Danica Davidson
January 15, 2025 
100 Ghost Stories That Will Lead to My Own Death is a creepy horror anthology narrated by an elementary school boy. The manga opens with the boy, Yuuma, getting ready to kill himself. His classmate stops him and asks him, “Ever heard of the hundred ghost stories?” According to her, if these ghost stories get told, a ghost will appear after the one hundredth one is finished.
It’s never expressed why Yuuma wants to kill himself, but this ghost story idea intrigues him. After the setup in the beginning, the manga falls into a pattern. Each story opens with Yuuma talking at a camera (which is in the direction of the reader, so it’s as if he’s talking right at us). He introduces the story, and then we dive into the horror tale. Each horror tale is a stand-alone story. After the story is finished, we see Yuuma again for some final words, like bidding us goodnight.
The first volume covers ten stories, so we’re one-tenth of the way through. Yuuma seems little and cute and harmless, and this is juxtaposed against the violent, dark, bloody ghost stories he tells.
The yarns in 100 Ghost Stories That Will Lead to My Own Death include a family that thinks they’ll die because they don’t have “life lines” on their palms, a con man who gets haunted, and a slasher killer terrorizing a household. Some stories are stronger than others, but reading straight through does bring up a creepy cumulative effect.
The artwork is good — sometimes it’s excellent, full of detail and very atmosphere-inducing. Manga can be a great medium for short horror stories, and this is a fun volume for fans of the short horror story genre. The stories are relatively simple, but they get their point across, and some are quite visceral. The setup at the beginning is also intriguing, because what’s going to happen when Yuuma gets through all those stories? We’ll have to read more and find out.
Story & Art: Anji Matono
Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment
Translator: John Neal
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
