Homunculus is a horror manga written by Hideo Yamamoto. It is a truly terrifying and psychological deep dive into the flaws of humanity, but also coming to terms with yourself.
The series is centered around Susumu Nakoshi, a middle-aged man who has found himself living in his car between a public park full of homeless people and a high-class hotel complex. He gets picked out by Manabu Ito to become an experimental guinea pig for him to try out the procedure known as “Trepanation”.
>Trepanation is the procedure of drilling a hole in the skull. It is said to increase the blood circulation and improve pressure inside the skull. It is also said to bring out a person's sixth sense, the ability to use ESP, see ghosts, move objects with one's mind.
After his operation, Nakoshi starts seeing things called homunculi. Homunculi are the monsters in each human being, the things that frighten or obsess people. A physical representation of one’s greatest flaw. The manga follows Nakoshi on his journey to make sense of his newly gained 6th sense by studying and facing other’s fears, while simultaneously trying to understand himself.
STORY: It would be an understatement to say that the story takes a few twists and turns. Homunculus does not shy away from showing some of the most grotesque and disgusting things people are capable to do.
In order for Nakoshi’s to solve the homunculi, he has to go through incredibly mental distress and dreading existentialism. This often leads to Nakoshi resorting to doing strange and often very horrible things to get closer to understanding himself and the people around him that he is so desperate to feel a connection with.
Without delving into any spoilers, the manga makes you question if the things that are happening are even real, or if the goals Nakoshi wants to reach are even worth it in the first place.
CHARACTERS: The “main cast” and the side characters that appear throughout this manga show both an incredible amount of personality and complexity while also showing us some of the most vile, disgusting and horrifically dark sides of the human mind.
Nakoshi is a man stuck in limbo. Having been unhappy and unfulfilled all his life, now that he has the ability see the homunculi, he tries to connect with people and maybe finally have a chance to rid himself of his life of lies and loneliness.
But his frail state of mind and his desperation for his life to not feel meaningless and unhappy pushes him further down a downward spiral leading to only more and more horrific conclusions and interactions, and to question if the things he is seeing are real or a hallucination of a delusional and insane mind.
ARTWORK To put it simply, the art by Hideo Yamamoto is absolutely astonishing.
The characters are and the environment are all drawn in a very realistic way and help immensely to amplify the horror and the philosophies of the manga. The single panel drawings are highly detailed and beautiful to look at, but they can also be extremely daunting and serving as nightmare fuel.
Not a single page out of the 15 volumes bore to look at. Whether it was the beauty or the horror of the art, it always had me glued to the page 110%.
FINAL THOUGHTS Homunculus is truly a masterpiece.
From the start I was instantly hooked. It managed to surprise and chock me in every volume, and it only went deeper and deeper into the psychological hole that was so intriguing in the first place. Some of the pages left me absolutely stunned, almost to the point where I had to take a break from reading because I never could imagine absolute madness that this manga delves into.
I could not recommend this manga enough. It is an absolute classic and I will definitely come back to read it all again in the near future
