Kurozakuro

Kurozakuro (クロザクロ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshinori Natsume. It was serialized in Shogakukan's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday from August 2004 to January 2006 and compiled into seven tankōbon volumes. In North America, the manga was licensed for English release by Viz Media.

Kurozakuro
Cover of the first volume, featuring Zakuro
クロザクロ
Genre	Adventure[1] Dark fantasy[2] Supernatural[1]
Manga
Written by	Yoshinori Natsume
Published by	Shogakukan
English publisher	NA: Viz Media
Imprint	Shōnen Sunday Comics
Magazine	Weekly Shōnen Sunday
Original run	July 28, 2004 – December 7, 2005
Volumes	7

Plot

Mikito Sakurai is a high school student who endures daily bullying but refuses to retaliate due to his aversion to violence. One day, a mysterious orb enters his bag and, while he sleeps, lodges itself in his mouth, causing him to swallow it. In a dream, he encounters a strange boy named Zakuro, who asks, "What is your desire?" Upon waking, Mikito discovers he no longer needs his glasses and experiences an insatiable hunger. When his bullies attempt to extort money from him, he is overwhelmed by an unfamiliar rage. After refusing their demands and hearing their taunts, he retaliates with a single punch, breaking one assailant's jaw and revealing his newfound superhuman strength.

Later, when confronted by a larger group of bullies, Mikito violently defeats them, realizing he now takes pleasure in bloodshed—a stark contrast to his previous revulsion. However, his power carries a dire consequence: violent impulses consume him, distorting his perception of others as mere "meat." He struggles against an overwhelming urge to consume human flesh, even nearly attacking his own sister. One night, he senses an ominous presence and follows it to a gruesome scene where a man stands over a murdered woman. The man initially mistakes Mikito for an ally before a cloaked assailant interrupts, wielding strange weapons and wearing a bell on his right ear.

The murderer transforms into an ogre, engaging in a brief battle before the cloaked man gains the upper hand. The dying ogre begs Mikito to transform and assist him, but the cloaked man swiftly executes the creature before turning on Mikito. His weapon weakens Mikito, who barely escapes after being threatened with the murder of his family if he resists. Mikito later learns that the orb he ingested was an ogre core, an object that transforms humans into ogres. His existence soon attracts the attention of Ogre Hunters, setting the stage for further conflict.

Publication

Written and illustrated by Yoshinori Natsume, Kurozakuro was serialized in Shogakukan's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday from July 28, 2004, to December 7, 2005.^[a] Shogakukan collected its chapters in seven tankōbon volumes, released from November 18, 2004, to February 17, 2006.^[7][8]

In North America, the manga was licensed for English release by Viz Media.^[9] The seven volumes were published from November 9, 2010, to November 8, 2011.^[10][11]

Reception

Carlo Santos from Anime News Network said it had "unfolding in unexpected ways [...] and treating us to an ever-expanding universe." Santos praised the intensity of the art, saying Yoshinori Natsume is the opposite of Rumiko Takahashi and Mitsuru Adachi due to his artwork with "sharp spikes and jags, thick-lined penstrokes, and intense contrasts of black and white." However, he noted this prejudice the character designs and the panel layouts.^[12] In another review, Santos praised the fact of Natsume pours his personal philosophy as a creator in the manga: "Of course, just being an exciting, well-paced fight scene doesn't hurt either—but being framed as part of the eternal debate between good and evil is what really completes the scenario."^[13] Writing for Comic Book Bin, Chris Zimmerman called 'Kurozakuro volume 1 "a fascinating twist on the super natural genre" since "its premise seems right out of a shōnen title but its characters and the handling of their development is closer in substance to a richly layered psychological thriller rather than a smash-em up title." Zimmerman stated it is "compulsively entertaining" due to the gothic elements but said the artwork looks "simplistic and overly flat".^[14] Leroy Douresseaux also from Comic Book Bin described it as "Harry Potter with a dash of Steve Ditko's The Creeper, and this dark fantasy and battle manga is worth your time", and he felt the series ended to early.^[2] Kurozakuro has "an intriguing and dark plot perfect" according to ActiveAnime's Whitney Cox that also praised Mikito, the main character.^[15] Also from ActiveAnime, Davey C. Jones enjoyed the "[c]ool moves, dire battles and secrets" but qualified the art as "chaotic".^[16]

Notes

1. The series started in the magazine's 35th issue of 2004 (with cover date August 11),^[3] released on July 28 of that same year;^[4] it finished in the magazine's first issue of 2006 (with cover date January 1),^[5] released on December 7, 2005.^[6]