Reptilia (manga)

The Okameike Moor, the setting of Okameike Densetsu

As a child, manga artist Kazuo Umezu's father told him horror stories from Japanese folklore. The story he found most terrifying was Okameike Densetsu (お亀池伝説, lit. "The Legend of the Turtle Pond"), which tells the story of a woman who goes to the Okameike Moor in Soni, Nara, and is transformed into a snake. The story significantly influenced Umezu, and snake-women became a recurring motif in Umezu's manga beginning with Kuchi ga Mimi Made Sakeru Toki (口が耳までさける時) in 1961.[1][2]

During the 1960s, shōjo manga was typically published either in manga magazines or in books offered at kashi-hon (book rental stores); horror stories were popular in kashi-hon books but were not published in manga magazines.[3] Umezu, who had already created several shōjo stories, stated that he "harbored suspicion" toward the recurring motif of close mother-daughter relationships in shōjo manga of the era, explaining that "mothers often think of their daughters as their own possessions, which is a scary thought".[4] He sought to create a story that subverted this motif by depicting a mother as a monstrous rather than loving figure, drawing inspiration from the snake-woman of Okameike Densetsu.[2][4]

All three entries in the trilogy were originally serialized in the manga magazine Shūkan Shōjo Friend, published by Kodansha:[5]

• I'm Afraid of Mama was serialized from August 10, 1965 (#32) to September 7, 1965 (#36)
• The Spotted Girl was serialized from September 14, 1965 (#37) to November 9, 1965 (#45)
• Reptilia (Hebi Shōjo) was serialized from March 15, 1966 (#11) to June 21, 1966 (#25)

The individual chapters of the series were also published as kashi-hon by Sato Production (佐藤プロダクション) in its Hana (花) collection.[6]

The stories were not originally conceived as forming a trilogy: while The Spotted Girl was a direct sequel to I'm Afraid of Mama, Reptilia (Hebi Shōjo) was originally published as part of Umezu's series Yamabiko Shimai (山びこ姉妹, transl. "The Sisters of the Mountain"). Yamabiko Shimai is a series of stories set in Nara in which sisters Satsuki and Kanna are confronted with various paranormal phenomena that originate from legends associated with the region. The series consists of Kitsune-tsuki Shōjo (狐つき少女, transl. "The Girl with a Fox Spirit") in 1963, Hebi Oba-San (へびおばさん, transl. "Aunt Snake") in 1964, Kitsune ga Kureta ki no Happa (狐がくれた木葉っぱ, transl. "The Fox That Gave me a Tree Leaf") in 1965, and finally Hebi Shōjo in 1966.[7][8]

The series also had several plot differences in its original publication run, chiefly its setting of Yoshino District, Nara, rather than Nagano.[9] The Yamabiko Shimai version of Hebi Shōjo also has a happier ending, in which Yōko is turned back into a normal girl with the help of Satsuki and her friends.[10]

After their serializations concluded, all three stories were subsequently published in various anthologies of short stories by Umezu. In 1986, the publishing company Shogakukan published all three stories in a single volume titled Hebi Onna: Umezu Kazuo Kyōfu Gekijō (び女・楳図かずお恐怖劇場, transl. "Snake Woman: Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater")[11] The Shogakukan edition modifies the artwork and dialogue of the stories to make them into a connected trilogy, most notably altering the setting of the series and Yōko's fate at the conclusion of Reptilia (Hebi Shōjo).[9] Shogakukan republished Hebi Onna in 2005 as part of Umezz Perfection!, a complete collection of Umezu's works to mark the 50th anniversary of his debut as a manga artist.[12] Kadokawa Shoten published the trilogy in 2000 under the title Hebi Shōjo.[13]

In North America, an English-language translation of Hebi Onna based on the Kadokawa Shoten edition was published in 2007 by IDW Publishing under the title Reptilia. The series, which was published as a single unflipped omnibus edition, was the first manga series published by IDW.[14] The omnibus features an original cover illustration by artist Ashley Wood.[15]

The trilogy is a psychological horror story focused on "the dark recesses of the human soul" to the general exclusion of displays of blood and gore, though it nonetheless utilizes typical horror story conventions of suspense, anticipation, surprise, and the placing protagonists into situations from which they are menaced or cannot escape.[12] The story also utilizes some clichés typical of the horror genre, such as a female protagonist with little to no backstory[16] and authority figures who are unhelpful or absent.[12][7]

Transformation is a common theme in many works by Umezu, as in Negai (1975) and Mushi-tachi no Ie.[12] In this case, the transformation concerns that of the "monster that dwells in us",[12] which novelist Hitomi Kanehara describes in her postface to a collected edition of the series as a "mysterious being, unable itself to explain its behavior, which sets up a dark and troubled atmosphere, and has something repulsive about it."[17] Kanehara attributes the fascination and fear of characters who suddenly transform to the Japanese ghost stories collected by Koizumi Yakumo—particularly Mujina from Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, which features the noppera-bō, a humanoid yōkai that can make its face disappear.[2]

Family similarly recurs as a common theme in Umezu's manga and appears as a major theme in all three stories in the trilogy.[18] In the 1960s, shōjo manga regularly focused on mother-daughter relationships, and the haha mono (母もの, lit. "story of maternal love") story formula of a daughter searching for her beloved missing mother was especially popular.[16] In the trilogy, Umezu subverts this story formula by creating a monstrous mother figure who seeks to actively harm her daughter.[19] By placing a mother character in a negative light, Umezu is seen as breaking down the idealized image of the mother common in shōjo manga of the era.[16][20]

Yama-uba, the likely inspiration for the snake-woman

The snake-woman is a yōkai with serpentine physical and behavioral characteristics, including skin covered in scales and a deformed mouth filled with sharp teeth. She is able to assume a human appearance, a technique she uses to approach her prey, whom she then devours. The snake-woman may also seek to pass her curse along to others and create a family in her image.[18]

This tendency of the snake-women to turn others into snake-people has been likened to the western vampire, a creature which does not appear in Japanese folklore. Critic Stéphane du Mesnildot argues this tendency introduces a feminist dimension to the snake-women figure that makes it representative of "the dark side of femininity, and very often, its revenge on an unjust and authoritarian masculine society".[18] The figure is likely inspired by the yōkai Yama-uba, which, like the snake-woman, represents the archetype of the socially maladjusted woman in Japanese folklore.[16]

In contrast to the dark and realist style of Umezu's later works, the art style of the trilogy is simple, bright, and occasionally child-like.[12][18] The girls who serve as the protagonists of the stories are drawn in a style typical of shōjo manga of their era: influenced by the art of Macoto Takahashi, with basic designs that emphasize their beauty, innocence, and purity. Particular emphasis is placed on their eyes, which are large, bright, and possess a star-shaped detail next to their pupil.[21] Their design starkly contrasts that of the grotesque snake-woman; this was a visual innovation for shōjo manga, which at the time almost invariably depicted only cute and beautiful characters.[16]