Matsuri AkinoRezensionen

Wow! Great volume!

Not as good as other chapters but still a nice read.

Wow! great read!

I am a bit iffy about this specific volume. I sort of agree with other reviewers that the quality dropped a notch from the first 3. It isn't that this volume is bad per se, because the artwork is still stellar. More like the stories seem to be all over the place. It is only saved by one really good chapter in a sea of meh chapters.

Chapter 1: Digital: A socially awkward guy is found deceased in his apartment and Leon is forced to ask Count D to babysit his myriad of abandoned tropical fish while the LAPD discards foul play and locates his next of kin. A lead into the existence of a girlfriend who might prove a motive to his death awkwardly has the exact same name as a pet the fish have ushered Count D to rescue. It is up to Leon to forego his suspicions of D and for them to team up to solve both mysteries. This episode is kinda weird, and I am not fully convinced I understood the moral of the plot, but it was okay I guess.

Chapter 2: Flower and Detective (Part 1): Count D gives a weird plant to Leon as a gift. Suspicious of the plant, he soon discovers he has grown attached to it... literally? Another weird episode. Not terrible, but you are not missing anything if you skip it.

Chapter 3: Dark Horse: Leon and D befriend a stuntwoman/horse lover with money problems. She wishes to race her family's thoroughbred race horse for the money and excitement but the animal was born deaf. Will she accept Count D's offer? This chapter had a lot of promise. I really, really loved the artwork of the page where D's body takes on a ghostly shape when he barters a deal with the aspiring jockey. Sadly, we never know what the deal was, and if it affected the conclusion of the story in any way. Bummer.

Chapter 4: Flower and Detective (Part 2): Oh wow, wow, wow! This is the one and sole story that made this volume worth reading. I don't wish to spoil it, but it was thrilling to read!

I believe this volume deserved 3 stars, but the final chapter is great, and it compelled me to award it 3 1/2 stars.

Our story continues with more grisly horror stories of doomed pet owners... and a budding romance that may be forming between the adorable D and his opposite: LAPD cop Leon.

Chapter 1: Diamonde: The king of a miniature SE Asia nation has just passed away without leaving any heirs... except a woman has inseminated herself with his frozen sperm and is pregnant. Facing a backlash, the woman is under a protection program in Los Angeles while she awaits asylum. Count D meanwhile has received a worrying petition that may be tied to this woman. I will let you decide for yourself. The plot is kinda weird, but I enjoyed the scenes featuring Leon and D hanging around.

Chapter 2: Desire: A spoiled girl has abandoned her puppy for no apparent reason. Leon is too busy chasing the real bad guys, but that doesn't stop him from asking Count D to issue a suitable punishment to teach this naughty girl a very valuable lesson. I found this story to be great!

Chapter 3: Dessert: Count D might be a drug dealer after all! Just that it seems like he offers stuff that is still technically legal so Leon can't do anything about him. While our friendly cop is busy with a missing person case, Count D has fallen infatuated with a Chinese chef that is a newcomer to Chinatown... with a series of recipes that will drive him madly in love... much to Leon's amusement. Another great episode.

Chapter 4: Devil: This episode is kinda weird. It stars an elderly woman with severe dementia who recalls her tragic past when she recognizes Count D.

All in all, I liked chapters 2 and 3 a lot, still a great manga!

I first watched the highly underrated OVA series almost 20 years ago and for a very long time, I felt compelled to read the original manga because I loved the anime so much. I finally found a little free time and have decided to give it a try, and it has definitely been a great read.

Count D is a mysterious Chinese man living in Los Angeles's Chinatown with an even stranger profession: he sells all sorts of exotic and mythical animals to the right customer. Is the beast they see in the maze beneath the pet shop a human being or not? The rules are simple enough: never show the pet to anyone (some cases don't have this restriction), give the pet a specified diet, and keep its enclosure well-tended. The shop will not be held responsible in case the owner breaks any rules.

Of course, human nature entices people to break the rules, and all sorts of different problems could occur.

Dream: A young woman from a rich family feels rejected by her emotionally absent father and asks Count D to sell her a bird of unique beauty who sings to her every night. Will she fall in love with her new pet's beautiful lullaby? Or will she ask D for a change in contract to save the species from extinction?
Despair: This story was used in the OVA series and it replicates the source material very well. Our protagonist is an actor named Robin who played an alien prince in a Sci Fi film almost 10 years ago, but attempts to get any new roles have been a failure. Economically in huge trouble and abandoned by his wife, he purchases a very unique lizard from D who will give him the company he yearns. Detective Leon makes his first appearance in this episode and he tries to uncover the mystery between Robin's mysterious death... and all signs points to Count D's pet shop.
Daughter: Another chapter that was featured in the OVAS, it was selected as episode 1 even though it is technically Chapter 3 of the manga. A beautiful teenager named Alice dies from an overdose, leaving her well-intentioned but crappy parents behind in their despair. Fortunately, Count D has a solution that might give them a second chance for redemption... Or not. Quite personally, I didn't like this chapter that much, but horror fans will surely enjoy it.
Dreizehn: A young woman survives a home invasion/arsonist, but she ends up blind from the trauma of seeing the man murder her parents. Distraught and terrified about her safety because the killer escaped, Count D sells her a most unusual and faithful Doberman with the form of a handsome human in military garb named Dreizehn. Karen has a hard time believing Dreizehn is in reality a dog, and feels frustrated by his overprotective nature. However, for some reason she begins to feel like she has underestimated him and might need his help...

The start of the manga starts quite strong with 4 interesting stories venturing mostly in the realm of horror and adventure; I enjoyed reading it very much and plan to continue reading it.

Pet Shop of Horrors continues in the second volume where we get an additional 4 stories that range between the realms of humor, mystery and horror.

Dragon: A story about a misplaced dragon egg that is expected to hatch by accident on XMAS instead of the Chinese New Year risks killing the family that brought it home... and possibly the entire city of Los Angeles is under danger too. It is up to Count D to ask for Detective Leon for his help in order to sneak into the house and safely hatch the mythical beast in a remote area before things go crazy. A humorous story, we also start to see flashes of attraction between both characters, even though neither party wants to admit it yet.

Dice: A homeless con artist rescues a kitten without realizing Lucky is very special. Unable to care for her, Count D appears and takes the kitten away from him. Thinking little about the odd change of events, the guy ends up getting arrested by Leon for petty theft and bailed out by Count D. Little does he know, Count D is giving him the chance of a lifetime by adopting a strange little girl who might change his life for the better... as long as he doesn't break any of the tenets of the contract. A cute/odd story with a different kind of protagonist than other stories so far. I find it interesting that we get meet a low life criminal making a contract with the Count and the way despite being a lazy slob, there is a good side to him.

Delicious: The original manga version of the same chapter in the OVA series. The anime stays fervently truthful to the original source material. I personally didn't enjoy this episode as much as some of the other ones, but I suppose the animators chose this story because of the horror elements.

Destruction: Another story featuring Count D interacting on a more personal level with Leon. Our perpetually igneous detective has spotted Count D visiting a natural history museum one evening while carrying a suitcase. Assuming he is planning on selling opium, he follows him inside and gets teleported to a prehistoric world with extinct animals. Where are they and can they escape this strange dream before Leon harms any animals by mistake? A very different story from what we are getting accustomed in a pleasant way.

Overall, the stories remain fresh and fun to read and I award it 4 stars.

Not as good or captivating as the original series: (Review found here: https://www.librarything.com/work/272723/reviews) but worth it to check out if you are a huge fan like myself. There's still some of the well-loved dark elements found in the original that transfer over to this new series that doesn't make it too terribly different. It's highly recommended to check out the first series that inspired this one. It just didn't reinvent the wheel for me.

Not as good or captivating as the original series: (Review found here: https://www.librarything.com/work/272723/reviews) but worth it to check out if you are a huge fan like myself. There's still some of the well-loved dark elements found in the original that transfer over to this new series that doesn't make it too terribly different. It's highly recommended to check out the first series that inspired this one. It just didn't reinvent the wheel for me.

My favorite manga in all of the world. This was the first manga series I read in its entirety and it left a profound impact on me at such a young age. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for an original, thought provoking series accompanied by gorgeous artwork. ESPECIALLY if you are a fan of monsters/creatures! Each story has a moral or lesson to it- not exactly like an Aesop's tale but reminiscent of one. There's also some subplots found along the way, but it isn't distracting at all and is fairly easy to keep up with. The main focus is each monster/creature the volume features as the central plot focus and thrusts into the spotlight.

Also- we don't talk about the anime. Just read the manga and you're set.

This series is out of print now- so if you are wanting to buy them yourself they maybe harder and pricier to find now. I know I paid a hefty price tag over the course of a year or two to gather them all up before they become too hard to find. You can still visit your local library, read online, or ask a friend who has them.

The amazing supernatural and chilling stories about a petshop and its strange owner.

Makes me think of:
Mew-The Zookeepers boy

Gorgeous art! Plotty stuff! Cameo by Count D! So pretty much another typically awesome volume of GnS; now to wait for Tokyopop to put out the next book (although judging by the release schedule so far, we'll only get one volume of it for 2011, sigh).

This is one of the best horror mangas in existense along with Uzumaki and The drifting classroom. I loved it!

I was actually kind of surprised at how much I enjoyed this volume and how easy it was to get drawn into each story. Often, Pet Shop of Horrors can somehow be too slow for me, although I'm not even sure that's the word.

I also enjoyed that there was actually at least one story that ended happily (somewhat, at least). I like getting to see a new, different character come to terms with Count D and his shop as well.

It's great to be back at the pet shop, but also in an entirely new setting. All of the stories are fascinating and dark, perhaps darker than the first series. Not sure how I feel about the Berlin story, though...

The conclusion of the series... I'm not sure how I feel about it. I am unsatisfied with the ending and the "explanation" between Count D and his relatives, especially the whole thing about revenge. Maybe it's just me, but it didn't feel important enough for the whole series to lead up to.

The part with Chris almost made me cry. So sad.½

This is one of my favorite volumes in a long time. We're starting to learn more and more about Count D, and it never ceases to be intriguing and satisfying. Sometimes, the more you learn the less interested you are, but not in this case. It's done very well.½

Still really enjoying it. Not such a fan of the mermaid story, but the other episodes in this volume are great.

Pet Shop of Horrors can be a hit more miss, but this one was definitely a hit. Time travel with Leon, family secrets with Count D (more backstory! Kind of!), and some good old fashioned Pet Shop stories as well.

It was slow getting into, if only because the first story of the volume wasn't that interesting. Once the Count and Leon were back in the pet shop, I was happy. The rest of the stories were very interesting. I don't get tired of the Count and Leon, and little Chris is always cute too.

I'm not sure why, but it was a little hard for me to get into this one. I still enjoyed it, especially with the addition of little Chris. I'm really interested to see what happens with him.

I did enjoy the very last story, plainly because I'm a dancer. I was kind of hoping it would be so stereotypical, but oh well.½

I enjoy this manga more and more. Count D is so intriguing, and Leon so entertaining. They make such a great pair.

And the last story in this volume is just really cool.½

I don't think Pet Shop of Horrors will ever cease to give me chills. And yet, it makes me laugh too. I definitely enjoy it.

Some more cool and horrifying creatures, and a lot of fun with Count D and Leon together. They make an entertaining couple.

Sometimes the creatures are just creepy and intriguing, but sometimes they're really sad too. The sad ones are always good stories, but... just so sad.

It's not my favorite art style, but I actually got really into it. Count D is pretty awesome and I love how innocent (and sweet, heh) and yet menacing he can be. The dynamic between him and the detective is quite interesting as well.

Normally I'm not super big on episodic stuff, where each episode is an entirely new story with new characters and everything, but... like I said, I got pretty into it. Definitely going to read more of this.