Manga Review: Pet Shop of Horrors Vol 4

Title - Pet Shop of Horrors Vol 4

Author - Matsuri Akino

Series - Pet Shop of Horrors #4

Genre - Manga Horror 

Published - January 6th 2004

Format - eBook

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One reviewer wrote: The original Pet Shop of Horrors series is a certified classic, with interesting characters and a continuing plotline involving a hot-tempered American Cop trying to book a mysteriously pet shop owner. It has humor, beautiful art by Matsuri Akino, and is pretty accessible to Americans not familiar with the manga format.

Pet Shop of Horrors: Tokyo is the sequel series to the original, with the new setting being a Chinese district in Japan instead of San Francisco. 

Review

Pet Shop of Horror revolves around a magical pet shop in Chinatown that just happens to sell pet’s that aren’t like your everyday pet. Each volume is divided into a chapters and each chapter tells a single story of an encounter with this pet shop. Some end up happy while others not so much. 

In the 4th installment we are given a little more insight into who our Detective is because one of the cases requires him to get help from Count D when they find a house full of fish. With Count D’s help they are able to solve the case. They also have a vampire working it’s way across the country that is searching for something. I found the Dark Horse story interesting because it’s all about horse racing. We also had a chance to see Count D’s collection of horses that are inside of the pet shop. As well as a magical encounter with our detective. 

I’m hooked on Pet Shop of Horrors it’s written as a series of short stories which have a larger story surrounding them. It’s this creepy concept of a pet shop that happens to not sell traditional pets. Each of the pets really fits into the owner life giving them exactly what they needed at that point in their life and some may not end happy ever after. I have to admit I enjoyed the concept it’s unique and fascinating I had a hard time putting it down because I wanted to know what would happen next. I’m anxious to read the next book so we can learn more about the pet shop but to see what comes out it’s door next. While it may not be a super popular one it’s worth checking out the chapters are perfect for a quick little way to break up the day or just binge reading.