We are of course fans of reading at JustFocus but we were not prepared for the Bibliomania syndrome: the main symptom of this disease arises when literature becomes scary…
A horrible mansion
In the first pages of Bibliomania, we feel lost by the shenanigans of the screenwriter Orval. Bibliomania opens with a quote from the Bible and then a monster escapes from its cocoon and devours everything. Without transition, a young blonde girl wakes up in an empty world except for a huge door. She has a number on her hand: Alice is the 431sttenant ofa mansion. The owner, the large snake Ophis, welcomes him. He offers her everything she wants, but she must not leave the room. Despite her host's attempts to deter her, Alice goes out to find the first door, the zero, that must lead her outside. But as soon as she leaves her room, a virus plagues her body. In parallel, short scenes in the past explain how she left a world at war in ruins.
Despite a naive beginning, the fan of Junji Ito at the same publisher quickly spots a muted threat. As soon as she appears, Alice's naivety worries. After the biblical dedication, one thinks of the tempting animal of the Old Testament when seeing the serpent. This owner wants to welcome 666 guests to organize a party… except that the reader of Bibliomania knows that this figure has demonic meaning in Christian culture. More rooted in exotic horror, the real-world settings take up an Indian or Mayan ornament. Indeed, another asset of Bibliomania is Macchiro's very personal drawing. As Alice travels, the bodies move away from humanity to become more and more monstrous. The reader finds the roundness of the manga and the big eyes but the line is deliberately hesitant and therefore more human. The edge of the boxes is bristling with pencil strokes.
Road trip on foot
Gradually, the reader takes his marks in this one-shot of 330 pages by discovering new rooms and their tenants. Alice begins a journey in the mansion but also in the recesses of the human psyche. The first room takes up a medieval Japanese setting. A huge samurai composed of a wooden machine judges a very sadistic stalker. Persecuted at school, he asked the snake to spend his time endlessly punishing his torturers. The persecuted becomes the torturer. This mansion is a pile of egoists wishing to fill a psychological gap, because if everyone realizes their dreams or fantasies in the room, they forget the world. Only a handful of tenants try to unravel the mystery of this place.
By combining science fiction and dark-fantasy, the first work of cartoonist Macchiro and screenwriter Orval marks a break in recent releases. Bibliomania is also a journey through literary genres: poetry, the fight of giant robots and increasingly horror. Macchiro also knows how to multiply gender changes by being as good in elegiac parts as in gore. He adds a touch of humor by absurd scenes with a clean line. Alice, by her first name and her rabbit ears, is of course inspired by the character of Lewis Carroll. It does not go behind a mirror but behind a door. However, childhood becomes worrying here. Alice regularly takes up the nursery rhyme of Little Red Riding Hood while the tale ends in infanticide.
However, the mansion is only one of the many subterfuges of Orval's plan that plays with the reader's expectations. By crossing new pieces, the reader understands the meaning of the title with perversity: the book itself becomes a danger. Mangetsu's edition conforms to this subject. Bibliomania is a beautiful work imitating ancient manuscripts with a red cover without relief and bookmark. However, there are indications that this book is dangerous. In the center of the cover, a nightmarish creature looks at us around dark arabesques. The cover is also a mise en abyme. This horrific atmosphere is extended by the first black interior pages. In the middle of Bibliomania, the story opens with a more external but no less terrifying chapter.
By closing Bibliomania, we can say that this horror book could be perfect to discover manga. The reading direction is Western. The story is complete in one volume and references to literature are numerous. Indeed, in Bibliomania, the absurd humor of Lewis Caroll's book becomes a cruel tale that will leave a deep mark on you.
Find other horror manga with My Beloved Revenant and Love and Death.
