{"id":8247,"date":"2016-07-15T21:24:12","date_gmt":"2016-07-16T01:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/?p=8247"},"modified":"2016-08-18T20:19:49","modified_gmt":"2016-08-19T00:19:49","slug":"keeping-it-ghastly-magical-girl-apocalypse-vol-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/?p=8247","title":{"rendered":"Keeping It Ghastly: Magical Girl Apocalypse Vol 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Keeping It Ghastly&#8221; is a bi weekly article on Japanese horror comics which have English print editions. Some are from famous authors, others are from unknowns and underground artist circles. Either way, it&#8217;s going to be to a terrifying\/awesome ride to keep horror manga on our bookshelves!<\/p>\n<p>The tag line reads, \u201cNot your mommy&#8217;s magical girls\u201d. Oh boy is that the truth. This time on \u201cKeeping It Ghastly\u201d we&#8217;ll be taking a look at the seinen zombie-magical girl mashup series \u2013 Magical Girl Apocalypse vol 1.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-8251\" src=\"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/vol-1-cover-211x300.jpg\" alt=\"vol 1 cover\" width=\"211\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/vol-1-cover-211x300.jpg 211w, http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/vol-1-cover.jpg 243w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 211px) 100vw, 211px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><i>Magical Girl Apocalypse<\/i> is an action-horror series from Kentaro Sato. Currently licensed under <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gomanga.com\/books\/magical-girl-apocalypse\/515\">Seven Seas Entertainment<\/a>, this is one f-ed up manga. It&#8217;s gory, it&#8217;s exploitative, it&#8217;s like <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Puella_Magi_Madoka_Magica\">Puella Magi Madoka Magica<\/a> on crack. Kii Kogami, middle schooler and generally apathetic teenager, is sick of the hypocrisy and pettiness of his all too normal existence. He has many superficial friends, passable grades, but little connection to the rest of humanity aside from his crush on the popular girl in his class and a former friendship with the quiet, bullied girl Tsukune Fukumoto. That changes when he witnesses the murder of a teacher at the hands of a small gothic lolita girl. With a single tap of her \u201cwand\u201d the teacher&#8217;s head is vaporized! Unable to process what he saw, Kii excuses himself from class and takes a short break to catch his breath. When he returns to the classroom the very same lolita girl is murdering everyone in sight. From there things begin to get weird. Those who have died are rising up and attacking the living and more \u201cmagical girls\u201d are emerging across the sky to bathe the city in blood and bodies.<a name=\"cite_ref-Seven_Seas_sequel_5-0\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-8249\" src=\"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/maagical-300x132.png\" alt=\"maagical\" width=\"300\" height=\"132\" srcset=\"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/maagical-300x132.png 300w, http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/maagical.png 703w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>First thing you may notice about this manga is the weird mix of cute and gore. Women are drawn with huge eyes (even for manga standards), tiny hands and bodies, and panty shots abound. It&#8217;s disturbing to see so much sexuality attributed to young girls, especially as their heads explode. It&#8217;s definitely a seinen series due to the violence, but still. I mean&#8230; wow. <i>Magical Girl Apocalypse<\/i> is not for everyone, but it does have a lot going for it in terms of uniqueness of plot. No one is as they seem, and each character has a developed background that is explored in later volumes. If you can get beyond the initial shock value, it&#8217;s definitely a series worth checking out. It wouldn&#8217;t be surprising to see an anime come out of this title in the near future given the fandom that is developing in North America and Japan. What can I say. Zombies are still as popular now as they have been during the last decade.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-8252\" src=\"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/magical-zombies-1-300x210.jpg\" alt=\"magical zombies\" width=\"300\" height=\"210\" srcset=\"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/magical-zombies-1-300x210.jpg 300w, http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/magical-zombies-1.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The artist and writer of the series, Kentaro Sato, is an unknown entity in North America before this title. <i>Magical Girl Apocalypse<\/i> was his breakout series in Japan through the publisher Akita Shoten&#8217;s \u201cWeekly Shonen Champion\u201d magazine in July 2012 with the first volume hitting shelves in February 2013. Lauded for its unique take on the <a href=\"http:\/\/tvtropes.org\/pmwiki\/pmwiki.php\/Main\/MagicalGirl\">magical girl genre<\/a>, a 2 part crossover with Katsutoshi Murase&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mangaupdates.com\/series.html?id=115580\">Karada Sagashi<\/a> manga from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.animenewsnetwork.com\/news\/2014-09-21\/shonen-jump-debuts-with-over-30-monthly-manga-for-free\/.79037\">Shonen Jump+<\/a> was released in July 2015. Seven Seas Entertainment picked up the series in October 2014 and at present has published 8 of the series&#8217; current 12 volumes. In February 2017 we will even be able to find the spin off series <a href=\"http:\/\/www.animenewsnetwork.com\/news\/2016-07-02\/seven-seas-adds-magical-girl-site-species-domain-plum-crazy-dreamin-sun-manga\/.103872\"><i>Magical Girl Site<\/i><\/a> in North American bookstores. If you can handle to blood, boobs, panties, and just&#8230; everything else that makes this series far out there then by all means check it out!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-8250\" src=\"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/magical-girl-apocalypse-sample-276x300.jpg\" alt=\"magical girl apocalypse sample\" width=\"276\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/magical-girl-apocalypse-sample-276x300.jpg 276w, http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/magical-girl-apocalypse-sample.jpg 688w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 276px) 100vw, 276px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-indent: 20px;width: auto;padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px;text-align: center;font: bold 11px\/20px 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;color: #ffffff;background: #bd081c  no-repeat scroll 3px 50% \/ 14px 14px;cursor: pointer\">Save<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-url=\"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/?p=8247\" data-text=\"Keeping It Ghastly: Magical Girl Apocalypse Vol 1\"  >Tweet<\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-facebook\"><div class=\"fb-share-button\" data-href=\"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/?p=8247\" data-layout=\"button_count\"><\/div><\/li><li class=\"share-pinterest\"><div class=\"pinterest_button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/button\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fscifisaturdaynight.com%2F%3Fp%3D8247&#038;media=http%3A%2F%2Fscifisaturdaynight.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F07%2Fvol-1-cover-211x300.jpg&#038;description=Keeping%20It%20Ghastly%3A%20Magical%20Girl%20Apocalypse%20Vol%201\" data-pin-do=\"buttonPin\" data-pin-config=\"beside\"><img src=\"\/\/assets.pinterest.com\/images\/pidgets\/pinit_fg_en_rect_gray_20.png\" \/><\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Keeping It Ghastly&#8221; is a bi weekly article on Japanese horror comics which have English print editions. Some are from famous authors, others are from unknowns and underground artist circles. Either way, it&#8217;s going to be to a terrifying\/awesome ride to keep horror manga on our bookshelves! The tag line reads, \u201cNot your mommy&#8217;s magical [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-url=\"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/?p=8247\" data-text=\"Keeping It Ghastly: Magical Girl Apocalypse Vol 1\"  >Tweet<\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-facebook\"><div class=\"fb-share-button\" data-href=\"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/?p=8247\" data-layout=\"button_count\"><\/div><\/li><li class=\"share-pinterest\"><div class=\"pinterest_button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/button\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fscifisaturdaynight.com%2F%3Fp%3D8247&#038;media=http%3A%2F%2Fscifisaturdaynight.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F07%2Fvol-1-cover-211x300.jpg&#038;description=Keeping%20It%20Ghastly%3A%20Magical%20Girl%20Apocalypse%20Vol%201\" data-pin-do=\"buttonPin\" data-pin-config=\"beside\"><img src=\"\/\/assets.pinterest.com\/images\/pidgets\/pinit_fg_en_rect_gray_20.png\" \/><\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":2580,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[10],"tags":[486,844,843,842,737,806,738],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8247"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2580"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8247"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8328,"href":"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8247\/revisions\/8328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}