Her Frankenstein by Kawashima Norikazu translated by Ryan Holmberg. Includes a short biography by Kawakatsu Tokushige

Utsugi Tetsuo has started to see a young woman, every where he goes, and he knows he is either being haunted or losing his mind. He can never see her face, though, which is the most terrifying part of these visions. Trying to find some reasonable explanation for these sightings, he turns to a doctor who is certain that not only does Tetsuo know who this girl is, he is purposefully blocking out her face, afraid of the answer. He encourages Tetsuo to focus on her face, certain if he does, the hauntings will end. However, instead of stopping the hauntings once he realizes who this young woman in memories he had long repressed rise again and Tetsuo descends into madness. 

This was good. This was excellent, and to truly appreciate it, if you have the English translation, you must read Kawakatsu Tokushige's essay in the back of the manga. I highly recommend reading it *after* you've read the manga, though. 

On to the review

This was such an interesting conversation on abuse cycles but also how men are supposed to be "men." Men don't cry when attacked by bullies they stand up for themselves, and that point is driven brutally home by Tetsuo's father. As Tetsuo feels he is being driven away from his parents by his newborn little brother, he meets the beautiful and twisted Kiriko who perpetuates a circle of violence he has already lived in his whole life. His need to impress anyone who shows even the slightest interest in him overrides all morals he once held as he becomes Kiriko's Frankenstein. She makes him powerful once he places the Frankenstein mask on his face. He's no longer a weak child who can't even stand up for himself he is a Man who can inflect fear upon anyone. The fact that those Frankenstein attacks are small children should not be disregarded. 

Today, we'd call Tetsuo an incel and quite frankly, I don't really think that's very far from the truth. He is so dedicated to proving himself to the women around him as a Man that he loses himself in the process time and again until he utter destroys himself. The ending especially drives this point home. 

Highly recommend if you are into horror manga, especially a fan of Junji Ito, and whole in the comment he contributes to the essay at the end doesn't flat say it, I find it almost impossible that Kawashima's work wasn't an influence on his own. So if you like Ito, it would be almost criminal for you not to read this. I am most certainly now dedicated to hunting down any other translations of Kawashima's work as this was simply stunning.