style, world, character & story to this one. Claymore perhaps?
The world-building, story, and even character are top-notch here, (I mean this for a 48-page one shot), and I can almost not fathom why Furuya did not do more with this, heck even One Piece started with a 50-page one shot. This would have a lot of potential.
But this is the only version of it we have, and I really enjoyed it. The collection is honestly worth sticking through just for this one.
It is also the only story in this collection to have much of a story in the first place, and I loved it.
I wont spoil any plot details but the story is just as weird with its "currently overdosing on fentanyl" vibe that Furuya gives off.

Story 6 - Say Goodbye With a Smile - Art 8/10, Story WTF/10
Furuya needs help. And I'm willing to aid in this endeavor. What is this guy taking? Where can I get some? Anyway this one is the weirdest one in the collection, and as you can tell that is an achievement. So damn, just wow. What the fuck?
Furuya is definitely not Natty. If you get what I'm saying.

Story 7 - Emi-Chan - Art 6.5/10, Story 8/10
The longest one in the collection at 115 Pages. This one further strengthens the idea that Usumaru Furuya, Born 1968, Tokyo inhabitant. is in fact not natty. I guess if you bark up the right tree in a metropolis as big as Tokyo you can get your hands on quite strong shit. But then all artists have their vices.
This one is a classic Furuya, with senseless violence committed against adolescent girls, and creepy old men drawn horrifically. Worlds from your nightmares worst nightmare, blood, guts, gore, and a lot of girls pinned up dead on trees. Not to mention the rape.
Probably the most hit-or-miss one especially with its length. If you don't like any of this then it's just not for you, it is for me though. Just because it's so uncomfortable. I guess I'm masochistic even when reading.
Not that much to say, since I don't want to spoil the plot. But about 50% of Garden's runtime is just this one story. So that’s that.

Overall Rating 8.5/10. I liked this one, it is not as good as Furuyas other very similar work titled “Palepoli” ill probably reread that one and write a review, since it is way better than Garden. So check it out as well.
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