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The first volume of Embalming is going to be released on September 4 2008!

What's what?

Nobuhiro Watsuki

Jump SQ

Jump the Revolution

Busou Renkin

Trivia!!!

coming soon

Introduction

Embalming is the fourth manga series of Nobuhiro Watsuki, and if you seek comparisons to his previous works (many people do), then I would say that it's most similar to the darker parts of Kenshin (as far as the mood is concerned), and I would say that despite its darkness, it is still obviously a direct consequence of Busou Renkin. The latter point may need further explanations.

Embalming is loosely based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, but the manga boldly declares that it tells the real circumstances that served as inspiration for Shelley's story. So Emba takes place in Europe of the 1890's, where a few criminal, evil or crazy scientists are trying to build monsters out of dead bodies, using the notes that were left behind by one Victor Frankenstein. These monsters are called "Frankensteins", and people have all sorts of reasons for creating them, usually an attempt to gain immortality or bring back their dead beloved.

But sadly, this is not how it works at all: The Frankensteins are monsters, they are reborn with their personalities changed, usually for the worse, and they also sometimes lose the memories of their mortal lives. They can become insane, obsessed, destructive, dangerous. Not all do, but there is no case where the creation of a Frankenstein does not bring grief or disaster to the parties involved.

Busou Renkin

Potentially immortal monsters who cannot really coexist with humans? There is a certain similarity (at the core of the idea) with Busou Renkin's homunculi. In that story, Chouno tried to save his own life and become immortal by turning himself into such a man-eating monster. And Kazuki and Victor (that name cannot be a coincidence, can it?) had their lives saved by that mystery science, at a high cost.

But Busou Renkin did not extensively deal with the emotional pain that everyone involved is bound to experience, and often made light of the idea. Well, it was more of a comedy manga than a drama! It always tried to maintain an optimistic mood and had a definitely happy ending. With Embalming, it seems like Watsuki wants to revisit these themes, and this time, do it seriously. Some might say "properly".

The first oneshot of Embalming was announced when Watsuki was still working on the ending of Embalming, in early 2005. It  was announced in a double-sided ad in Akamaru Jump, where the second-to-last chapter of Busou Renkin was pre-released. The story's title was not mentiond yet, only that it was a oneshot and would appear in a magazine named Jump the Revolution. There were some rough character sketches, and that was all.

The oneshots

The first oneshot, Embalming - Dead Body and Bride was released on September 30th 2005. The next spring, it was featured in Busou Renkin #10 (the final volume) as a bonus story. There, in his afterword to Busou Renkin, Watsuki mentioned that he wanted to work with the Embalming characters more.

That came as no surprise: The oneshot had been very popular, impressed people and had them speculate about a possible serialization. Especially since the version included in Busou Renkin #10 was a few pages longer than the first version in Jump the Revolution, and contained additional hint at backstory for the characters!

But before Emba could become a series, there was a second oneshot. Embalming II - Dead Body and Lover, was released almost exactly one year after the first story, on September 29th 2006, in a second Jump the Revolution issue.

Again, it was popular. It was actually voted by the readers of PUFF magazine as one of the ten best oneshots of the year (it came 7th, I believe), and everything about the story screamed: "I am not done with this world and this premise and these characters yet!"

It took a couple of months until we got confirmation: Embalming would be featured as a monthly series in the completely new monthly magazine Jump SQ, the successor of Monthly Jump.

The funny thing is that this was exactly what everyone had been hoping for, what we had been speculating about, what we had long convinced ourselves had to happen. Do you know the feeling you get when something that you have fervently been hoping for happens exactly the way you envisioned it? It's truly glorious.

Jump SQ

After Monthly Jump's end, Shueisha had an interest in making their new monthly shonen magazine into a big success. Their tactic involved getting top authors to contribute manga series and oneshots, and to run an extensive ad campaign.

It might hint at how highly anticipated Embalming was, or how much trust Shueisha put into the oneshot's popularity and/or Watsuki-sensei's name value: Embalming was very prominently featured in the ad campaign.

For example, there was a three-page ad, the first page listing all featured authors and their manga, and the two other pages solely dedicated to Embalming.

It only seems logical that the manga  would also be featured on the very first issue's cover, and get colour pages. Quite an honour!

Structure and perspective

In the beginning, I called Embalming closer to Kenshin than any of Watsuki-sensei's other works, and I stand by that assessment. But there's something else I want to say, even though Embalming has only just started and it is not entirely possible yet to tell what direction the story will take... and hey, that is a good thing, isn't it?

Anyway: I think Embalming is objectively better than Kenshin. The first five chapters, the first arch, were a masterpiece of storytelling, obviously planned carefully in every detail. And even though I had the worst twist spoiled in advance, it still kind of affected me when I read it.

One of the things that make Embalming feel fresh and unpredictable is that it does not have just one main character whose story we follow, and whose perspective we share. Instead, there are several parallel storylines, and it's not really clear whether these characters would necessarily be on the same side if they were to clash.

What is better than a story that - for all the ruthless scientists and clearly unpleasant, insane undead monsters - blurs the line between good and evil, and works with changing POVs?

But enough now...

Embalming is created by Nobuhiro Watsuki with the assistance of novelist Kaoru Kurosaki. She is no stranger to us: she has also been involved in the same way in Busou Renkin, has written the story for the Busou Renkin novels, and contributed in a smaller extent to Gun Blaze West.

I am mentioning her here because she definitely deserves the credit and has been a part of Watsuki's life and an influence on his work for many years now, yet she gets ignored to the point where foreign editions of Busou Renkin don't even mention her name anywhere, even getting her gender wrong (Hello there, German Tokyoflop).

And this is all I want to say as an introduction to Embalming. I suggest you turn to the menu point "Story" if you want to know more what the manga is about, what the setting is like, and what storylines there are. And of course, check out what characters populate the world of Embalming. Or read the detailed and naturally spoilery chapter summaries!  Or drop by at the forums and discuss the manga or ask questions! In fact, do ask me any question you may have about Embalming or this site!

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