The anguish continues to rise with each volume of Shigahime. We hope for the best but the worst is frequent. After so much drama, what does Volume 4 have in store for us?
An adolescence in crisis
The fight between the servants of the vampire mistresses opens this sequel to Shigahime. Two teenagers face each other. On the one hand, Osamu has mastered his claws perfectly and on the other, Soichi, has lost the instructions. The fight is cut short in a surprising way when Tamaki, an original intervenes. She is not only Soichi's new mistress but Miwako's older sister.
It is not a simple fight but this struggle is also the opposition of two characters. Soichi has been raised alone since her parents' divorce. He paradoxically became his mother's adult in deep depression. He was able to emancipate himself from his submission but found a new mistress. This submission to an adult is a classic of horror and we reverse social codes. Mistresses are women. Osamu has a happy family and, by chance, he is immersed in a terrifying adult world. The hero Osamu has definitely switched. He has nothing human left. He defends his territory and faithfully obeys his mistress Tamaki. The issue is who has tipped the most into monstrosity.
Shigahime ignores the good ones because writer and cartoonist Sato Hirohisa only describes lost teenagers. They are subject to the desires of adult women and their own desires for sex mixed with violence. At this level of Shigahime, the bodies are just a toolbox that is used for combat. Losing is when your body isn't hard enough. We see the links with puberty and awakening to sexuality.
An unhealthy but visible desire
Beware of the sensitive hearts some images of Shigahime are very suggestive. The precious blood flows freely and the bones come out of the bowels to become weapons. Don't be afraid to see a bone scythe and skin suits. Ears can be cut off and used as a mobile phone. We then see a bloodbath and rub with hearts. Brrrr I had a high heart. One scene is particularly strong. Two heads at the end of a spine discuss gently. By Shigahime, we can only salute again the publisher Mangetsu who treats the reader with a cover with a magnificent metallic effect. The choice of image is also totally in the tone of this volume. We see a sapphic kiss but also incestuous and devouring with these fangs on the cheeks.
Shigahime presents teenagers who are delivered without sexual education to their drive. The relationship with their mistress is very clear when we see the looks of desire of these teenagers. In return, these women enjoy the suffering but also the destruction of pure moral feelings of their familiars. To be in love is to want to rape. Through the outfits, the SM subtext is more and more obvious: a girl in briefs and chained with a necklace. Sex is not a pleasure but a test of obedience. Facing a confident woman, Sato Hirohisa shows a teenager who does not control himself. He is powerless in every sense of the word.
Shigahime is not only a dark story to scare but Sato Hirohisa draws strong and terrifying portraits. The reader is terrified and disgusted but he can't help but follow these characters. The twists are so numerous and often surprising that the last volume is eagerly awaited like fresh blood squirting from an artery.
You can find on the site the chronicle of volume one and another horror series with Jujutsu Kaisen.
